Yarn for Brains

Still lovin' Knit Picks

2011-12-14T13:56:00.003-05:00

So, I alerted the folks over at Knit Picks about this issues I had with the ball winder, and even gave them the link to that pretty scathing review that I wrote last night. I really commend the folks there for being able to read something that harsh about their product, and then to come back and send me a lovely reply. Here's what they sent me:

Dear Karen,

I read your review, it sounds to me like you got a defective ball winder, I'm happy to replace it.

That is the advantage of the Knit Picks ball winder, if you ever have any trouble with it we will send you a new one at no cost. If you are willing to give it a try let me know, otherwise I'm happy to give you a refund and you can toss that one in the garbage.

Sincerely,

Jeanine
Knit Picks Customer Service

I really have to say that made my day. It absolutely, totally, made my day. I let them know that I would prefer to take the refund and just get one like I used to have, but other than this one time, I've never had a problem with any of their merchandise. In fact, I usually love their stuff: I love my Options needles, my Harmony wood dpns, the needle case that I got (still need to take pics of this), and all the yarn I've bought from them in the past. And now that I know they've got such good customer service, I have to say that I'm pretty happy to keep shopping with them.

So, lovely knitters, please don't take what I wrote last night as a reflection of what I think of Knit Picks in general. It may well be that I ran into the defective winder in the lot, but I have to say that I'm unfortunately once bitten, twice shy, and so I went ahead and got myself a Royal ball winder again. However, will I be shopping at Knit Picks again? Absolutely.

You get what you pay for

2011-12-13T22:31:00.007-05:00

I wrote earlier about how Andrew broke my ball winder, so I had to get a new one. Well, I saw that Knit Picks had one for sale that was much cheaper than the Royal one that I used to have. After using it, I now know why the Royal is worth every penny. This one from Knit Picks is terrible - its absolutely just a cheap knock-off of the Royal that lacks the little details that make winding a ball of yarn a joyful act done in anticipation of the start of a new and glorious project.

The first thing I noticed was that the clamp is quite fiddly when you try to attach it to the actual winder, and it doesn't even fit snug once it's attached; it shifts around if you're not careful. But, I managed to get it more or less the way I wanted and decided to give things a go. As soon as I tried to attach it to my table, I noticed another thing that was different compared to the Royal. The Royal has nice little 'stops' on the bottom clamp that allow you to position it in perfect alignment with the winder on top. The Knit Picks version does not, and it takes a bit of concentration to get everything lined up properly. Still, not a deal breaker. As I kept going, I noticed another little annoyance: the wire yarn guide doesn't snap into position after you swing it out. I found this more troublesome than the lack of stops on the clamp as the guide would move while I was winding. I ended up holding it in place with my free hand, which was at the same time guiding the yarn off my swift. Can you see how things are adding up to create a very frustrating experience?

The real difference, though, comes when you actually start winding the ball. I don't know what to call it exactly, but let's just say that there is something wrong with the 'balance' of the whole thing. However they have positioned the centre column/spool thingie or angled it, or something, it doesn't guide the yarn to the bottom of the winder, so you end up winding your yarn just on the top portion of the spool. I couldn't even wind an entire skein of sock yarn on it! And then the yarn would slip off the yarn cake being formed, tangle underneath it, and basically create a mess which has to be removed from the winder, and rewound. I must've wound that skein about 6 times before realizing that I just wasn't going to be able to finish it, so now it sits half done at my craft station waiting for me to return this winder, and get another Royal. I'm additionally incensed because I will have to pay shipping again to send it back. Grrrr!!!

Lovely knitters out there, I know the Royal looks expensive, but don't be fooled by cheap imitations like the one Knit Picks sells. Save yourself the hassle and frustration, and get a good quality winder.

Froggidy-froggidy

2011-12-04T21:15:00.003-05:00

I finally went ahead and did it. I ripped up the 5-way cable shawl that I had started.

I realized that I didn't quite have the right gauge for it, nor enough yarn, to do it justice. So, I'm now searching for projects for my 4 skeins of Malabrigo. I'm debating making a Bandana Cowl with one, and a hat with another, but that still leaves 2 skeins. I was originally thinking of making a February Lady sweater with it, but have since changed my mind as I don't think the shape of that sweater is the most flattering for me.

An added challenge for me right now is that Andrew broke my ball winder, so I haven't really started anything up lately despite having lots of ideas. I'm getting a replacement one soon, so hopefully my stall won't last long. Still working on that Baby Yours, and actually picked up my Milkweed shawl again. Maybe I'll actually finish something one of these days.

This weekend's been a bit of a rough one for us though. Andrew had his, and my, first experience with projectile vomiting on Saturday. I was utterly dumbfounded when it happened. He was fine after some crying and cuddling, but then had another bout of vomiting on Sunday. Poor kid. To make matters worse, Jamie also got sick, so there was A LOT of cleaning for me to do this weekend. As long as I don't get sick, we'll all keep on trucking. I've made entreaties to pretty much every deity out there to keep me from falling ill, so we'll see if that works. If all this wasn't enough, someone broke into our car and stole some cables out of our car. Thankfully nothing of import was taken (our radio, and child car seat were the two things that came to mind immediately), but it was still just maddening to think that someone had gone through our things. We are partly to blame since we accidentally left our car door unlocked (this never used to happen to us, but now that we've got Andrew, it happens a lot more than we'd like), but our car was right on our driveway, visible from our bedroom, so I still think they were pretty bold. Oh well. We're all okay, we don't need to repair anything with the car, and the stuff they took is fairly easy to replace, so I guess we're lucky in that sense.

Laugh out loud!

2011-10-18T15:19:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time since I wrote, and a whole bunch of things have happened since. One of which was me going back to work, and even though it's only part-time right now, it's made me a lot busier than I used to be. The other thing that was occupying a lot of my time was a big show I just did with the Chinese Dance Workshop to celebrate its 35th anniversary. Now that it's over, I can actually breathe again and devote my spare time to other things.

One of the things I'd like to do more of is give Andrew the chance to play with other kids. He's in daycare now, so I know he plays with lots of kids all the time, but I never get to see it. Plus he has so much fun when other kids are around. Here's some video proof.

Andrew and his friend W (I won't give the full name here) were sitting patiently while their respective mommies were doing some shopping, and Jamie managed to catch it on video. Even when they're just sitting around, they seem to amuse each other! Love it.

There unfortunately hasn't been a lot of time for crafting though. Only recently have I been able to do a little here and there while watching a rather ridiculous show that Jamie introduced me to. It's absolutely moronic when you think about it, but I can't stop watching! It's called Deadliest Warriors, and it basically pit two historical warriors against each other in a virtual arena based on data collected by measuring different parameters like strike speed, force of impact, and type/severity of damage. They basically constructed a computer model that takes in all the data collected, and then runs a battle simulation 1000 times to see which fighter wins the majority of the fights.Stuff like, Samurai vs. Viking, or Spartan vs. Ninja. I know. Totally stupid, right? And yet I've watched about 4 episodes already! While watching it, I can't help but think that humans are a truly messed up species for having come up with so many ways to kill each other.

But I digress. This TV watching has allowed me to do some crafting, and here's what I've been working on. First up is a baby sweater that I'm working on for a friend of mine who has already had her baby. Yes, I am terribly late, but I console myself with the fact that her daughter was premature and that I have chosen a size that couldn't possibly fit now anyway.

That's just the back. I've finished the sleeves, and am just finishing up the front now. Hoping to finish it before the end of the month, but we'll see.

These little guys are quickly becoming a bit of an obsession of mine. I found the pattern for them over at Attic 24, and got addicted. I'm not really an expert in crochet by any stretch of the imagination, but these are really fun. I'm joining them together as I go, which is a lovely, lovely technique that Lucy (the lovely author of Attic 24) explains so nicely. It's not that I'm looking to make a blanket or anything though; just going to make them here and there and see what I get.

Any kitty psychologists out there?

2011-07-21T09:13:00.003-05:00

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll be quite familiar with our household kitties, Dany and Hana. We've had Dany for about 10 years now, and Hana for 8.

They've been great companions, and Andrew loves them, so we put up with their various quirks. Dany has a taste for chips and popcorn but generally behaves , while Hana wails like a banshee for food whenever he's hungry, and makes a play for whatever food we have out, no matter what it is.

However, lately, they've developed some habits that have been quite problematic. They are now occasional litter box users, preferring to use our basement floor instead. It's gotten to the point where there are "presents" waiting for us pretty much every time we go down there. Yuck. We're pretty sure Hana is pooping on the floor out of spite (when we make him wait for food, or when he feels we've let Andrew play with him too much, or whatever else he doesn't like), and Dany is peeing on the floor because Hana is stressing her out when he tackles her and fights with her all the time. We've taken them to the vet to make sure there's nothing medically wrong with their waste disposal systems, so now we're down to figure out how to make them stop doing it. I'm pretty sure if we went down to a one-cat household, the problems would stop, but I don't want to do that because I really like both of them. Still, this can't continue, especially since we've got young child in the house.

So, any advice out there? We need help!!

Plugging along

2011-04-24T21:21:00.004-05:00

We're plugging along over here in our little corner of the world. Andrew is almost a year old now, always on the go, doing lots of babbling, and eats so much that we can barely keep up with making food for him. All in all, it's been a most awesome year.

What isn't so awesome is how long it took me to finish knitting my sweater for him. I guess I can take solace in the fact that I got it done before he turned one.

It's yet another Tulip Sweater, but using just two colours instead of the eight that it usually is. Haven't tried it out on Andrew yet, but I hope it fits.

In other news, we are still trying to get my craft room set up.

We got an Expedit from Ikea, and it does a fantastic job of holding my stash and other goodies. Now all we need to get is a work table for me, and I'm going to start moving things like my computer, and a small filing cabinet, and then I'll have a little craft room/office. I'm really looking forward to that. Eventually, we're going to change the floor, but we decided not to wait for that to be done before actually using the room.

Can someone please tell me where the spring weather is? I remember it being nice and warm last year; warm enough for the cherry blossoms to bloom, for us to take super long walks, and for me to eat ice cream without a jacket on. The only reason I remember that is because we were waiting for Andrew to make his appearance, and we went on lots of walks to see if we could get labour going. I also find it weird that there is still hockey being played, and considering how long playoffs go for, we will still be watching hockey well into May, perhaps even until June. That's just not right.

Happy Monday!

2011-02-14T19:52:00.004-05:00

I'm usually not the kind of person who puts any stock in Valentine's Day, and it's mostly because of the commercialization associated with it. I personally don't like being told that I have to buy presents, or be extra affectionate towards my loved ones because it's Feb 14. Even moreso, I hate being told that what I want are diamonds, flowers, or chocolate. Kinda like my wedding anniversary; I don't really care for gifts or anything, though I do like to reflect on how we've managed to build a life together as the years go by. But still, no need for gifts or special treatment. So, today as I was looking at store window after store window of pink and red, I got to thinking about why I feel that way about V-day and our anniversary, and I've come to the following conclusion. I don't like big gestures on certain days because it's the little gestures every day that mean the most to me. So, in honour of Monday, I thought I'd write down a few of the small things that my hubs does for me that I totally love. Thanks Jamie, and love you!

+ He puts up with my constant attempts to make him eat more veggies, and get over his dislike of broccoli. Even if he puts that little green floret in his mouth grudgingly, he still eats it.

+ Cleaning the kitty litter is his job. So is the vacuuming, snow shoveling, lawn mowing, and putting out the garbage on garbage day. He actually gets upset when I usurp these duties from him. I've only had to do those duties a handful of times since moving into our house, and it's usually only because he's away on business.

+ Doesn't question me when I return home with yet another skein of yarn claiming that I absolutely needed it. Forget that I have a healthy stash growing in our sun room.

+ Does his own laundry, and leaves the seat down.

+ Is completely understanding when I say I can't have [insert occasion of choice here] dinner with him because I have a dance practice/show/meeting/anything dance related.

+ Is the stage manager for our Chinese dance shows even though he can't speak Chinese, and our teacher can't speak English very well.

+ Understands just how much an hour of sleep means to me. This was true even before the baby was born, and so much moreso now that we've got Andrew.

+ Is willing to take public transit to work if I ever wanted the car to visit friends, or go on a shopping trip with Andrew during the week. I've never taken him up on the offer because it's a pain for him (he has to transfer from the TTC to the Mississauga line), but it's nice to know that the option is there.

+ Does two sink-fulls of dishes while I'm at rehearsal, and doesn't mention it when I get home.

+ Is the most awesome dad to our son, and the greatest partner I could have in trying to raise a good human being. Okay, this seems like a big one, but is again a case of lots of little things adding up to a big thing. I'm gonna save that list for Father's Day :)

HAPPY MONDAY!!

Almost there!

2011-02-07T20:53:00.002-05:00

I've finally finished putting all the squares together for my friend's blanket. Now, that doesn't mean it's done, not by a long shot. One look at the photos will tell you why.

See all those ends that I need to weave in? Yeah...there's a whole lotta them. Plus there's a dark blue border that's supposed to go around the whole thing. But good lord, the ends that need weaving in...It's my least favourite part of completing a project, so I'm really hoping that I don't procrastinate too much on it. I'm setting myself a goal to weave in 3 ends every day, so hopefully it won't take too long.

I've started a new project too: the Five-Way Cable Shrug by Lily Chin. I've decided to make it using some Malabrigo that I've had stashed originally intending to knit myself a February Lady sweater with it. I've obviously changed my mind about the sweater, and think that the shrug will be a nice versatile piece that will be great in the transition from winter to spring. I think I may even have enough yarn left over to make a hat, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-31T16:36:00.004-05:00

I'm a little late to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Whoops! So, instead I'll jump the gun and wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year, and a great Year of the Rabbit. Haha!

Not a whole lot for me to report craft-wise. I've been busy getting some stuff ready that I'll hopefully get to talk about in another post once everything is officially settled. I do intend to get back to crafting very soon though. I've gotten back to that blanket that needs finishing, and I'm making it my goal to get it done before the end of Feb.

As I'm typing this, Jamie is resting on the couch re-watching Battlestar Galactica, and it's a bit distracting. He's getting over some sort of stomach bug, so I've been doing a little cooking. I made a potato soup thinking that it would be fine for him, but he didn't seem interested in the end. Oh well. More for me! I also made some really insane cookies.

They look pretty innocuous, but don't be fooled. They are actually 3 cookies in 1. Observe what happens when you cut it open.

Forgive the blurry photo, but you'll notice that nestled within the chocolate chip cookie dough is an Oreo cookie. I ate one after they were baked, and seriously don't think I could handle eating more than one or two a day, they are that rich and powerful. But man, are they yummy cookies!

Now I'm off to check up on the little man. I put him to bed a little while ago, but I know he wasn't asleep. Can you believe he's already 9 months old?! Here's a couple shots of him that we took fairly recently.

He actually enjoys banging at the piano quite a lot. We'll see if he actually wants to take piano lessons when he's older.

Feeding himself is not something he's very good at just yet.

Being a cutie while trying to look serious.

Can't wait to see what else he gets up to in the next little while!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T13:38:00.002-05:00

So, how was everyone's holidays? Right now, we're in Ottawa, enjoying time with Jamie's family. Andrew's been having a ball with his grandparents, and uncles & aunties. Since he's nice and occupied most of the time, I'm going to use this opportunity to update the blog a little. I've got a few FOs to talk about, so let's get to it!

Pattern: Mary Jane Booties by Sublime Yarns
Yarn: Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK
Needles: US4

I made these for my friend Becky's new daughter. These were pretty fun to make, and I really wanted to make some cute baby booties at some point in time, but those aren't really on the menu for Andrew. Again, the pattern wasn't very well written, but worked out pretty well in the end.

Next up is a little something for myself.

Pattern: Angee Socks from Sock Innovation by Cookie A.
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM
Needles: US2

I've been working on these for a while - just over a whole year! I finished the first pretty quickly, and then fell victim to the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome. This pair was finished on the ride up to Ottawa. Cookie A. always seems to have fun patterns, and Angee was no exception. I made a mistake and increased the heel every row instead of every other row, but it actually made for a really good fit. The socks are SO comfortable, and really reminded me why I love hand-knit socks.

I also got some crafty stuff from Jamie's siblings for Christmas, and I can't wait to make some of the projects!

This trip to Ottawa has been really productive from a crafter's point of view. For Boxing Day, we popped into a Michaels, and I managed to procure some new yarn.

This was a real steal for less than $8.99 a skein. There's over 450m in one of those suckers! I originally picked up 3; the sticker price was $12.99 and didn't feel like much of a savings. But then we went to pay, and I was surprised to see what they rung up. I even got 25% off the whole thing. So, I went back for 2 more skeins. I'm thinking of making a nice, cable sweater; still debating if the sweater should be for me, or for the hubby.

Hope everyone had a great holidays, and here's looking forward to an awesome 2011!

Our little aviator

2010-12-19T22:20:00.005-05:00

Back in August, the three of us were in Picton attending Jamie's cousin's wedding. While there, I stumbled upon a wonderful little shop called the Rose Haven Farm Store. I could have easily spent a few hours in that store, but since we had a wedding to go to, I tried to keep my yarn ogling to a minimum. But that didn't mean I left empty handed. Knowing that winter would be hitting us before we could say 'in denial', it seemed like a good idea to make a hat for Andrew. We saw a cute little sample hat all knit up, and I decided that I'd make one for our little guy too. Fast forward to the end of November, and the hat was finally finished! I'm just slow at posting about stuff these days.

Pattern: Retro Flying Helmet by Sublime Yarns
Size: 6-12 months
Yarn: Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK (I forget the name of the colour now)
Needles: US6 for the stockinette, US4 for the seed stitch

This was a fun little knit. I kinda fiddled with the pattern a little though. The way it's written (and by the way, I have to say that I hated the way the pattern was written up - took a few read-through's in order to figure out just what they wanted me to do in certain sections), you knit each ear flap separately, knit the front flap, pile all the stitches from those sections on your needles and knit it all back and forth to make the body of the hat, then sew up the back seam. Well, I hate sewing seams, so I decided to knit the body of the hat in the round, and that seemed to work just fine. Seeing as I hate finishing, it bugged me a bit to have all sorts of ends to have to weave in, as well as sew the front flap down as it's purely decorative. Oh well.

I need to get over my dislike of finishing somehow - when it comes to knitting/crochet, it is truly the area where I am the least skilled. I've heard so many times that this is where your projects cross over from homemade to handmade, but I can't seem to make it over that hump. I often feel like everything I make still resides in the "homemade" category because of my lack of skill in finishing. Still, I know I've improved. Recently, I found the first pair of mittens I'd made; they were the Sacred & Profane mittens by Jillian Moreno. Oh boy, were those a mess in terms of finishing. You know that feeling you get where you stumble on an essay you wrote in, like, grade 6 that you thought was awesome at the time, but now realize had the same skill level as a monkey typing randomly at a typewriter? That's how I felt.

In any case, my model didn't seem to mind my lack of finishing skills.

The hat is still a touch too big for him, and the type of snowsuit we got him (which is so cute, I may have to post a photo of him in it here) already has a really nice hood built in. Still I may get him to use the hat a few times before the winter is through. It's not like he can say no yet anyway!

Every girl needs a little luxury

2010-12-14T21:11:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I blogged about an FO; knit-wise, I've been feeling really unproductive. I'm hoping to change that in the next couple months, but we'll see how things actually go. In any case, I do have one FO to talk about here, and two more saved up that I can talk about as soon as I get the photos off my camera.

Way, way back when, Adrienne and I took a trip to Romni Wool. By way back, I really do mean years ago. At that time, I bought myself a skein, just one because it was expensive, of Handmaiden 8-ply Cashmere. Lovely, lovely stuff. However, because it was only a single skein, there wasn't much I could make with it, and so it sat in my stash for a long time. I would go and admire it every so often, but it waited until I could figure out a project for it.

Fast forward to about 5 years later, and I finally came up with something! This project came about as I was finding the weather getting cooler as I would take my baby out for walks with me. On short jaunts around the neighbourhood, I often like to carry him in a front-pack carrier. As fall set in, I was finding my neck getting cold, yet unable to wear scarves as they would get in my baby's face as I carried him. My solution?

A small little neck warmer of my own design using a diagonal cluster lace stitch. Nothing fancy at all, but a nice little bit of luxury to keep me warm. I was a little short on the yardage, so I just added a little Noro Silk Garden to the end to finish things off; not the most elegant solution, I suppose, but it works for me. The alternating button colours worked so much better in my head, and I even liked the way it looked when I lay it out. But once they were sewn on and actually worn, I have to admit that I didn't really love it - I think it would look better if all the buttons were brown. Still, I started wearing it as the need for warmth was more pressing than my concern about button colour, and I soon became too lazy to change the buttons. I used it for a lot of autumn, but now that winter has set in, I'm back to my usual scarves.

On the same day that I finished that neck warmer, I also baked some goodies.

Cashmere and chocolate cupcakes - a winning combination. Well, unless you got the chocolate cupcakes all smeared in your cashmere, but I think you all know what I mean.

Up next: A little something for my little monkey.

Belated Halloween post

2010-11-24T21:54:00.004-05:00

We just put the Christmas tree up over here, and I'm finally getting around to my Halloween post. Yeesh. I need to be better about this! Oh! Speaking of holidays, Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends (and friends living in America) out there.

Back to Halloween. Andrew's first was lots of fun, even though he probably had no idea it was any different than any other day. Thanks to some good friends of mine, he had an awesome costume that felt no different than a sleeper.

Our cute little astronaut, hanging out with a musical Frankenstein toy that was sent to us by his grandparents in Ottawa.

Look how chummy they are!

We took Andrew to the park to hang out with some other moms and babies. We put him down on the ground to take some photos, and he discovered all the wonderful leaves around him.

That photo was snapped mere milliseconds before he shoved those leaves in his mouth. I'm getting used to the fact that discovering things for him automatically means shoving them in his mouth.

We didn't go out for Trick or Treating since he's too young to eat any candy, but we had fun anyway. Next year is definitely going to be lots of fun!

Next: An FO! Finally! Plus some yummy baked treats.

I love the library

2010-11-06T19:04:00.004-05:00

The Toronto Public Library is one of my favourite things. I love books, even though I haven't had much time to read them lately; well, except baby related books. Anyone who has never been a parent will be flabbergasted at the number of books out there on every baby-related topic you can think of: potty training, sign language for babies, baby food, sleep training, general baby care. The list is really endless. Sorry, I digress. Back to the library.

Now that we've got a kid, and my income drastically cut while I'm on mat leave, I'm very conscious of the money we're spending. While I was wandering through Chapters one day, it hit me that, for the same distance from my house to the Chapters, I could go to a local library. Why hadn't I thought of it sooner?!

Behold what knitterly goodies that can be found at the library!

These were books that I just found in the library at random, and all books that I had been curious about. I got to flip through, find out if I really liked the majority of the patterns or not, and then figure out if it'd be something I'd want to invest in. I also found these:

I was really happy to find these two because I've been thinking about how to get over second sock syndrome. I mostly wanted to learn the technique, rather than having more sock patterns, so the library was the perfect solution! I had to put a hold on the toe-up sock book, but that just made me realize how much I loved the library. If they don't have the book you're looking for, they'll get it for you, and all for free!

One more thing that I love about the library? They have wonderful programs for moms and babies. Andrew and I really enjoyed Babytime, and we're a little sad that it's over until January. You can bet we'll be lining up to sign up again. (Just a note for any T.O. parents who might be reading this - Runnymede library needs a sign up, but lots of other libraries don't. Check with your local one to be sure) We learned all sorts of kiddie rhymes and songs, and I continue to use them now to keep Andrew entertained at home. However, the babe was not always so amused.

That's Andrew sleeping through his very first session of Babytime. Haha!

Up next: Halloween! (Yeah, I know...Kinda late, but some of these photos are just too cute not to share)

Plugging away

2010-09-14T11:49:00.003-05:00

I am finally going to post about something craft related!

Remember that blanket that Elaine and I were making that was still a WIP? Well, we continue to work on it. I've finished adding the crochet border to each square, and am now blocking them all so they can be joined together.

I had all these grand plans to block the whole whack of them, but ran into a serious bottle-neck: I didn't have enough pins. Of all things to hold you back! And plus it takes about 2 days for those puppies to dry completely. And so, I'm not finished the blocking process yet. Sigh. For once, it's not me that's slowing down the whole process.

Next post: Why I love, love, love, the Toronto Public Library.

Houston, we have a problem...

2010-09-08T14:10:00.002-05:00

Actually, Houston doesn't have a problem. I do. A serious one.

Yes, it is exactly what you think it is. Yet another bag. It arrived in the mail from Mamabargains yesterday. The first time they went up on sale, I felt the tug. I couldn't believe how cute the bags were (there's a whole animal series). I wanted more than one, that's how cute I found them. And then I told myself, "No, you've got lots of perfectly good bags, among them is a perfectly great diaper bag." And so, I resisted and didn't buy one. Then, the bags sold out and the site moved on to the next deal, and I felt this huge pang of regret that I didn't buy one on the cheap when I had the chance. Despite how much I rationalized the fact that I really didn't need another bag, I couldn't help that gut feeling.

So, when the site featured them again, I couldn't help myself and ordered one. I had a really hard time deciding which one I wanted - I loved the elegance of the Peacock, the bold print of the Toucan, the clever use of frog closures on the Panda. In the end, I picked the Penguin. Cute won out in the end.

Like I said, I have a problem.

Also, you may have noticed a slight change in the look of the blog. What do you think? I've been playing around with the new templates that Blogger has available. I thought this one looked similar to our old style, just a little more refined. I've been surfing around looking at other free templates, but don't really want to change things here too radically yet. Don't worry, Adrienne; if you don't like this change, I have our old template saved and can reinstall it at any time. Just let me know :)

Coming soon: an actual crafty update. Really. I promise.

Where to even start?

2010-09-07T20:21:00.009-05:00

So, it turns out that taking care of a baby is as busy as they all say it is even though all you seem to be doing is feeding it, changing its diaper, and trying to get it to sleep so you can get some sleep too. When the day is over, I often try to sum up everything that I've done, and I often can't think of much else. Little to no housework, minimal cooking, and laundry get sprinkled in there too. I think laundry is the one chore that I have been really keeping up with, mostly out of necessity. When you only have a few nursing bras, and find yourself leaking milk on a daily basis (oh, the things they don't tell you when you're pregnant), you get pretty good at doing a load here and there. Jamie, being the wonderful hubby that he is, looks after cleaning the kitty litter, vacuuming (I have allergies), mowing the lawn and tending to the garden, and taking out the trash. He even changes pretty much all of Andrew's diapers when he's home. What a guy :)

And before you know it, 4 months goes by. Yikes. How did we go from this:

to this:
???!!!

Given that I used to work in research, I am simply not used to so much change so quickly. It boggles my mind sometimes.

While I finally have some craft related stuff to write about, I think I'm going to save it for another post. Some of the photos we've been taking are just too much fun not to share.

This was one of the first smiles we caught on camera when he was about 1.5 months old.

Since then, he hasn't stopped smiling.

Well, sometimes he stops smiling...

Things can get messy...

Things can be unexpected and puzzling...

And things can be incredibly heartwarming...

All in all, I think our little family is doing just fine so far.

We'll keep working on it; the ultimate WIP.

Yes, still alive

2010-07-24T01:18:00.012-05:00

I'm sorry, I've been a seriously delinquent blogger, I haven't touched this space for ages! I don't even have any good excuses, such as being too busy travelling to exciting places, or making a whole new person. Ugh. I think the problem is that my knitting doesn't excite me so much anymore, so I'm not motivated to take pictures of it, and if I don't take pictures, then I also don't update Ravelry until much later, and I don't blog about it either. It's not that I don't enjoy the knitting, it's more that I'm not in awe of the finished objects anymore because it's very much been there, done that. I really don't feel the need to discuss every single pair of toe-up stockinette socks I knit, you know?

In any case, until I figure out what to do about that, here's a roundup of some of the things I've knit over the past little while:

Green Gable (on Ravelry)

Pile-able Pups (on Ravelry)

Poppy (on Ravelry)

(Yay, the sleeves more or less match! As do both sides of the front! I don't think I'll be knitting another sweater out of Silk Garden anytime soon, worrying about getting the matching to work took too much out of me)

Citron (on Ravelry)

Katrina Rib (on Ravelry)

I'm happy that I'm now able to knit sweaters for myself that more or less fit. I don't think that I have a sweater FO that I'm 100% delighted with, but everyone who knows me well will probably say that that's pretty much an impossible endeavour. It's enough that I'm at least willing to wear them out in public! My next sweater goal is to tackle a fingering-weight sweater, maybe a Featherweight Cardigan?

And now I'll probably have to elapse back into blog silence, because I have to get a start on my Christmas knitting. Who knows though, maybe I'll manage to sneak a little something in there for myself, too.

Does this count as an FO? Or is it more a WIP?

2010-04-30T20:01:00.003-05:00

So, Jamie and I finally finished a project that we started 9 months ago. Or, maybe we've just started the biggest project of our lives that will forever be a WIP.

Say hello to Andrew Chang Jien (張健) Wells. Born at 5:09am on April 29 after a long early labour (over 24 hours), but fast active labour (just under 4 hours). He came just in time for me to avoid an induction; even avoided taking castor oil. He cost Daddy $5 in a bet based around his due date, but maybe that's just his way of punishing Dad for making a bet on him.

This is gonna be the best project ever.

Plushies!

2010-04-26T12:29:00.002-05:00

Well, in answer to the lovely Alice's question that she left me in the last post, no baby yet but we're still waiting patiently. Sorta. Going for an ultrasound tomorrow, which will be officially 1 week overdue, just to make sure things are still okay. If things are starting to look risky, I could very well be induced right there. Yikes! While I've got my bag packed, I think I'm going to have to pack another bag of things to help pass the time, just in case. Also need to pack a variety of snacks; hubby's only got one type of granola bar packed, and I think I might want more of a variety. Guess we're coming down to the wire.

To pass the time this weekend, I made my first non-knit, non-crochet plushie since grade 7/8 sewing class.

In a conversation with Jamie, we thought it would be nice idea to make one of those for Baby. After all, what parent wouldn't want their kid to have an extra life stashed away somewhere just in case? I made it out of felt and sewed the whole thing by hand. No real pattern - just sketched out a 1-up mushroom, cut out pieces accordingly, and just gave it a go. I have to say that making these little guys is kinda addictive. Here are some photos so you can get a sense of scale, and see the front and back.

I've got some red felt as well, so Jamie and I were debating the merits of making a red mushroom too. I wasn't so sure about it; after all, wouldn't that be like wanting Baby to grow up in an instant? But Jamie pointed out that it would also mean that if Baby got dinged by anything, it wouldn't be an instant Game Over. Haha! What silly discussions we have. What do you all think?

In addition to making plushies, I did some baking this weekend too.

Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Loaf, as suggested to me by my good friend Becky. I froze the whole lot of it so that I can eat it after Baby is born. Yum!

I've been really wanting to put in some serious time on that baby blanket for my friend Carolyn, but have hit an unfortunate road block. I'm finding that crocheting is seriously aggravating the usually mild, pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome that I've developed. Argh! I can get a border on about half a square before my right wrist feels like it's on fire. Somehow, knitting doesn't produce the same effects. Must be the way I hold my crochet hook. Sigh. I've only got about 7 squares done, there's still a whole whack to go, and the clock is a-ticking.

Things to pass the time

2010-04-22T21:38:00.002-05:00

Baby is now officially 2 days overdue, which means that I am in need of things to do to pass the time while we wait. I know it sounds like I should be getting lots of knitting and crocheting done, but that hasn't been the case. For one thing, Jamie and I have been going on walks to see if we can get labour going. And these aren't just little walks either; they're 4 hour epics which render me quite tired by the end of it. Still, I'm not going to complain because I do get some nice contractions while we're walking. I'm happy that he's accompanying me on these treks since it can't be a picnic for him to do that much walking either. Sure, he's not carrying a watermelon around with him 24/7, but he rarely does that much walking in a day.

On one of these walks, we decided to go to High Park, which is not too far from where we live. It was a good thing we decided to do that because we were able to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

We'd been by that same way about 3 weeks prior, and there was nothing on the trees at all. I called my parents to let them know about it. They had recently gone to Japan in the hopes of catching some cherry blossoms there, but didn't have much luck. So, they were quite happy to see these ones.

Seeing these reminded me of cotton candy. Mmm...cotton candy...

And this is me playing with the macro mode on my camera. The flowers are quite pretty though.

Still with the idea of trying to keep the contractions coming, I decided that the more time I spend standing at home, the better. It's been the case that as long as I'm on my feet, I get more contractions. Since it's not that convenient to knit/crochet while standing, I've been baking. That might seem weird since I was diagnosed with impaired glucose tolerance in my third trimester (which basically means I eat like a diabetic, but don't take insulin), but I enjoy it, so I decided to do it anyway.

I recently attempted a new recipe for double chocolate cookies that starts with cake mix. I usually don't use cake mix for anything, but it was sitting in the cupboard, so I just felt I should use it up. Plus it saved me from having to make a trip out to the grocery store to pick up missing ingredients. Having no experience with making cookies from cake mix, I wasn't sure how they'd turn out.

I'm guessing this is what I should have ended up with.

However, thanks to my idiocy, this is what I ended up with.

I really should have taken a picture when they'd just come out of the oven, before I separated them all. It was a solid sheet of cookie, and seriously looked pretty ridiculous. I fail, really I do. Still, I sent Jamie to work with the lot of them, and from the sounds of it, they were quite popular. Lesson learned. Next time, I will make the cookies smaller, or put more space between them. Sigh.

Finally, some actual yarn-craft!

2010-04-19T20:08:00.003-05:00

After the litany of posts about random things that weren't related to yarn, it's about time I posted something that WAS yarn-related.

Way back in 2007, I started a crochet ripple blanket, and even blogged about it (here's the entry). Well, that blanket never got done. I made more progress on it, but it was just turning out to be...well...really wonky. Being an inexperienced crocheter, I kept adding stitches, losing stitches, miscounting stitches; you get the idea. The blanket was misshapen and malformed. So, I decided to frog it, and try my hand at something that should eventually net me a blanket.

Granny squares.

I have to say, those little squares have been pretty fun to make. Kinda addictive. I think they'd be even more addictive if the yarn I was using didn't split so easily. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino is wonderful to the touch though, so I really can't say I dislike it.

However, that project is currently on hold for a bit. A while back, my friend Elaine and I embarked on a mission to design and make our friend Carolyn a blanket for her baby. We scoured through Stichonaries, and yarn samples to work things out - I gotta say that it was a pretty fun process. Being a joint effort, we each got an assortment of squares we were to knit. Here's an example of one of mine.

Recently, Elaine and I met up to discuss how we were going to piece the whole sucker together.

There's all the squares laid out on my dining table. We decided to border each square with single crochet in white, and then join the squares using a reverse single crochet that will create a bit of a bump that would resemble an i-cord (also in white). In addition to that, the whole thing is going to get a seed stitch border in navy blue.

Sounds great and all, except we're kinda late on this project. Carolyn had her baby back in November. Heh heh. Oh well. The blanket is big enough that they'll still get use out of it when we do finish it. I'm hoping I make good headway on it before my own baby comes. I've finished putting the border on 4 squares, but as you can tell, there's a whole whack more to go.

Speaking of babies, someone has to tell my cat that he's not going to be the baby of the household for much longer.

Kitty, just 'cuz you're in the portable crib, that doesn't make you the baby. Sigh. We're really going to have to watch him. At 18lbs, he's going to outweigh Baby for a while to come.

April is tax season

2010-04-12T20:57:00.004-05:00

You know that phrase, "No rest for the weary"? As I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy, I get the feeling that phrase will take on more and more meaning. I just finished my last day of work on Friday, and what do I do on my first day off? I do my taxes. Hahahahahaha....ahh....yeah. Taxes. It hasn't been a fun process, but I think I'm just about there. Just need to decide if it's better to transfer some tax credits to the hubby or if I should keep them on my return.

As a reward for all the slogging through T4's, capital losses, and other tax credits, I thought I'd post about fun things.

For those of you who have been following this blog, you'll know that I have a weakness for bags. A BIG one.

Yup, it's another Lexie Barnes bag - it's the Darling in Kiri. I got it off this amazing site called Mamabargains. It was 53% off retail, and since I needed a diaper bag anyway, I figured, "Why not?". It's got these neat clips on them that will allow me to attach it to my stroller. Came with a diaper change pad too. I think it's going to be great for toting all the baby gear that inevitably will have to be carted around.

In the very same photo of the Darling is something else that is fun. Kitties! So let's see some more of them!

Lounging in the sun is great.

"Huh? Wake up? What do you mean?"

"Meh. I don't care if I'm starting to look like a turkey."

Nothing beats a comfy chair.

Bags and cats. I feel better already.

Olympic mish-mash

2010-03-10T13:45:00.002-05:00

This post is going to be a bit disjointed given the lack of photos that I have beyond Day 2 of our Olympic trip - my apologies. Jamie put all the Vancouver photos on his computer, and then deleted them from the camera before I could get a chance to copy them on to my computer.

In any case, Day 2 of our trip took us to our first event: Women's Curling - Round Robin matches.

Jamie's so cute when he's super excited! This was the Vancouver Olympic Centre, where the curling events were held. Once the Olympics and Paralympics are done, they're going to take away the ice and turn the building into a community rec centre.

The mascots, Quachi and Miga, were on their way outside to greet people, but we managed to snap a quick shot of them before they left the building.

Some hard-core Japanese curling fans were sitting a few rows in front of us. Some of them had curling stones for hats, others had brooms for hats which ended up looking like mops, but give them an A for effort.

And some of them just had loud hats.

Here we go! Warm-up time begins now! I thought that it was funny that the first thing they do as part of the warm-up is to cool their sliders. Should they call the warm-up "cool-up" instead?

There are 4 games going on at the same time during round robin play, and the Canadians were on Sheet D playing Great Britain.

And here's Cheryl Bernard in action! Canada won their game that day, so the hubby was happy.

After the curling match, we did some shopping for Olympic gear before meeting up with my cousins for dinner. We went to Tojo's, which is an amazing Japanese restaurant with arguably the best sushi you will ever have outside Japan (and maybe even better than some places in Japan). According to their menu, we learned that Hidekazu Tojo, the restaurant's owner and head chef, is one of the inventors of the California Roll, which is named after the locale of its unique ingredient (avocado), and not where it was created. I looked on Wikipedia about this, and he's not mentioned, so who knows.Whether he did help invent it or not, there was no denying that Tojo's has amazingly delicious food.

We then convinced my cousin to drive us past Cole Harbour to look at the Olympic Rings there. Ashley McIvor had just won gold in ski cross earlier that day, so the rings were coloured a beautiful gold.

The rest of the trip went by pretty quickly. In the days following, we spent one day doing nothing because I needed some time to rest, then another day downtown to see if we could get some more tickets to other events (no luck there), were late for family dinner with my aunts, uncles, and cousins because we wanted to watch the end of the gold medal women's hockey game at a bar downtown, saw Great Big Sea in concert (and they are SO amazing live), and watched the Canadian men's curling team take the gold. That was an incredible experience, and being in the building with everyone singing Oh Canada was something else. We saw Stephen Harper, Donald Sutherland, Mike Babcock, Tracy Wilson, and a few well known Canadian curlers in the audience, which was pretty neat. Guess Canadians really do love their curling.

And then it was back on the plane to head home just in time to watch the men's gold medal hockey game and then the closing ceremonies. This is definitely one Olympic games that I'm going to remember. Thanks Vancouver for all the great memories!!

Olympic Spirit!

2010-02-24T15:31:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone! Jamie and I are in Vancouver, enjoying ourselves at the Olympics. Today, we're taking a little break from traipsing around the city to chill out and relax at my cousin's place in Surrey. They've been kind enough to let us stay with them for the entire time that we're here for the games, and honestly we couldn't have made this trip without them. Thank you, Joe and Patty!

So, since I'm chilling out and doing a little bit of knitting, I thought I'd update a little bit and tell you guys how this trip has been going so far. I'll update about my knitting in another post.

DAY 1 - Monday Feb 22, 2010
The vibe in downtown Vancouver is awesome - I really don't know how to describe it. So many happy people from all over the world, lots to see, and lots of great energy. The city itself has decked itself out with so much Canadiana, it's hard not to share in the national pride.

We first hit Robson Square to pick up some event tickets, and just looked around at all the stuff they had there. Everything is so lively with all the stages, music, pavillions, and I love it!

Watching some newscasts from home, we heard about what is apparently an institution here in Vancouver: the Japadog. What is a Japadog? It's a hot dog with a Japanese twist. Our cousins told us that they're really famous around Vancouver, so Jamie and I decided we needed to try one. They've got two stands, and our cousins tipped us off that one of them was less busy than the other, so that's where we went.

Even still, we waited in line for a half an hour; we were told that the line really wasn't bad at all.

Can you spot me, the pregnant lady in a red coat?

Here's the dog that Jamie got; I got the same one, just with some extra seaweed on top.

It's their okonomi dog - kurobuta (apparently this is a very high quality type of Japanese pork) dog, cabbage, okonomi sauce, mayo, and bonito flakes (fish flakes). Very, very yummy. In fact, these hot dogs are so unique that some news people decided to come and check things out.

This is the lady who interviewed me and Jamie after we sat down to eat our hot dogs. They even asked to film close-ups of us eating. How embarrassing! No idea if any news agencies decided to use that clip at all, but it was a pretty hilarious experience.

After our hot dog, it was off to the Olympic Cauldron!

The organizers still have a fence around the cauldron, but they've cut a swath out of it and put plexiglass in so that people can take photos.

After that, we just walked around downtown to do a little shopping, and just soak everything in. We spotted this car during our walk.

They were getting people to sign their car, which I thought was pretty amusing. But yikes; to drive from Halifax to Vancouver? Oh man. For anyone who doesn't know, that means these guys drove from one end of the country to the other; East Coast to West Coast. I wonder if their car is on its last legs, and if it'll make it from Vancouver back to Halifax.

And those were more or less our highlights from Day 1. We passed Lloyd Robertson on the street, which was kinda cool (he's a news anchor for one of Canada's news stations). We stuck around the CTV news tent on the street to see if we could get on the evening news as part of the cheering crowd. I think my jacket made it in a shot that the cameramen took of a baby that was next to me.

Coming soon: Day 2 - Our first live Olympic event!! And knitting. Yes, I haven't forgotten that this is supposed to be knit-blog.

Dark, brown, and handsome

2010-02-01T19:26:00.002-05:00

A while back, I knitted up a little something for Anand and Andrea's baby boy, Ethan. To tell you the truth, I was taking my time on it until I heard from my friend Will that they would be moving to New York in January. Well, I knitted like the wind, and finished it before the end of December. Wrote to Andrea to find out when I could stop by their place to drop it off, only to find that they had moved to Waterloo to stay with Andrea's parents earlier in December. Whoops! Well, that at least gave me the time to take some pictures for the blog, and now I'm going to mail it off to them in New York.

Meet yet another Baby Bobbi Bear, done in a dark brown instead of the usual light. I used Blue Sky Alpaca cotton for the bear, and some gray superwash worsted for the features. I feel that after the experience I've gained making other toys, the face on this one wound up better than the first Baby Bobbi Bear I ever made.

Coming soon: updates on more baby knitting. Just not necessarily for my own baby.

Ravelympics? Yes or No?

2010-01-18T16:32:00.003-05:00

Back in 2008, I decided to be a part of Team Canada for the Summer Olympics. It was great fun, and I managed to knock off 2 WIPs that had been lurking in my stash. Well, before I knew it, Vancouver 2010 is just around the corner, and I haven't decided if I want to be part of it again. Normally, I would dive right in without any hesitation, but there are a couple things that are complicating my decision this year.

The first complicating issue is the fact that the hubby and I are actually, physically GOING to the Olympics for one week. While I can take knitting with me, we all know that it's just that much harder now to bring all the little things that you never know if you'll need when you're finishing a project. That said, I suppose I could always just be less ambitious with my project, and aim to finish it during the first week of the Olympics.

The other thing is that, and I suppose this is the big news that I haven't really talked about here yet, is the fact that we're expecting our first baby in the spring! Remember that Classy that I mentioned before? Well, that's being slated for a baby sweater for the little one on the way. I know many of you are probably saying that this may be perfect for the Ravelympics -- something to spur me on to finish some goodies for the forthcoming baby. I considered that too, and it's not without its merits. However, I have to admit that this pregnancy is taking its toll on my knitting time. It takes me just a little longer to do just about everything now, and after work I have a hard time staying awake past 9 or 10pm.

I honestly keep waffling back and forth between whether I join or not. Sometimes having a deadline, even if it's a friendly one, is nice to keep me on track. Sometimes, it stresses me out. Then again, maybe the fact that the baby is going to enter this world whether the sweater is ready or not should be deadline enough? I still can't seem to decide.

How about all of you? Any of you planning to join the Ravelympics?

And since there haven't been any photos in this post, here's a random one of some cute kitties.

Long time no post!

2009-11-11T18:34:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posting! Things have been pretty busy, and I have to admit that knitting has kinda fallen to the wayside. I'm still working on a baby blanket for a friend, but I really don't think it'll be ready by the time she has her baby. Oh well. We'll keep plugging away at it. Might take pictures of it someday.

However, this post is about something else completely. As a reward to myself for finishing up a pretty major (non-knitting) project, I went to Lettuce Knit for some goodies.
First up, some lovely sock yarn.

Koigu is always a crowd-pleaser.

I really liked the sparkly bits in this Dream in Color Starry.

And lastly, some lovely Dream in Color Classy.

The sock yarn is actually going to be for socks. The Classy is going to be for something else, which I'll likely write about soon.

Remember way back when I ranted about losing some socks and patterns? Well, almost 2 years after losing it, guess what I found?

Tah dah! The pattern that I couldn't find no matter where I looked! Haha! Funny how things pop out of the wood work!

Lastly, and this will probably only interest Adrienne, but I'm gonna write about it anyway. Did any of you happen to notice the unfamiliar piece of furniture that I've been photographing all my new stash on? It's something that arrived at our house just last month after a lot of heel dragging on my part.

Yup, the Chang family piano has now arrived at the Chang-Wells home. I was really excited about it, and have actually played it a few times since it's gotten here. Jamie tells me that it's possible to hear it a bit on the outside, so I'm a little self conscious about playing now. I'm so out of practice that I actually want to start out by playing scales and exercises again, and that'll probably be really boring for other people to listen to. Oh well.

It's fat! It's thin! It's still the same piece of yarn!

2009-08-20T19:11:00.003-05:00

Last Sunday, I headed over to Lettuce Knit for my first class of Learn to Drop Spindle, taught by the ever funny and charming Denny McMillan. I had a great time playing with the lovely fiber that came in our little kit - so soft and cozy! Granted, it was probably one of the hottest days we've had here in Toronto for a long time, but it was still grand.

This is the lovely Ashford top-whorl spindle that came in our kit. Denny showed us how to use it as a bottom-whorl one, just so we'd have played with it both ways. As you can probably tell from this photo, the thickness of my yarn isn't exactly consistent yet. But you know what they say - practice makes perfect!

Here's a better look at how uneven my yarn is:

I haven't quite got the hang of drafting and spinning at the same time just yet; it really is kinda like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. I'm quite proficient at doing the head/tummy thing, but somehow I can't quite get the hang of draft/spin just yet. I'm wondering just how much of a crime would it be to pre-draft everything that I want to spin with!

A few things

2009-07-20T20:29:00.002-05:00

With a few babies just entering the world, I managed to polish off a couple things.

There's the finished Helena for Kim's baby. I think in the future, I might make i-cord ties instead of the flat ones they have in the pattern.

And with Janice's new baby boy, I made a vest. She mentioned to me that vests were really easy to put on Anderson, so I thought I'd make one for Carter.

This is the Owl Baby Vest. I had a fun time knitting this one, but i have to say that the instructions for this needed some interpretation. But it's still a pretty fun little knit.

I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out. Hope the kids they're destined for enjoy them too.

A little stash enhancement

2009-07-05T18:40:00.002-05:00

I went to Lettuce Knit to sign up for a class the other day - Learn to Drop Spindle! Yay! It looks like fun, and I've always been curious about making my own yarn, so I figure why not!

Of course, at trip to the yarn store would not be complete with out a few purchases.

A little mediumweight Socks that Rock for the Milkweed shawl. I've started this already and am really loving it already. I missed lace knitting.

I also got a pattern to make a shrug out of Dream In Color yarn.

Remember way back when I wanted to make Talia, and was sabotaged by the cats? Well, I don't think I can really return to that project thanks to the bad mojo. So, I got this new pattern; I'll probably frog the partially done Talia in a few weeks or so.

The last thing I got was totally spur of the moment. Lettuce Knit was having a 50% off Lexie Barnes sale. In a moment of weakness, I got myself this.

A Lady B in Utopia. It's too big for me to use as a day to day bag, but I really like it for all sorts of other reasons. With the new house, I've got all sorts of rooms where I can knit, so I actually use it to haul all my knitting gear around - from the garden, to the sunroom, to the couch by the TV, to upstairs. The bag holds pretty much all the knitting and crochet needles that I own, and a whole lotta yarn for whatever project I feel like working on at the moment. I can see this bag being great for drives to Ottawa. Only downside is that the Lady B is so nice and roomy that the temptation to cram it full is always there, which leads to a really heavy bag. I tried it out as my day-to-day bag once, and really did cram it full. My arms and shoulders weren't happy with me afterward.

I'll have some photos of my Milkweed in progress when I get a bit further along!

Yes, that's exactly what I meant it to be...

2009-06-29T18:15:00.002-05:00

Meet Baldassare the Blood Drop. Working at a hospital, I thought it would be quite fitting to crochet up a little toy like this. Isn't he cute?

And now, the real story. I didn't actually plan to have a drop of blood for a toy. It was originally supposed to be a toy mouse.

Starting to get the picture? But since I'm really new to this crochet game, I'm still not good at gauging how much yarn I need to finish a project. So, before I could get the ears and tail done, here's how much yarn I had left.

Not exactly enough to make the rest of the appendages on Mr. Mouse. But since I already put the eyes on, I didn't want to waste the toy (such as it is).

And so, I'm sticking to the story that I always planned to make it a drop of blood, and don't all of you think otherwise (haha!).

Hmmm.

2009-06-27T09:13:00.006-05:00

A few months ago, Woolgirl was having a sale on a whole bunch of different worsted weight yarns. So I bought some Madelinetosh Tosh Worsted in the colourway "Seaglass":

I knew it was going to be a bright, vibrant green from the photo on the website, but somehow I wasn't expecting quite this degree of electric neon-ness. It's in the process of being turned into this:

Will I be able to pull this colour off? Am I carrying my love of green too far? Will it be a fun awesome sweater or will I end up blinding passers-by? Stay tuned! =)

P.S. I totally fell off the yarn diet wagon. Some Calmer at >50% off was calling my name. I couldn't not do it!

More Cracksilk Haze

2009-05-30T22:57:00.004-05:00

Not too long ago, I bought some yarn. And some beads.

Kidsilk Haze is rapidly becoming one of my favourite yarns (that, plus Silk Garden, plus Koigu KPPPM, plus Calmer. Hi, I'm a yarn snob). It's airy and light, yet oh-so-warm during those frigid winter months. I'm using this yarn to knit Trinket (Rav link), a scarf that I've coveted ever since the pattern came out years and years ago.

I'm into the second ball of yarn now (there are 3), and the scarf is around 3 feet long. I think I want the main part of the scarf to be at least 5 or 6 feet long, and then there's the knitted ruffle where all the hundreds of beads are attached (600 or so? I hope I have enough beads. Maybe I should buy another tube just in case. Or use fewer beads. 600 seems like an awful lot to hang on the end of such a light scarf).

Anyway, it will probably be several months before this one gets finished (by this fall/winter though, definitely!). It's almost June, which means that it's probably about time to start thinking about Christmas presents. =)

I can see why these things are addictive

2009-05-22T22:46:00.002-05:00

Say hello to my new buddy. He has no name was of yet, but I'm still thinking of one. I suppose one could argue that this little octopus could be female, but I get the distinct feeling that it's male.

Here he is gazing wistfully out the little window by my front door.

I embroidered his eyes on, but decided that next time I'm going to use safety eyes instead. It was a pain to do the embroidery.

Lorna's Laces Sale (again)

2009-05-16T15:37:00.004-05:00

Remember last year's Lorna's Laces tour and sale? It's hard to believe that it happened over a year ago, especially since I haven't touched the yarn that I bought that morning! Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't have gone out and bought MORE yarn this year, right? =)

Last year I was #40 in line, so this year I was determined to be one of the first 20 into the yarn room (oh, the things we do for yarn). I'm not a morning person at all, but having to get into work at 7 am some mornings recently really served me well, because I made it over there just before 8. I was #15, so there are 14 people who are crazier than I am. =)

I've been on a yarn diet since April 1, but I knew that I'd be going to this sale before that so this is the one exception until at least the end of June. Maybe that's why I went way over budget!

That's 7 skeins of Green Line DK in a one-of-a-kind colourway, 4 skeins of Lion and Lamb in Pine, and Shepherd Sock in Montrose and another one-of-a-kind (it reminds me of Annie Modesitt's Roadside Gerry). I was really hoping to get some Green Line DK today, so I'm quite happy about that. The Lion and Lamb is a bit of a luxury, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but it's a yarn that I've always loved from afar.

I'm also seriously loving the Montrose colourway.

And now my stash has officially reached ridiculous proportions, and I may need to extend the yarn diet beyond the end of June.

February Lady Sweater

2009-04-30T22:24:00.004-05:00

Oh, hello. I guess I haven't posted here in a little while (hangs head in shame). There are a couple of reasons (excuses), the first being that I haven't really been knitting much in the past few months, and the second is that my computer was dying a slow death such that tasks like uploading photos was too much for him and made him heat up and have his fan go into overdrive.

Alas, dear Melvin is now no more, and I've been slowly setting up a new machine (Melvin II), so I thought I'd finally post photos of a sweater that I've had finished since January.

This is the February Lady Sweater (Ravelry link) that everyone and their mother has been knitting, it's really an easy knit and makes a garment that looks flattering on just about everyone.

The buttons came from Bettiegee's vast button collection, I think it looks really good with the garter stitch (please excuse my unhealthy-looking hair in the corner there).

The yarn is Beaverslide worsted, which people have raved about with good reason. It's a wonderful yarn to knit with, and I am tempted to buy several more sweaters' worth to stash away. Not that I need more stash (really, I don't). But we need to support businesses we love in these hard economic times, right? =)

I've worn this sweater several times now, which makes it the 3rd sweater I've knit that I actually wear out in public. I think I'm slowly getting better at this whole "making garments" thing.

I also knit a good chunk (the lace parts) of a second Lady Sweater for Bettiegee of the buttons, using Lorna's Laces Green Line....dk or worsted, I can't remember. However I neglected to take any photos, so just imagine a second, pink version of the same sweater. =) The Lorna's yarn was really nice to work with, maybe I'll be able to snag some for myself at this year's Lorna's Laces tour and sale.

Knitting on a deadline

2009-04-13T10:43:00.002-05:00

Went to Ottawa for Kim's baby shower, and still wasn't done the second sweater that I wanted to give her. I'm usually pretty good at knitting for a deadline, but with the whole house thing, I've been a little preoccupied. I was close enough though that I thought I could finish on the drive up. This is as far as I got.

I think I would've finished had I not forgotten my dpns at home. And so, I presented the almost finished sweater to her, and then took it back with me so I could finish the ties before giving it back to her. So close, yet so far. Oh well. It's still a pretty sweet little sweater, and since I made the 12mo size, I'll see her again before the baby fits into it. I highly recommend Helena as a pattern, and Swish superwash as a yarn - this was a really enjoyable knit.

It's supposed to be spring

2009-03-24T18:56:00.003-05:00

Even though spring has officially arrived, the weather here hasn't exactly reflected that. I'm getting good use out of my reliable Clapotis and my new Fiddleheads. But something was still missing. A nice hat. Much to my dismay, I seem to have lost the Koolhaas hat that I made - it probably got tucked away in our massive clean up of the place when we were trying to sell it. So, what to do?

Say hello to the Tempest Beret, from the Winter/Spring Knit Scene. It was a really fun knit. I made it from the Malabrigo that Adrienne sent to me way back. I was originally hesitant to knit a beret because I was afraid that my ears would be cold, but this hat covers my ears nicely. It also takes the award for most fun blocking. You put it around a big plate! How fun is that?! Uh...okay...maybe I'm the only one who finds it fun (haha!).

Also got a package from Knit Picks today containing yarn that will be fashioned into more baby items. I'll post about those when I've actually started them. I just got some superwash merino since I figure new moms and dads don't have the time to hand wash.

I still dislike finishing and sewing in ends

2009-03-22T14:28:00.003-05:00

Another finished object! Yay!

It's the Baby Yours that I started a while ago, and now that I know someone who's having a girl, I decided to hurry up and finish it. This involved more sewing together than I usually like. I'm not too sure if I'd knit it again without trying to figure out how to take away some of the seaming.

Here's a photo that shows the cables better, but the colour is totally off. I'm a bit too lazy to adjust the levels in Photoshop. Just imagine this in the colours of the first photo. Haha!

I still need to block this, but on the whole I guess it's okay. I made some boo-boo's on it, but I think I managed to hide them. Haha!!

I win!

2009-03-04T17:43:00.002-05:00

Remember how Jamie said that I wouldn't get the mittens done before winter was over? Well, he added a few more stipulations to that statement. He said that in order for me to prove him wrong, I had to either finish the Fiddleheads before March 21, or before the last day of sub-zero temperatures, which ever came first.

Annoyed with his increasing number of stipulations, I decided to silence all doubt by finishing the mitts.

The alpaca lining is lovely, and the next time I see Denny at Lettuce Knit I will have to thank her for her suggestion. It really is like a little bit of luxury next to my skin. I wore them today to work, and my hands were the warmest they'd been in a while.

Now I just need to figure out how to shove the bottoms of the mittens into my coat sleeves while wearing said mittens. If I could do that, I'd be all set. Either that, or learn to do up zippers while wearing mitts.

Halfway there

2009-02-22T16:06:00.002-05:00

Just a little update on the progress of my Fiddleheads.

The cat seems to give it his seal of approval.

As I mentioned before, I decided to knit the second using magic loop instead of dpns. I hadn't really anticipated that the simple act of eliminating the need to change between needles would significantly speed up my knitting. But it did. And so...

I took that picture before blocking. They are currently drying after a good soak, and I think most of the funny bumps and curls are pretty much gone. Now, on to the lining!

I am determined to prove Jamie wrong, and finish them before the weather gets warm.

Fledgling Fiddleheads

2009-02-08T10:46:00.002-05:00

I've been working on my new Fiddlehead Mittens in the hopes of finishing them before the winter is over. It's been going faster than I thought. However, I'm getting the feeling that I'm not really very good at picking colours. Here's why.

While I love the look of the dark purple against the grey-ish brown, I'm not so sure about that lavender. Granted, the photo makes it look lighter than it reality. Looking at it sitting next to my laptop, I am able to see the swirly motif quite nicely, so I guess it's not too bad.

I was considering frogging the lavender part and just stick with just the dark purple and grey-brown, but as I write this post and keep looking at the mitten itself, I think I'm going to keep plugging away at it. For the second mitten, I'm considering using magic loop; not totally sure yet though.

FOs!

2009-02-02T19:54:00.003-05:00

Yay! I've finished something! After a long, long time, I finally finished my toe socks! And this marks the last set of socks I will make on size 0 needles. Adrienne, I'm sending those needles your way. You're okay with bamboo, right?

With the finishing of something, it heralds the desire to start something new. Even though I'm not really suppose to be enhancing my stash right now, I really wanted to start on some new mittens. My current mittens are getting kinda old, and the thrums inside are thinning out and getting matted down, and hence not very warm any more. And so...

Starting from the left are three skeins of Cascade 220, which are slated to become Fiddlehead Mittens. The two skeins of alpaca are going to be the lining for the Fiddleheads. The last two skeins are just some pretty, pretty Koigu that I just wanted - they'll probably become socks. I also got the latest issue of Knitscene.

Why did I feel that it was suddenly okay to buy more yarn? Jamie confessed to me that he bought two books even though we no longer have any bookshelves :)

Salina

2009-01-31T16:23:00.003-05:00

Oops, I guess I forgot to continue posting. I have 2 sweaters and a pair of socks to post about! I also have a sweater-in-progress that I'm knitting for someone else, and a new scarf that I've started. Work's gotten busy though, so I haven't actually picked up my knitting in a couple of weeks.

I remember buying the yarn for Salina from Rowan Vintage Style way back in 2004 (too lazy to look up the actual post), so I figured that I should probably get to knitting this thing already. I started it sometime in Spring 2008, and had all the pieces finished and blocked by July:

I seamed it up and tried it on, and discovered to my dismay that the sleeves were actually too long. Well, too long to be 3/4 length sleeves, which is what I was going for, but also too short to be full-length sleeves. It looked pretty stupid.

I let the sweater languish for several months (August-November), then around mid-November I decided that I had to do something about the sleeve issue. So some surgery was called for.

Step 1: Determine optimal sleeve length. See how there's at least 3 inches of extra stockinette in there? Duh.

Step 2: Put stitches on dpns, unravel sleeve seam. It's a good thing I hadn't woven in any ends yet.

Step 3: Cut yarn (!!), unravel back to marked stitches. Fingers crossed that all the stitches on the dpns were actually from the same row of knitting.

Step 4: Join new yarn, reknit the cuff in the round. And voila, a sweater that I'd actually wear out in public!

There are 4 buttonholes, but I only used 3 buttons. When I wear it, I generally only have 2 buttons buttoned anyway.

This was a fun and pretty successful knit overall, the only thing I don't love about it is the fact that the collar doesn't sit down properly in the back. It's not wide enough, so it keeps flipping up. I'll have to try to block it down, or something. Other than that, all is good.

The pattern is Salina from Rowan Vintage Style, the yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed in the Crush colourway (Rav link). I had to go down to US3 and US1 needles to get gauge (recommended needles are US5), which actually wasn't quite as painful as it sounds. I love this yarn, it's tweedy and soft and I haven't noticed any pilling yet. I will definitely be using it again.

Fiddleheads!

2009-01-01T18:38:00.006-05:00

Happy New Year! I have a bunch of things to post about. I'll start with my sister's Christmas present, these awesome Fiddlehead mittens (Rav link).

I bought the yarn for these (Reynolds Whiskey, it's a gorgeous yarn and I definitely want to use it again for a sweater someday) way back in the spring, during WEBS' big anniversary sale. I ended up knitting 4 mittens, because I wanted a pair for myself too!

The lining is knit out of Kidsilk Night/Spray, with two strands held together. The mohair in the Kidsilk plus the stranded wool means that these mittens should serve to keep our hands warm(ish) during the chilly Montreal/Chicago winters.

I'm not quite finished with my own pair yet, but my goal is to finish knitting the linings in the next week or two, because it sure is getting cold out there!

Wrapping up the year

2008-12-31T17:54:00.002-05:00

Just hours before the end of 2008, I wanted to make one last post for the heck of it. First off, here's a little something I made for my mom for Christmas that I forgot to post about.

A pair of Fetching wrist warmers made of the same Berroco Alpaca that I made mine out of. I modified the pattern to make mine extra long, but I didn't do the same for my mom's. When I gave them to her, she was a bit puzzled as to what to use them for, but hopefully she'll find them as useful as I find mine.

As some of you might already know, the hubby and I are now house-hunting. We're packing up our condo in preparation for putting it up on the market, so that means a HUGE de-clutter, and sending a ton of things into storage. And so, my knitting corner had to disappear from the premises (ack!). I've had to select a few key skeins to tide me over, but the rest had to be packed away. So here it is. My entire stash.

Yes Adrienne, that includes all that Silk Garden you were so kind to bring me. I seriously thought I had more yarn than that. Maybe I can treat myself to some more yarn when we've got ourselves a house :)

Have a safe and happy New Year's celebration, everyone! See you all in 2009!!

Thanks, everyone!

2008-12-08T16:15:00.003-05:00

First off, I wanted to thank everyone for their very helpful input. After reading all the comments, and thinking about it a bit more, I've decided to continue with the sweater. As for my own thoughts, I have to say that I really love the way the cables look. But like Adrienne said, the check pattern on the sides (a simple k2, p2 alternating), seems a bit visually distracting. However, I find that I really like the way that part feels when you touch it, so maybe Baby will like how it feels too. And yes, I agree that the sweater is not quite gender neutral. I'm not knitting it for any baby in particular, so I'll just hang on to it until someone I know has a baby girl.

Man...you know what this means? I'm going to procrastinate on that second toe sock even more!

Opinions welome

2008-12-07T15:42:00.002-05:00

I took the opportunity to photograph what I've knit so far of Baby Yours in some natural light this morning (and let me tell you we've had very little natural light lately), and that's what it looks like.

So, before I venture forth with the rest of this sweater, I'd like to solicit some opinions from you. Keep on knitting, or start a-froggin'?

[And in case any of you are wondering, I do have my own opinions about this, but I wanted to see what you all say without me polluting your initial thoughts.]

Finishing what you start

2008-12-05T13:00:00.002-05:00

Many of you know that finishing is one of my least favourite parts of the whole knitting process. I try to take as many sneaky tricks as possible to minimize the amout of it I have to do, but sometimes there's just no helping it. And so, after having put it off for a little while, I decided to sew the seams and put the buttons on that Baby Surprise Jacket.

Having learned from the first BSJ that I knit, I resolved to do a better job of the seams this time.

I think they turned out pretty well this time around (and my camera fails at taking close-up shots like that).

With all sorts of friends with something cooking in the oven so to speak, I decided to start yet another baby sweater.

DETAILS
Pattern: Baby Yours by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Jasper
Needles: US size 4 Addi Turbos

I'm not sure about the colour, to tell you the truth. Or rather, I'm not sure about how all those lovely cables will look considering the amount of striping that's happening. I'm not really an experienced cable knitter, so I'm not sure if cables+variagated will still turn out to be perfectly lovely. The only time I've really done cables have been with non-variagated yarns. I do admit to being quite enamored with the pattern so far, and have been enjoying it greatly, so the only question now is if I should really be getting a different colourway. Any thoughts before I get too far with it?

Getting closer

2008-11-30T15:14:00.002-05:00

Little by little, I'm getting closer to finishing up projects that I've had going. The first is another EZ Baby Surprise Jacket that I'm making from some friends of mine who are expecting. They've elected not to find out the baby's gender, so I tried to pick something relatively neutral.

This sweater turned out a lot more brown than I thought it would based on the yarn. I thought the light blue would be more obvious. In some ways, all that brown makes me feel like the sweater has a more "manly" feel to it, but I guess it's still pretty gender neutral. Just need to sew up the shoulders and put the buttons on. I wasn't in much of a finishing mood today, so I decided to just leave it for now.

Since I was in the mood to do some more brainless knitting, I decided to finish off one of those toe socks that have been on my needles forever now.

I am now exactly 50% done this project. Someday, I'll get off my butt and cast on the second sock. But today's not that day either. I made these with size 0 needles, and found those to be a huge pain in the rear. These will probably be the last pair of socks that I make on size 0's. That said, the small needles have produced a wonderfully cozy sock, but I'm just not sure they're worth the pain (quite literally too since my hands were starting to ache from those ridiculously small dpns).

Fabulous. Absolutely.

2008-11-28T00:53:00.004-05:00

Yay! I finally finished knitting my mother's Absolutely Fabulous Throw, after 10 months of knitting. I started this beast way back in January, made fairly good progress on it during the winter, then put it away once the weather started warming up. Then some chilly weather descended upon us in October, so out came the blanket again. And now it's done at last!

This is Colinette's Absolutely Fabulous Throw in the Antique colourway. I was under the impression that they stopped selling these in the U.S. a while back, and started selling other (similar) throw kits, but I think I've still seen some of these kits around so I don't really know what's happening.

After having experienced this finished product I dearly want one of these for myself, but I'm not sure I could bring myself to do all that knitting again. It's the mohair (3 different colourways) that really got to me. As well as the Fandango (chenille, ugh).

All that mohair makes this a very very warm blanket, though. Almost as good as having a purring kitty sitting on your lap.

My mom and I bought this kit together, so it's not exactly a surprise present. I hope she uses it, especially since it's basically the most awesome blanket ever.

Something a little different

2008-11-24T21:58:00.002-05:00

I know this is supposed to be a knit blog, but I finished a fun little craft that I wanted to share. I made myself a purse organizer following the instructions here. It's a very easy and affordable little project, and costs much less than similar purse organizers that are on the market. For the fabric and interfacing, I paid about $7; I have enough interfacing left over to make another organizer too.

It folds up nicely, so I can put it into both small and large bags. Makes changing bags really easy now. If you're a rookie at sewing, I highly recommend this project as something to get you started.

Holey

2008-11-21T21:17:00.007-05:00

I experienced my first sock casualty today. BOTH heels in a pair of socks completely gave way.

Those are socks knit with Claudia Handpainted fingering yarn in the Stormy Days colourway. I thought I had blogged about them before, but apparently not. These socks were an experiment in knitting toe-up socks with a heel flap, and they turned out just fine except for the fact that the colours of each sock pooled pretty differently (not so obvious in this photo). However, I thought that knitting a slip-stitch heel was supposed to make it sturdier? Or maybe not?

I can't remember when exactly I knit these socks, maybe last year, maybe the year before, but they were far from the first pair of socks that I knit, nor were they the handknit socks that I wore the most. I have other socks (knit with Regia, Lorna's Laces, and Fleece Artist yarns) that I've worn just as much (if not more), and none of them show signs of biting the dust anytime soon (and I usually knit short-row heels, sans reinforcement). It seems like this yarn just doesn't hold up as well as the others?

I have other socks knit out of this yarn that I haven't worn yet (including my Monkeys), as well as yarn for 2 more pairs of socks in the stash. So now I'm thinking, maybe they shouldn't become socks if the yarn isn't that hard-wearing? Maybe they want to be something else? A Chevron scarf? Gloves/Mittens? Hats? Maybe I should put the other socks into the rotation and see how they hold up?

Sophie's not quite sure what to do either.

Curvy (the sweater)

2008-11-19T13:21:00.003-05:00

Finished my sweater! Yay! This was definitely the quickest I've ever been on a adult sized garment of any kind. I started it at the beginning of October, and finished it last night.

Again, taking photos in the middle of the night is a bad idea. Oh well. I'll try to get some better photos another time.

Details
Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Gemilicious Worsted
Needles: size 6
Modifications: doubled the length of the sleeves, added length to the body.

There are lots of things I like about this sweater. The color, the yarn, the cables. It fits quite nicely, but can be a bit unforgiving if you're wearing baggy jogging pants underneath. I'm just going to assume that if I was wearing a pair of nice fitting jeans, those odd bumps around my waist will go away (that remains to be seen however). The only thing I'm a bit unsure of is the wide yoke. I don't have enough...ahem...assets to fill the top part enough to feel comfortable with wearing it slightly off the shoulder without worrying about the whole top falling down (plus my bra straps show). But, if I don't wear it off the shoulder, there's too much fabric around the top that bunches all weird.

Now, before everyone asks if I checked the pattern before knitting, the answer is yes, I did. It turned out as the pattern described, but I believe the main problems is that I didn't quite make the connection of needing boobs to hold up the sweater. I have no problems wearing a shirt that's off the shoulder, but I don't want to wear a shirt that will leave me flashing people whenever I bend over. I'll probably just wind up throwing a tank top underneath it or something though. All in all, I do like the sweater, and would like to wear it every now and then. Probably not to work, but maybe to other things.

Lest we forget

2008-11-10T23:28:00.003-05:00

One of the (many) things I miss about Canada is the wearing of poppies on our lapels in honour of Remembrance Day. I've seen a few people over the years with poppies down here in the U.S., but have never actually come across anyone distributing them. A few weeks ago I was even considering going to the Canadian consulate to ask if maybe they had some poppies to give away (I didn't, they probably would have thought I was a bit crazy). Which is why I was extremely pleased to see Laura Chau's pattern for a knitted poppy (Rav link) this weekend.

This one is made out of scraps of Calmer (brown, apparently I have zero black yarn) and Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Aran (red, more red than this photo shows), and took about an hour to make. And now I'll never have to go poppy-less again.

(I also want to say a big Thank You to all of you who said such nice things about my Malabrigo vest, and for all your suggestions. If blocking doesn't fix the the weirdness of the scoop, I'll think about redoing the ribbing to maybe add one extra round, since I have very little yarn left. It's funny how knitting one's own garments actually does very little to mitigate one's insecurities about clothing and fit and all the negative stuff that tends to happen in fitting rooms. =))

See my (questionable?) vest

2008-11-09T02:18:00.006-05:00

I love Malabrigo yarn. It is super-soft and smooshy, one of the most pet-able yarns out there. There's a reason why it's the 3rd most popular yarn used on Ravelry.

A few years back (June 2005, to be exact!) I bought 2 skeins of Malabrigo in the Loro Barranquero colourway, a gorgeous mix of maroons and reds with some pinks and yellows and greens and white thrown in. I originally used the yarn to knit a hat and scarf set, loved how the colourway knit up, but hated the actual finished products themselves. Here's a photo of the hat-that-didn't-really-fit, see all the pretty colours?

Earlier this summer I decided that the yarn was being wasted as never-to-be-worn winter accessories, so I frogged the hat and scarf and cast about for something else to make with the yarn. I only had 2 skeins worth (~420 yards), so it definitely wasn't enough for a sweater. I couldn't find any coordinating solids that would have matched well. Eventually I came across the Scoop Neck Vest pattern from Blue Sky Alpacas, which only required 400 yards or so of yarn for my size.

Making sure I didn't run out of yarn required some reworking of the pattern on my part. I cast on provisionally and knit the top parts of both the back and the front first (i.e. the stockinette portions), then joined both pieces together and knit the bottom ribbing in the round. Then I picked up stitches around the neckline and armholes to knit the ribbing there. I have a very small ball of yarn left.

I'm not sure how I feel about the finished product right now. It hasn't been blocked yet, but currently the fit is a bit off, and I feel like the scoop is too low, especially given my lack of, um, assets in that area. The straps are rather curly and the neckline is a bit wonky, but that will probably (hopefully) go away after blocking. In the photo below, I'm wondering where my waistline went, and why plain white shirts are flattering on everyone else except me.

In general, I think I've realized something about Malabrigo. It's very pretty yarn, but there's something about it that feels a bit....off to me when I knit with it. Maybe it's that it's too "floppy" when knit up, I always feel like I like it better in the skein than as an FO. In this situation, I'm sort of feeling like the vest doesn't do justice to the gorgeousness of the colourway, and that it didn't necessarily live up to the promise of the original skeins. I mean, aren't these prettier than either the hat or the vest?

So, who knows. Maybe blocking will "fix" everything. Or maybe this will go into the pile of knits-I-never-wear. In either case, I am NOT knitting this yarn up again for the third time. =)

Resistance is futile

2008-11-04T01:23:00.003-05:00

Did you all get the email about the Webs Silk Garden closeout sale a couple of weeks ago? Did anyone else buy any yarn? Because we (Karen and I) sure did. We didn't go entirely crazy like I'm sure some folks did (did you see how fast it disappeared?), but when I put in the order for 28 skeins I admit to feeling a teensy bit faint despite the fact that the yarn wasn't ALL for me (hey, I'm on a postdoc salary and can't afford to buy too much yarn at once, ok? =P).

I thought maybe the box would be enormous. Turns out, yarn is squishy. Here's the box with an 8-pound cat sitting on top:

The box of yarn balanced on my head:

And the spoils. I won't say who bought which yarn, but that's 3 colourways of Silk Garden, #47, #226, and #247.

The yarn is even prettier in person (top to bottom, #47, #226, #247). I love love LOVE this yarn. If I were stuck on a desert island with only one kind of yarn to knit with, this just might be it.

Manly enough?

2008-10-19T00:11:00.005-05:00

I have a deep and abiding love for Noro Silk Garden. In fact, a significant portion of my stash (almost a quarter of it) consists of Silk Garden. I usually only buy it when it's on sale or from eBay, since my budget wouldn't be able to handle buying much of it at full price. Over the past couple of years, I've managed to acquire a few skeins in darker colourways, colourways that fall far outside my usual palette of bright and pretty colours.

Not that I don't like the darker colours, they're just not the first things I'd reach for.

So what to do with these orphan non-girly skeins? How about a manly Noro Striped Scarf?

The only man in my life worth knitting for at present is of course my dad, so I'm thinking that this might make a nice Christmas present for him. The thing is, there are a couple of less-manly sections in the scarf, such as the one right here with the pink and green.

Looking at the scarf as a whole, I think it's plenty manly enough, and it's received positive reviews from at least one man (my coworker who was in the car with me when I finished the scarf on the way home from a conference). I'm posting these photos mostly for the benefit of my mom and sister, who get final say over whether the scarf can be gifted. What do you think?

(This scarf used 2 skeins of colourway 86, 1 skein of 82, and 1 skein of 88)

Back to blogging

2008-10-04T18:50:00.003-05:00

Hello! I'm back. I think. I have no idea how the entire summer got away from me like that, but here it is October and I haven't touched this blog in 3 months. But just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been knitting! I've worked on a sweater, a vest, some socks, an afghan, a scarf, and have also been doing some super-duper secret knitting. All of which will be revealed in good time.

But before talking about the knitting, how about some stash enhancement? This weekend was Yarn-Con, "Chicago's own yarn-centric exhibition", and I went with two goals in mind. To grab some more Sophie's Toes sock yarn (I made a patchwork scarf out of the yarn here, see also the Rav link), and to get a little project bag from Piddleloop. And that's precisely what I came home with:

See the bag? It's got flying pigs on it!

And the yarn, here's a closeup of the yarn. My camera doesn't come close to capturing all the pretty colours. Those are the American Patchwork (top) and Fall Mums (bottom) colourways (with Sophie cat's toes peeking into the photo), I was standing in the booth for the longest time trying to decide which ones to get.

And here's a little confession. By my reckoning I've knit 19 pairs of socks. I now have enough sock yarn to knit over twice that number. You think I should stop buying the stuff already? I've actually been pretty good lately about staying away, but I've got to support the indie dyers, don't I? =)

Thanks, everyone!

2008-10-03T22:07:00.004-05:00

Well, it didn't take me long to get back on the knitting band-wagon. I'm out of my slump! I actually wound up doing pretty much everything that all you lovely people suggested to me. I indulged in other hobbies (a little crochet, some cooking, and reading), decided to start a new project, hung out for a little bit with other knitters, and purchased some more yarn. So, thank you, all you wonderful people you.

Here's the project I decided to start -- the Curvy sweater in Zen Yarn Garden's Gemilicious.

I absolutely love the colour. Just looking at it makes me happy. (Oh my gosh! I actually knit something of a gauge swatch!)

And then, a friend of mine from work found out that her best friend is now pregnant, and you all know what that means! Just like that, we were searching for baby blanket patterns for her to try (she's a bit of a novice knitter, but with great potential), and then it was off to Lettuce Knit to look for supplies. Once there, it was impossible for me not to get something. Or a few somethings.

Some Jojoland Rhythm for another EZ BSJ for my pregnant friend who's decided not to find out the baby's gender in advance.

And some happy, orange Koigu for me. I want some fun and flashy socks. The colour in the photo is quite bad since taking photos in the middle of the night proves, again, to be my nemesis. Let me assure you, this yarn is quite a brilliant shade of orange.

Since I'm on the topic of socks, I forgot to mention that back on Sept 24, Laura Chau had a book launch party at Lettuce Knit for her first book. I really wanted to go, but had a rehearsal to go to. That didn't stop me from popping into the store and picking up a copy to support a super awesome knitter.

I lucked out, and Laura was even there to autograph it for me! Exciting! Please forgive the horrible, out of focus photo.

Knitting slump

2008-09-30T13:58:00.004-05:00

I've been in a little bit of a knitting slump these past few days. You're probably thinking that a couple days doesn't really qualify as a slump, but I don't really know what to call it. Up until this weekend, I had been working away happily at my Talia vest. And then disaster struck. Hanatarou, my naughty white and black cat, decided to pee on the bag holding my precious knitting (I think he was mad that I gave him a bath). Luckily, all was not lost! Thanks to the plastic bag holding my yarn, and the plastic sheet covers that I put my pattern in, most of the knitting survived unscathed. Only a little bit of the bottom edge of the vest was soiled. I have a feeling that the bag is a total write off though -- I've washed it a few times, and soaked it in special enzyme solution, but I'm not sure if it's salvageable. It was only this cheap black bag that I got at Old Navy, but still.

I put my knitting onto a holder and washed the bottom edge, and I think that did the trick. Problem is, I just don't want to work on it anymore. It's as if just looking at it makes me angry right now. I was contemplating starting a new project to help me get over things, but I feel guilty at the same time. I mean, I've got a perfectly good project waiting to be finished, so why start something else? Plus I'm wrestling with just what to make. I could start my Curvy sweater, or start a baby sweater for a friend due in February (though this one is a tough call too because Jamie doesn't think the yarn I have slated for it is quite gender neutral). Or maybe some toys? I just don't know. Should I just bite the bullet, and truck on with Talia?

What do you do to get yourselves out of knitting slumps?

Matching hat

2008-09-14T10:38:00.002-05:00

I made a little hat to go with the Tulips sweater. It's the same pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but I just used the leftover yarn from my sweater kit, and incorporated the same colour changes.

I had a debate with friends about what colour to make the I-cord. Since I don't know the gender of the baby, I wanted to keep it mostly gender neutral. I had a choice between the peach, and a mustard yellow. I liked the pop of the peach, but was worried that it might seem too girl-ish if the baby turned out to be a boy. But then my friends pointed out that a) I already have peach on the sweater, and b) what would the baby care anyway?

And Adrienne, no worries about not posting. Life is busy, and there are other priorities above blogging. I'm sure everyone has posting droughts.

Tulips II

2008-09-10T20:28:00.002-05:00

My cousin in Hong Kong is expecting, so I originally was going to take my time and knit some things up for her and ship them over. Then my mom pointed out that her father was coming to Toronto to visit, so why don't I save myself the shipping cost and give it to him. Great idea mom! Only drawback is that I originally had until December to get my knitting done, and now I have until mid-October. Eek! So what's a girl do to when she doesn't know if it's going to be a girl or boy, and she's finding herself in crunch time? Go with something she knows she can do.

And so, my second Tulips kit got knitted up, and will be winging its way to Hong Kong via Uncle Ronald's luggage. I think I'm going to make a little matching hat with the yarn that I've got left over from the kit. Even though I think Tulips is supposed to be for a girl, I think the colours are sufficiently gender neutral that it'll be okay even if it turns out to be a boy.

This time around, I used that trick of weaving in the ends as I went (thanks, Adrienne), so finishing was such a breeze! I think I did a better job of doing the sleeves this time than the first time I made it. The photo is pre-blocking, so there's some curling happening, but the cute little sweater is pinned out and drying as I type this entry.

I just love this pattern!! Even though it was my second time knitting it, I still had a good time!

Decided what to make

2008-08-29T13:17:00.002-05:00

Well, I decided what to make to go with the baby sweater. I ended up settling on a hat. I took the pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, so it was a really super fast knit.

The photo is quite terrible - my apologies. Again, taking photos in the middle of the night proves to be a bad idea. I made the i-cord a bit too long. Hopefully it turns out okay.

I also blocked the cotton scarf I finished.

The cotton was soft to start with, but somehow feels even softer after blocking. Super nice stuff.

Just made it

2008-08-23T23:33:00.002-05:00

With the closing ceremonies set for about 7 hours from now, I managed to get that leaf patterned scarf done. There was a real push on it the past two days, and there may come a day when I feel that I want to make a REALLY long scarf and add a 4th skein of yarn to it, but I like the way it looks right now. It's not blocked yet, so some people might argue that it's not completely finished, but it's off the needles, so I will consider it finished for the purposes of the Ravelympics.

I'll endeavor to take a better picture of it after it's all blocked.

Congrats to all the fantastic athletes, organizers, volunteers, staff, EVERYONE for making these 2008 Summer Olympics one for the ages! Watched some awesome sports, and got knitting done to boot. What could be better than that? (^_~)

Thanks, Ravelry

2008-08-22T22:35:00.004-05:00

What, you may ask, is in this compact package for me?

Thanks to the Ravelympics, I 'met' the fantastic Roxanne, proprietress of Zen Yarn Garden. We are both working hard for the Ravelry Team Canada. She was showing off some lovely blue sock yarn that she dyed for one of her events, and I couldn't help but commenting on it, what with blue being my favourite-est colour in the world. And so, she mentioned that she'd be happy to do a custom order for me if I wanted some of it. After cruising her website, I fell in love with the Curvy sweater, and told her that I loved the sweater, but not the pink. And so, she offered to make me a custom kit out of the lovely blue yarn, dubbed Azure.

And so...

MY KIT ARRIVED TODAY!! Can you believe it? Barely 3 days since we messaged back and forth about it! Thanks so much, Roxanne!!

And in other knitting news, I am desperately trying to finish my leaf-pattern scarf before the closing ceremonies finish. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it, but boy have I made loads of progress on this project that I definitely wouldn't have otherwise.

Yet again, Ravelry proves to be quite the enabler of my addiction...

[NOTE: To answer Marie's question to my previous post, BSJ stands for Baby Surprise Jacket. It is so dubbed because, as you knit it, it resembles nothing like a sweater, but at the end you do a little creative folding, and presto! You have a jacket! Surprise!!]

Approaching the finish line!

2008-08-13T18:16:00.004-05:00

Hooray for the Olympics! Hooray for lots of late night TV for me to knit by!

Finished my EZ BSJ. The pattern is a little tricky to decipher if you're going from the one re-printed in Knitting Workshop, but with some help from all you lovely people, I've finished it! And so, I've completed my first item for the Ravelympics!

I have just less than one skein of that yarn left (only had to dip into it to sew up the edges and sew on the buttons), but I'm not sure what to make with it. I'm a little worried that it's a bit too scratchy to make a good hat or booties. Any opinions?

EDIT: Received my medal for this item, so I thought I'd post it here.

And I just wanted to say that Ravelry is doing an awesome job co-ordinating the over 5000 Raveletes.

Quick post

2008-08-07T12:28:00.002-05:00

Really quick post here! I've signed up for the Ravelympics for the WIP Wrestling event. Haha! I need some sort of kick in the pants to finish a couple items. The first is that cream coloured leaf-pattern scarf that's been kicking around for a year now. The second is the EZ BSJ that I still haven't finished. I know that it hasn't been all that long for the BSJ, but the baby shower where I plan to give it away is coming up, so this seemed like good motivation to get it done.

After that's all done, I'm planning to start that other Tulip kit that I have, and the Talia vest (though that Honeycomb vest is looking pretty awesome too). I really like Talia, but the fact that I have to add buttons is kinda making me think twice. But I already have the yarn for it, so I don't know what to do. I don't know if I can sub that yarn into Honeycomb. Decisions, decisions!

I sat on this post for a little bit, and have now realized that I still want to knit Talia. I'll look for yarn for Honeycomb another time.

Vacation knitting

2008-07-20T07:15:00.003-05:00

I've been doing a little bit of vacation knitting. There hasn't been as much opportunity to knit as I thought there might be. Even still, here's what I've done.

A washcloth that I finished while riding a couple trains. This is the only piece I've finished since getting here.

Since I'm visiting Japan, I thought I'd try my hand at some toe socks. I've only started the first one, but the rest of it should be pretty routine from here on in.

I've also picked up some goodies here. I've visited a crafting haven here called Okadaya, which is really close to where we're staying, and got myself this little kit.

I'm going to try really hard to get out to the Habu shop in the next couple days, but it's hard to know what to get when I have no idea what I want to make with what I find.

Colourful FOs

2008-07-03T21:00:00.004-05:00

I've been doing some finishing lately. First of all my basketweave scarf knit out of a Sophie's Toes Magic Ball, in all sorts of pretty pastel colourways.

Then the Tulip Baby Cardigan from Dream in Color, knit from a kit purchased at Lettuce Knit last Christmas.

(the sleeveless cardigan-in-progress fit her much better. Maybe I'll have to make her a little Dream in Color vest!)

And there are even more colourful knits on the horizon. When WEBS was having its anniversary sale, I bought a bunch of Reynolds Whiskey for Fiddlehead Mittens.

I also got some bright Plymouth Encore for a Circle of Friends blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

I'm very glad that there are so many ways for me to indulge my love of all things rainbow. =)

Finished my Monkeys

2008-07-02T20:02:00.002-05:00

I didn't take a picture of the second sock since it looks pretty much exactly like the first one, but after much procrastinating, I finally managed to finish my pair of Monkeys.

Also, I think I've decided on what my travel knitting will be. Socks, socklets, dishcloths, and another Tulip. What do you all think?

Toys, toys, toys

2008-07-01T10:39:00.004-05:00

Okay, so the title of this post is a little misleading since I really only have one toy to show you. But here he is.

This is Tums, a happy little hippo with slightly crooked teeth. I knit him out of Shepherd's 100% Classic Wool, and boy did that stuff felt up nicely! Had I known that in advance, I would probably have knit him up on size 7 needles instead of size 6. The pattern is more complicated than the stackable cats, and requires more work in the finishing process, but I quite like how he turned out. The way the head is shaped is still quite a marvel to me. I'm still pretty bad a sewing features and appendages, but I'm hoping I get better with practice. Good thing there are lots of kids around to give all the toys I'm planning to make to.

And just for fun, here's a picture of Tums in his not quite ready to go state.

I also need to figure out what knitting to take with me on my trip. I need a small-ish project for subway train rides, and a slightly larger project for longer train rides, and I need them to be brainless enough that I don't have to keep looking at a chart (i.e. no complicated lace). Maybe socks, and something else? What should my something else be?

Plying

2008-06-29T11:32:00.005-05:00

At the next spinning lesson, I took my first two ugly yarns and plied them together. See?

Do two ugly yarns put together make an even uglier yarn? At least there were a few sections where cool barberpoling was happening.

Spinning with a spindle takes a long time. I hope I will have the patience to keep practicing, but I sort of fear that the instant-gratification monster will take over (but I want it to be perfect right now!) and I'll lose interest.

(I have a big backlog of stuff to post about. I hope I can get my act together and catch up soon!)

Not exactly a natural talent

2008-06-17T20:54:00.005-05:00

Look, my very first handspun (using a drop spindle)!

Isn't it incredibly ugly? Last week Katy was good enough to teach a bunch of us how to spin, and this is what resulted from my first efforts. I showed this ball to someone at WWKIP day last weekend, and their comment was "huh, that must've been a really ugly sheep!" Yeah, the roving is not exactly the most gorgeous thing ever (Jacob sheep, they are spotted!), but I will probably need a lot of practice before I get any good at this.

Next lesson is plying, I'm sure this yarn will then turn into an even bigger horror. =)

My second effort looks ever so slightly better, only because the roving comes in prettier colours.

And because I can't resist pissing the cat off....

She's really getting the hang of this "stay still for the yarn pose" thing. Even though she clearly hates it. =)

Some fun photos

2008-06-16T21:45:00.002-05:00

As promised, here are some stacked cats.

Please forgive the blurriness; my hand isn't as steady as I'd like it to be when taking no-flash photos.

Also, I'm making good progress on my EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. It's still a bit of a mystery how it all will magically form into a sweater, but I'm sure it'll become clear when I've got it all off my needles.

This isn't really the best photo ever, but it showed the colour of the Jojoland best.

Man...I always seem to take terrible photos...I need to learn how to do that better. Then again, I probably chose the absolute worst time of day to do it. The dead of night is when natural light is at it's worst, but is unfortunately when I'm most liable to blog. Oh well!

More cats! (and some help needed)

2008-06-07T22:35:00.005-05:00

WARNING: This is a really long post. Sorry!

I completely forgot to mention that I had started another stackable cat! Well, here she is. Say hello to Fran.

Since there wasn't really any way I could name all the cats I'll ever make "Kitty", Jamie was kind enough to come up with names for me. And so, here is Fran with her little brother, Stan.

Since it's the middle of the night, taking a nice no-flash picture of Stan and Fran stacked on Hanatarou wasn't going to happen. But rest assured, it's coming.

And because cat butts are cute...

My thoughts on this project:
1) I like the medium sized cat because you can get more of a 'slouch' effect in the body. Or maybe I over-stuffed the small one.
2) I like the face I did on Fran better than Stan. However, I wasn't so great with Fran's arm placement, so I guess they're even.
3) I somehow need to figure out if I have enough yarn left over to make the large cat. Jamie wants to name that one Elan, but I'm not totally sold on that name.
4) Fran is more felted than Stan, and I think I like the effect.

And now for a total shift in which I ask all you wonderful people for help. I started the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. I read the pattern out of "Knitting Workshop" a few times before starting, and admit that I didn't understand everything. However, I optimistically thought that I would be able to figure it out once I got there. Well, I'm there now, and I still don't yet it. I did the first set of decreases to get what I think are the called for "5 ridges". I now have 144 stitches. Now, the instructions say "At 5 ridges, INCREASE 9 sts (K3, M1) across end sections, believe it or not for fullness above CUFF." And then it says to do 22 decreases to get 90 sts.

After much consideration, this is how I have interpreted the instructions. The 22 that is mentioned is the total number of decreases, not the number of decreases after the increase row (5 ridges). On the increase row, I need to add 9 sts to EACH end, meaning a total of 18 sts (160-88+18=90; the math works, so that's how I decided that). Now, do the instructions mean that I should K3, M1 on one side until I've increased 9 times, and then subsequently do the same when I've got 27 stitches left, leading to 9 increases on each side? Or, do I (K3, M1) x 9 on one end, knit to the end, and on the return row, do (K3, M1) x 9 at the start of that row? The only reason why I came up with the latter scenario is cuz I just realized that you can't really end a row with an M1. Am I totally thinking about this the wrong way? HELP, PLEASE!

Falling off the yarn diet wagon

2008-06-04T17:40:00.002-05:00

And here is more evidence that Karen is failing at the "I don't plan to buy more yarn" resolution.

This is slated to become Tums, for Jensen's daughter Alyssa.

"Why Karen, with those little buttons there, it's like you bought a kit of some sort." Why, what a fantastic observation you've made! Indeed, that is correct - I bought a kit to make the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. In order to do that, I had to buy this though.

My first EZ book (^_^) I haven't read any of it yet, but I plan to. Oh, and the size 0 dpns aren't actually necessary, but I thought I'd give these a try for sock knitting in the future. You know, just in case I was wrong about swearing off size 0's.

Lastly, I thought I'd show one of the reasons why I've been so terrible with updating and knitting lately (though this is really only a small reason).

I am now the proud owner of a shiny new MacBook. So, I've been busy over the last month moving stuff over from the old computer to this one. The one laptop will be pressed into my mother's service. Greg and I both felt it was high time that Mom learned how to get use one of these suckers, and with her own, she won't have to worry about messing anything up for someone else. If all else fails, we can wipe the whole thing and start all over. The transition to Mac has been pretty painless, and while I'm not totally sure what the hype is all about, I am very happy with it. Installing peripherals is much easier than on PC, but there are some pieces of software that I used to use a lot that I've had a little trouble finding Mac analogs for. With the help of some friends, I did manage to get all the functionality of the old laptop onto the new one, but it did take a little help hunting the web for software.

I understand what the Harlot meant

2008-06-03T19:45:00.004-05:00

Remember this post? Well, I sort of get it now. I haven't even finished one measly Tulip sweater yet, but I already want to buy more. And more and more and more, in a bunch of different colour combinations (I already have one other kit, but I want like 3 or 4. Or 5).

This is the squishiest yarn ever! And so easy to work with! And look at the pretty colours! Yeah, I know that everyone else in the entire world has already knit with it, but I didn't realize just how great it was until I finally tried it for myself. Must. Buy. More.

This little cardigan isn't being knit for any baby in particular, in fact it's MINE and will stay MINE so I can pet it and look at all the pretty colours forever and ever. Oh, and humiliate my cat with it, too. I think she actually liked this one, though.

Like a giant colour card

2008-05-25T17:17:00.005-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I needed something relatively mindless to take to knitgroup. I'm sort of tired of knitting socks for the time being, so I dug around and pulled this out.

That's a Sophie's Toes Magic Ball that I bought from someone who was destashing on Ravelry. I'd admired this sock yarn from afar for a while because the colourways are incredibly pretty, but I've never actually bought any because a)I usually miss the updates, b)I can't decide which colourway to get, and c)I have way too much sock yarn and am trying to be good.

The Magic Ball is several different colourways put together for a total of ~15 different "blocks" of colour (there are a couple of repeats). It came with a pattern for a simple scarf, so I cast on and started a little basketweave pattern.

The knitting is indeed very mindless, and it's incredibly fun to see all the different colours emerge. I think a Magic Ball is a marvellous idea, because I get to play with several different gorgeous colourways (yay! pretty colours!) without having to actually knit an entire pair of socks out of each one.

And, just because, here's a photo of the "real" Sophie's toes. =)

Not intended for the "shrine of precious yarns"

2008-05-18T12:36:00.006-05:00

I've been knitting dishcloths. Cotton dishcloths, in bright hot colours.

These dishcloths are not ultimately for me (ballband dishcloths from Mason-Dixon Knitting, using Sugar'n Cream cotton), but they got me thinking about "precious" yarns and knits that are "too good" to use. I've developed this pattern with my knitting -- I'll knit something that I absolutely love, wear it proudly for some time, then I'll put it away and start having thoughts like "well, now I can't wear it too much, because then it will get worn and old and it won't be pretty anymore". And then it just sits there in its plastic bin to be periodically admired, but not taken out into the world where it might, heaven forbid, get dirty or ragged.

Even worse, I have handknit socks that are just sitting in my drawer unworn, because I like the yarn too much to stuff it into shoes where they will smell like feet and get pilly at the heels. Not to mention all the yarn that I don't want to knit with because it's "too pretty to disturb" or "too discontinued".

All of which is silly, right? I mean, there will always be more nice yarn (the rate at which I buy the stuff definitely attests to that), and as for not wanting to wear out the things that I've actually managed to make, I DO intend to be knitting for a good long while, and absolutely DO intend to make many more scarves/socks/hats/sweaters/whatever. By no means do I intend my current knits to be the pinnacle of my knitterly achievements.

I guess it all stems from my packrat tendencies, which in turn stem from a sense of scarcity that I often tend to feel. I'm always thinking "but what if there's no more? What if this thing I love is the thing that I love the most and always will, and what if I never find anything else to love better ever again?" But the thing is, I've always found more things to get excited about. My favourite yarn/colourway is always changing and evolving. Last year's favourite scarf is not this year's favourite scarf. That thing I thought was the most flattering garment ever looks weird on me now (am I the only one this happens to?). So what am I saving up for, if I'm just going to move onto other things eventually anyway? Why can't I have faith that there are indeed so many better things to come?

(we're talking about yarn here, but obviously this could be applied to other Life Issues, which we won't get into).

So anyway, dishcloths (and boring navel-gazing). Not for me, but perhaps I should knit myself some eventually as an exercise in using-the-handknits-already. Hopefully they will at least brighten up the recipients' kitchens and put a smile on their faces, if nothing else. =)

Hello kitty!

2008-05-15T23:40:00.003-05:00

I was feeling ambitious, and was determined to finish the kitty today. So, I pressed onward!

Meet...uh...Kitty! Yes. I suck at naming. Would any of you lovely people like to take a stab at naming him/her?

Of course, it's not a stackable cat unless, well, stacked on another kitty. Therefore...

Some things I learned thanks to this project:
1) Mattress stitch - Wow is this ever a neat technique! Quite magical indeed.
2) I suck at embroidery.
3) Making toys so so much fun! And you get to be a little lazy with your ends because you can always hide them in the stuffing. I love that part.

Okay....back to my Monkeys now I suppose (^__^)

Kitty pieces

2008-05-14T22:02:00.002-05:00

Stackable cat fever hit, and I decided to finish knitting up the little appendages today, and felt them.

Doesn't look like much yet, but I have faith that a cute and cuddly kitty is hiding in there somewhere. The pieces are drying as we speak, so I should be able to sew everything up this weekend. I decided not to felt it too much because I wanted the stitch definition to still be there. I'm quite a novice felter, so I'm not really sure if what I did was correct, but I guess we'll see!

No monkeys on my back

2008-05-14T09:12:00.004-05:00

So, it seems that I have fallen prey to 'second sock syndrome'. It's not that I haven't started my second Monkey, because I have (only on the 3rd repeat of the lace pattern for the leg though, and definitely not worth taking a photo of), but I couldn't help falling victim to the cuteness of some of the patterns over at Mochimochi Land, and wound up buying a couple of them. I wound up getting the patterns for Stackable Cats, and Pepto and Tums.

Sad to say, I've already cast on for the small version of a stackable cat - the body, and 2 ears are finished. I just need to finish up the arms, legs and tail. All the little pieces seemed a bit odd to take a picture of, so I'll take a picture when it's all done. I'm a little scared of how much seaming is required, but I need practice anyway. And what better way to do it than to churn out lots of cute little kitties?

I seriously wanted to buy a lot more patterns (Tubby was just so cute!), and this has kinda gotten me on a toy making groove. It's going to take some discipline for me to get my sock and garment projects done now! Haha!

Big feet in Tiny Toes

2008-05-11T18:54:00.001-05:00

More socks! Toe up, plain stockinette foot, short-row heel, garter rib for the leg. The yarn is Interlacements Tiny Toes. Very squooshy and very bright!

I think the garter rib plus the slightly stripey effect of the yarn look really cool together.

Onward!

1 Monkey done....Monkey 2 on the way

2008-05-06T22:39:00.002-05:00

Got one of these babies off my needles. All in all, it was a really fun time, so I'm looking forward to the second one. Maybe I'll do a better job of grafting the toe. I seem to suck at Kitchener stitch - I seem to get funny bumps on each end.

Here's a photo I took while still working on the sock. I wanted to see what Hanatarou thought of it.

I don't think he really wants to wear it (haha!)

Pooling Colors Scarf

2008-05-03T20:33:00.005-05:00

THANK YOU all for your very sweet comments regarding the Nothin' But A T Shirt! With your encouragement, I probably will wear it out in public eventually, after I get those last few pesky ends woven in. =)

I've finished the STR Pooling Colors scarf (the first time I typed "pooling" I left out the "l". Then I giggled. I am a 12 year old), it actually knit up incredibly quickly.

I should have thought more about what I was doing when I started the scarf, since one skein of Socks That Rock Lightweight (this is the Count Cluckula colourway) is ~360 yards and resulted in a scarf just over 5 feet long after blocking. Which is actually a perfectly fine length for a scarf, it's just that I like mine to be at least 6 feet. I've worn the scarf out a few times, and the too-short length still bothers me, which makes me suspect that I won't really wear it much, so it may end up being given away as a gift.

This yarn is incredibly springy, in contrast to the Schaefer Anne that I used for my first scarf, and the combination of the yarn + lace pattern probably wasn't a very good match in this case (the pattern just looks a little....weird). Which means that my quest for the second perfect skein of Anne continues. But it was still really cool that I was able to make the pooling work again.

Will she wear it?

2008-04-26T00:14:00.005-05:00

Guess what? I finished (more or less, I still have a few ends left to weave in) my Nothin' But A T Shirt!

It looks like it fits, doesn't it (sorry about the pyjama pants)? Sort of? Well, at least it does in this posed photo which doesn't involve my moving around at all. The yarn is very soft and is fantastic for next-to-the-skin wear (mmm Calmer), but it is also rather unforgiving of any lumps and bumps or tummy poochiness (and bra outlines, it appears!). I think I'd look just fine in this first thing in the morning or immediately after Pilates, but I don't know about the end of the day after I've had my 3 meals. =)

For the most part I'm relatively happy with the finishing, with the exception of the front neckline. The pattern involved binding off the stitches in the main colour, and then picking up stitches in the contrast color to knit the hem. The first time I did it I used the same size needles as I did for the rest of the sweater (5 mm, US8), and it turned out flare-y and funny-looking. So I ripped it out and redid it on 4 mm (US6) needles.

It looked much better, but as you can see the neckline is not 100% smooth. I had to go back and do a lot of duplicate stitching to get it to this stage, and it's still not perfect. I wouldn't really mind so much except that this area is directly under my face and therefore rather obvious. Little irregularities under the arms wouldn't bother me nearly as much.

So, will I be wearing this in public? I'm not sure yet. It needs another light blocking to get rid of any finishing irregularities, and then I'll try it on again. It's funny, I have plenty of store-bought sweaters that, while possessing very even stitching, don't always fit in the most perfect and flattering of ways (if only!), but for a handknit I feel like the "standards" are higher. Even though we all know that just because we supposedly made something to fit our measurements doesn't mean it always turns out that way.

Cowl finished!

2008-04-20T22:36:00.003-05:00

I got this out of the way as quickly as I could so I wouldn't have it hanging over my head anymore. Haha! It actually went by super fast, and I'm wondering if it just felt that way because after finishing a sweater, everything else seems quick. I've decided not to block it because the Mobius twist thing would just make it all weird anyway.

I have no clue what it is I want to do with it since I'm not really a cowl wearer per say. I do have to admit that it's very nice and light, and warm to boot. Maybe I'll pack it away and see if I can think of anyone to give it to in the future.

On to my Monkeys! I've cast on for them, and will be attempting a knit-along with my friend Becky. However, her sister-in-law is in town and wants to learn how to make socks, so Becky tells me that she needs to get to the heel turn before her sister-in-law leaves. I'm not sure I can catch up! But, I'll give it my best shot. And if she finishes a whole sock before I get past the leg of mine, I can at least console myself with the fact that she has to do the second. =D (Psst...don't mention the fact that I'll have to knit a second one too!)

Oh! And just to bring closure to things, I gave my brother his socks this weekend. I totally overestimated how long his foot was. For some reason, I thought his feet were about Jamie's size, but a bit wider. They are indeed wider, but it turns out that they're smaller! Oh no! But Greg was happy with the socks anyway, and said he'd wear them around the house.

Both a blessing and a curse

2008-04-20T21:43:00.006-05:00

You know the common complaint about Kidsilk Haze (aside from the fact that some people find mohair really itchy), that it's nearly impossible to frog due to the sticky grabby mohair? Well, I am extremely grateful for that fact today. See, I was washing (well, Eucalan soaking) my Modern Quilt Wrap before putting it away for the summer, and as I was laying it out on the floor to dry I discovered something.

You can't see it in the photo, but those two pins are marking a dropped stitch. I thought I had caught them all, but apparently one managed to get away from me. I have been wearing this scarf for 3 months, and after all this time it never actually dropped any further, but stayed just where it was. THANK YOU, sticky grabby mohair!!

Of course I will be fixing this ASAP, once the scarf dries. =)

Pooling, the good kind

2008-04-18T23:55:00.005-05:00

My Pooling Colors scarf (Rav link) is one of my favourite knits ever. Not only is it knit out of beautiful yarn (Schaefer Anne) in my favourite rainbow colours, the construction is ever-so-clever in the way it takes advantage of the way the yarn is dyed.

I have to admit that every time I see some Anne in a LYS, I dig through it all looking for another "perfect" skein with which to make another one of these scarves. I haven't found one yet. I've seen a lot of pretty skeins online, but I know that a LOT of people had trouble with the pattern due to the yarn not being dyed quite right for the scarf to work so I wasn't about to take any chances. The other day I was exercising my new ball winder (yay!) and winding some sock yarn, including the skein of Socks That Rock (Count Cluckula -- I love the name, so silly!) that I bought in Toronto over Christmas. I put the yarn on the swift and realized something:

This is a stitched together and heavily edited and resized image of the yarn laid out. See how the colours stack on top of each other? This is just what you want for Pooling Colors. I'm a bit socked-out right now, so I figured I'd cast on for the scarf and see if I could make it work. A few false starts later, I managed to get it to pool!

There's a huge garter stitch selvedge at either side (I had to add 1 extra stitch at either side to make the pooling work) that I'm not a huge fan of, but it can't really be helped (unless I wanted to find another stitch pattern, of course. Which I don't. Because I'm very lazy). I think the colours in this skein are really interesting, it's not my standard "oooh, pretty rainbow!" but I think this pattern is guaranteed to show this yarn off well, versus socks which may or may not pool/flash (and I know STR has a tendency to do that).

Since the last photo was taken I've actually made significant progress with this, and it should be finished relatively soon. I am a little worried that the scarf won't be long enough, but it will have to be blocked out first.

Ribbit!

2008-04-15T20:15:00.002-05:00

Remember these?

Well, after my plain toe-up sock spree for Christmas, I am now quite sick of them. So, when I picked up these to try and work on them, I just couldn't do it anymore. They're on size 0 needles, and I have decided that I will never knit anything on size 0 dpns ever again. For one thing, the needles themselves warp when I use them, they make my hands hurt, and I just plain don't like them.

I decided to frog the two socks that I had going, and start from scratch. I'm going to pick a different sock pattern, and use a bigger needles size. But, since the yarn had been in a knitted state for so long, it was all kinky and wavy when I frogged it. Following some instructions from Knitting Daily, I wound it into a ball, and then used my swift to turn it back into a skein. Let me tell you, reverse-winding is strange, but at the same time, kinda fun.

After a good soak, my two skeins are drying and straightening nicely. I'll wait a couple days to make sure they're totally dry, and then I can start having some more sock fun!

Peer pressure knitting (aka Karen is neurotic)

2008-04-14T19:25:00.004-05:00

Two posts in one day! Must be a blue moon out or something =D

Have you ever been kinda peer pressured into knitting something? This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Here's my story about it. Through Ravelry, I participated in a Knit it Forward exchange. For this exchange, we didn't have to make a finished item - rather, we were to send yarn and a pattern. I received a lovely, lovely package, and stored it away for later knitting.

That is, until I checked the group a couple days ago, and people are starting to post pictures of things they knit from their packages. All of a sudden, I wondered if my package giver would think that I was an ungrateful recipient if I didn't start on the project she had sent me.

And so, I cast on 108 stitches to make the lace cowl pattern that she sent me using the fluffy Red Heart Symphony she also sent over. The pattern itself is nice and simple, but I am reminded of why I don't usually like working with fuzzy yarns. Still, it's knitting up so airy and light that I think I can forgive it.

I added a slight twist, literally, to this project. I always wanted to try that Mobius type scarf/cowl thing, so I intentionally twisted my stitches when I joined in the round. We'll see how it turns out.

Out of curiosity, do any of you know how to block a lace item knit in the round? I've only ever blocked flat lace items.

Awesomeness!!!

2008-04-14T18:58:00.002-05:00

Today when I got home from work, I found a cute little tag stuck to my mailbox informing me that there was a package waiting for me. I squealed with delight (okay, I only did that in my head, but that was cuz other people would have looked at me funny otherwise), and rushed to pick it up.

Lo and behold, my package from the lovely Adrienne had arrived!

The bag really is quite lovely, and I'm so happy that I was able to get it at the sale price. And thank you so much Adrienne for sending it over. But you'll all notice that there is more than just a bag in the photo! Being the generous soul that she is, Adrienne tossed in some goodies for me! A super yummy skein of Malabrigo in Indigo, and equally yummy cookies! Seriously, what a way to celebrate Monday.

In other news, here's the promised photo of me wearing my sweater.

The photo is very un-flattering, and I feel like I look as big as a house, but oh well (oh man...what if I really am as big as a house?!). I have to say that I learned a lot about drape and sizing with this project. Next time I make a sweater, I'm going to put some shaping in. But all in all, this is a great sweater for around the house when I'm a little chilly.

Lorna's Laces tour and sale

2008-04-12T19:06:00.007-05:00

One of the perks of being a member of the Windy City Knitting Guild is the privilege of being able to attend their annual Lorna's Laces tour. Not only do you get to see where all the magic happens and see a dyeing demo, but part of the event also included a mill-ends sale. Whee, sale!

The sale started at 10 am, but people got there good and early. Only 20 people were let into the sale at a time (space issues, it's really hard to believe that ALL of Lorna's Laces comes out of a few not-particularly-enormous rooms), so everyone got a number in the order of their arrival. I didn't manage to wake up early enough and got there at 9, so I was #40. To be in the first 20, I would've had to get there around 8, or maybe even earlier.

The sale was....rather overwhelming. While waiting outside for my turn I saw all these people walk out with bags stuffed full of the most beautiful yarn. By the time I made it in there, most of the stuff was pretty picked over and it was hard to find sufficient quantities of colours that I liked (i.e. lots of single sock yarn skeins, argh!). Which was probably a good thing, I went in telling myself I wouldn't spend too much money and I did manage to stick pretty well to my budget.

So, what did I walk away with? 4 skeins of Shepherd Sock in Child's Play and Glenwood, and 3 skeins of Shepherd Worsted in Aslan. I LOVE the Aslan colourway, and the Shepherd Worsted is the softest yarn ever. I have no idea what I'll do with it, perhaps yet another Clapotis?

We also got to see some yarn being dyed in the Lakeview colourway (which I must get some of, since that's where I live after all!), here's a rather bad photo of the yarn on the dyeing table.

And after the yarn is baked and rinsed, all the skeins get hung up to dry.

It was a fun morning, although the weather left much to be desired (cold, rainy). Spring, where the heck are you?

Finished sweater

2008-04-11T00:13:00.002-05:00

My sweater is done! Yay!! The top-down raglan that I cast on rather spontaneously back in January is finally done. I procrastinated on this one big time, but it's finally finished.

Here it is in its unblocked state. Dany seems very interested in it. But, I didn't like the fact that some bits were curling here and there, so I gave it a good soak, and lay it out again.

It's going to take a while for it to dry completely, so I won't be able to take any pictures of how it looks on me until then. I did try it on periodically as I was knitting it, so I'm not worried about the final fit.

Forgive the crappy photos =D

Monkeys!

2008-04-10T22:42:00.004-05:00

Yay, my Monkeys are done!

I love they way they look with this yarn, this is Claudia Handpainted fingering in the Sea Dreams colourway (I may have to get some more, I love the blues and greens). The knitting-two-socks-at-a-time was an interesting strategy. It was a bit of a pain to carry both socks around with me all the time, and the knitting did feel like quite the slog sometimes, but I likely would have experienced Second Sock Syndrome with this pattern if I hadn't knit them both at once. I was getting good and tired of knitting the motif after I finished the first foot (so after both legs and heels were done).

I wasn't sure how I would feel about having patterning on the foot part, it doesn't feel too bad just on the feet but I'll have to test it with shoes to really tell.

I finished the first sock at knitting group, and Katy was good enough to kitchener the toe for me. She also taught me the magical trick of turning the knitting inside out to tighten the stitches, it really works amazingly well and makes things so much easier.

So now that these socks are done, what next? I'm not sure, maybe another pair of boring old stockinette socks? Or maybe I'll look around for another fun pattern to try.

Best knitty pal EVER!

2008-04-06T01:34:00.003-05:00

About a week ago Karen emailed me to ask if she could ship a package to me. She was ordering a little something from Webs, and said that she saw something else that she wanted to send along to me, so could I receive her package for her, take out the surprise, and forward her stuff along to her? Well, when put like that, how could I ever refuse? =P

I was expecting something like a cute set of notions or a funny tape measure or a pretty skein of yarn, so I was COMPLETELY surprised to pull THIS out of the box:

Holy crap, a ball winder!

I have a swift, but have been meaning to get a ball winder for a long time. It's not that I necessarily mind winding all those balls by hand, but it's the rolling around and onto the floor part that gets irritating sometimes. Whenever I've knit from a yarn cake, I always marvel at how it just stays put and doesn't move. So well-behaved!

I immediately set it up and wound some yarn. These are most of the balls from my half-finished Ab Fab Throw (there are two more balls of mohair that I just didn't want to deal with). It took about 5 minutes. Wow, that was fast.

And look, yarn cakes are much easier to balance on kitty heads!

So now I will be tempted to do nothing but wind cakes of yarn, instead of "useful" things like laundry or my taxes (procrastinating much?). I can't believe I went all this time without one of these devices. Thank you so much Karen! You are the very best most super-awesomest of friends. =)

End of the yarn fast

2008-04-02T19:53:00.002-05:00

Today, I fell off the wagon and bought myself some yarn.

It's some more Dream in Colour Classy, and I've got it pegged for Talia, from the Spring issue of Knitty.

It's been a trying few days with the cats, so I felt like I needed a pick-me-up. One of them peed on our entranceway rug, and they've just been a pain, which is a bit out of character for them. Then one day I came home to this.

And two very not hungry cats. Grrrr....

Getting out of the sock rut

2008-03-31T00:08:00.004-05:00

As you may have noticed, I knit a lot of plain stockinette socks. Mostly because they are easy and mindless and I don't have to think about them at all when I knit them. But lately, even I've been getting bored with having the same old thing on the needles all the time. So I've decided to branch out:

These are Monkey socks, being knit with Claudia Handpainted fingering weight yarn (colourway Sea Dreams, being knit 2 at a time to avoid Second Sock Syndrome). Notice how one sock looks much darker than the other despite the fact that they're from the same dyelot (and notice Ravelry on the laptop screen)? I've experienced this before with other Claudia socks as well.

These have been a fun and interesting knit so far (I'm actually past the heel flaps for both socks now, I've been a bit behind with the blog posting), but if I knit these socks again I think I will try the "no purl" version to make them go faster.

Sophie hates monkeys.