Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I know, I'm a bit slow on the draw with the good wishes and all. What can I say. I also think this will be a picture heavy post, because my back is being disagreeable, and typing only seems to aggravate it.


SP gift

First, have I mentioned that Kelly was a great Secret Pal? Above you see copies of both Yarn Harlot books, a cake of Hello Yarn in Maple, fiber post cards from Cafe Press, a Knitwhits cat toy kit, a 'Fuck off I'm Knitting' mug and a set of Zephyr stitch markers (shown close below). I've been so well spoiled that I felt I shouldn't even sign up for SP7. I will wait until SP8 when I'm feeling a little more deserving.


stitch markers


grey fairisle

And a picture of another modified Sophie bag. I've determined that I didn't end up getting a picture of the ocean-coloured bag I embroidered after felting, which is unfortunate. Or of the two hats I made for my dad and brother-in-law. Although Jose did say it was the only hat that has fit him perfectly, so I was pretty happy with that.

Also, work is frustrating. I'm supposed to be travelling sometime soon, and the departure date has changed at least 4 times in the last week. I wonder what happened after I left this afternoon to have a massage treatment for my back? I guess I will see tomorrow.

high/low

Hey all! I'm sorry to have disappeared for so long. I do have a lot of knitting content to post, but things have been a bit crazy. Somebody is committing fraud on my account (writing large cheques to themselves, I'm not certain how they got the cheques) so its been taking most of my energy to deal with that for the past week.

So, since I have a plethora of photos to post, I thought I'd start with some of my Christmas knitting, now that its been given. I made five felted bags, based on the Sophie pattern, with modifications to each. They are all knit in Patons Classic Merino.


red


cable detail

I increased the size of the red, added the cable up the sides, and had three strands for the handle with a flat section where they meet in the middle (so I could continue the braid on each side).


blue

This is the original size knit with one strand of mohair held with the wool. It didn't shrink as much during felting.


grey w/ eyelets

This bag has an eyelet pattern around the top, which is difficult to see in this photo but looks alright in person.

I made knit flower pins for the blue and grey out of white yarn from the stash. Sadly I forgot to photograph them before I came back to ON.

(Yes, I know there are only three pictures. I'll have to find the other three later.)

thanks

I have to give a shoutout to my Secret Pal Kelly! I just received my last package, and let me tell you, she is fabulous! I will try to post a photo and a proper description on Saturday (when its not pitch black), but given the amount of stuff left to be done before my flight Sunday am (early!), I'm not promising anything.

As well, I wanted to reveal my Secret Pal Mel. I swear, your last package will be on the way soon (although probably not until next week).

Hmmm... I think that's all for now.

standby

Sorry, but I think the blog is pretty much on standby until after Christmas. I leave for home a week today, and I have just realized that I have a lot of stuff to do before I my flight. I've also been preoccupied with a personal situation that I'm not quite ready to discuss here.

Rest assured, I have been knitting. The Ribbed & Fair Isle Vest is taking forever, and I have a whole post worked out in my head in which I complain about the construction and charting, but that will have to wait until I have time to write it all down. I'm also making another pink baby sweater. I know I already have one, but I know a lot of pregnant friends, and I wanted to see if I could improve on the pattern. After that I'll have to make something for a boy, because while I'm all for non-gender specific colours, not everyone would be willing to dress their boy in a bright pink cardigan. I guess those are the main things.

busy!

I'm sure everyone else is feeling it too! Sorry for not posting though. I haven't been home before 9 yet this week.

In knitting news, I've finished the baby sweater. There are also details of the yoke and lace bottom.


baby finished

I think it looks pretty good. I'll now be keeping a feeler out for someone to give it to (I do have some potential receivers, in mind). I'm now working on the Rib/Fair Isle Vest from the Vogue Knitting Fall 2005 issue. I've finished the ribbing for the back and haven't worked on it since Sunday.

So, did I mention that my Secret Pal is absolutely fabulous? Cause she is! She got real Grecian items sent to her for me! Cause I've always wanted to go to Greece! Isn't that amazing? I got postcards, a key chain, lavender soap, and perfume, lotion and body wash in a fragrance called Greek Waters! And it came all the way from Greece!


SP Gift

I don't normally get political here, but Tuesday was the UN day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, and I went to an event put on by CEPAL. I was quite impressed by the program they run in the refugee camps in Lebanon (they send teachers for the summer to provide English instruction and other activities).

Parcels

I love getting packages! First, I ordered this yarn from kpixie with the help of a gift certificate from my great secret pal! I'm thinking of making an Hourglass Sweater with this.


peace fleece

Then, I got this package from my favourite boy in the whole world!


giftee

I actually bought most of the movies from him (he had doubles) but he added surprises to make it that much more fun.

sitting pretty

coffee table art

1. I can't do a post without pictures lately, so when Hello wouldn't cooperate yesterday, I just didn't post (especially since I'd taken pictures especially to post).

2. I lose track of time easily. Whole days fly by without my realizing. This is my excuse for why I didn't stop in to either of the spinning workshops at the Ottawa Valley Weavers' and Spinners' Guild these past two weekends (Hi Daisy!) I'm not good enough to be willing to spin for a full day, but I really should have gone just to see what good spinning looks like.

3. I have been knitting away on the baby sweater, and surprise! Someone I know is pregnant! I'm curious to find out the gender. Maybe I have some kind of sixth sense?


baby sweater with sleeves attached

The pattern is interesting, although I'd make a few changes next time (like joining the sleeves before doing the raglan decreases instead of after)

4. So, I don't like winding yarn by hand. In fact, I sort of hate it, which is why my chair has been out of commission for almost two weeks.


winding by hand

Often in a situation like this, I'd ask Daisy (hi again!) to bring her swift and ball winder to knitting night, but she hasn't been coming and the coffee shop has been really busy the last few times. Anyway, I think I'm ready to spoil myself (although not until after Christmas). Any recommendations for brands/types?

5. I have been swatching. (This is mostly for my information, so if you're not interested, you can stop reading now.) First, there is Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk on size 6. I get 25 stitches and 26 rows to 4". Then, the wool mohair Duet from Rhinebeck on size 7.

Interesting

Has anyone else heard about this? It's a 101/1001 blog, where one must define 101 goals and then try to achieve them in 1001 days. It sounds interesting, and I was trying to decide if I wanted to try it too. The problems are that 1) my goals are often big and undefined and 2) I'm not necessarily ready to talk about them on the internets. I suppose it would be a helpful goal setting tool (since they are easier to achieve if they are more defined rather than less), but I would also want to have control over who could read it. Is there a way to do that?

In knitting news, I've come to a conclusion. Samus is too big.


(And don't I look dorky when I try to take pictures of myself? I never know what to do with my hands)
Or at least its much larger than it was before washing. The length is nice, but it goes halfway around me again widthwise. The arms are good to the elbow, but I can almost fit football pads in the shoulder area. I think its a combination of a large gauge change during washing and my slightly unrealistic expectations about the pattern. I knew that it wouldn't be fitted. But falling off me is a bit much. However, I've just measured it and my sweater is actually smaller than the schematic says it should be. I'm going with my initial impression that it needs a belt and two belt loops along with the zipper, and it should be good.

Sunday pm malaise

It's Sunday afternoon again. Tomorrow will be a little rough. It's been almost like a four day weekend for me, as I had (easy) training on Thursday to transition into the long weekend.

Well, even without a new project, I found something to work on this week.


baby sweater

I'm knitting this from some random nylon yarn from the huge stash of baby yarn and patterns I inherited from my grandmother on 3.25 mm needles (from my secret pal!). I don't have anyone in mind for this, I just needed something to work on. I have finished both sleeves to the point where the join the body for the raglan shaping. Now I'm working on the lace panel around the bottom of the cardigan. I'm having problems because I'm not really a conscientious knitter a lot of the time (see lace detail). I've had to fudge one row to make things line up, and I now need to frog almost two rows to do another fudge. Things aren't lining up because I somehow have two extra stitches.

I have knit a pair of fuzzy feet, which will be felted soon. I need to figure out how they fit once felted so I can make any changes needed to pairs that I will actually give away.

fuzzy feet

I have also been Kool-aid dying my Knitpicks Colour Your Own.

kool aid
The top skein was dyed with 1 package each cherry, strawberry and orange. I used my Deep Dutch skillet and heated the water to warm, and used warm dye solution in a measuring cup with spout and poured over the surface.

The bottom skein is 2 packages strawberry kiwi and 1 package orange. I used a similar dyeing technique except the dye solution was refigerated prior to pouring. The dye didn't disperse as much as compared to a warm solution, leaving more lighter and white areas.

Stash revelation

NY Yarn purchase

I bought this yarn on my trip to NY in early September, and am just showing it off now. From left to right: a Cascade Magnum (colour unkwnown, can't find the ball band right now) from Purl, 12 balls of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (colours 26009, 26004, & 26002) and a skein of hand dyed kid mohair Expressions from Kaalund Yarns, both from the Yarn Co

I'm trying to decide what to do with the alpaca silk... any ideas?

FOs

So, my secret pal wanted to see what I did with the yarn in my last package. I made a scarf (don't mind the messy hair - actually, that's another wardrobe question I have. I'm growing my hair out, and I'm finding it difficult. Is the current in between style work appropriate? Know that I never style it in any way.)


secret pal yarn in action

Right now its a garter stitch scarf knit on the long edge, knit on a combination of 11s and 15s, with a couple of rows of double wrapped stitches. I think I may redo it to make the fabric looser to show off the ribbony quality of the yarn better. If I make it significantly shorter next time, I will join the short ends to make a drapey shoulder wrap.

Samus


samus done


sleeve detail

In other news, I have finished and blocked Samus! This was actually a quick knit, but the finishing took me ages (well, a couple of weeks, anyway). Now I have to find an appropriately sized zipper and ribbon to do the final finishing. Actually, the sweater ended up being a little bigger than I expected (I guess I could have made the small) so I think it needs two belt loops and a belt too. That might get done before the zipper installation.

Things I learned from this pattern:

1. Applied i-cord is not my favourite edging, although the blocking helped out some of the unevenness. I also should have used fewer rows around the cuff, as it flares out a little from the cable.

2. I would pick up a few fewer stiches around the bottom cable, because there are two bumps at the hip area, which isn't flattering to many.

3. As much as I appreciated the lack of side seams, I hated seaming the sleeves into the arm scyes when the shoulder and underarm seams were already sewn. It's six of one and half a dozen of another, though, so that won't really affect future sweater choices. Maybe next time I can try picking up stitches around the arm scye and knit know from there.

4. The Knitpicks Wool of the Andes is lovely and soft, although not quite next to the skin soft. It did bleed a lot on the first was, but the colour didn't fade.

let down

So, I finished Samus. After working on it for over a month, I finally sat down to work out the seaming and the finishing last night, and gave it a bath this morning. Does anyone else get this sense of let down at the end of a project? I've been at a loss all day as to what to do, since I didn't have another project waiting. I mean, I always have 5 or 6 little projects to work on, but that's not quite the same thing.

So, I've been scouting out new projects. I like the Hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and the Jacket as seen on Claudia's blog. I've started looking for a copy of Rowan #27, and some yarn that goes well... But really, I should be using up some of my stash... but really, nothing is grabbing my attention right now.

Random

Apparently I mostly speak general American English, even though I'm not (American, I mean). They had a couple of questions I couldn't answer, so I guess there are some differences between Canadians and Americans

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

15% Yankee

5% Midwestern

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

sigh (of relief)

I feel much better now. I had a really good day. First training ended early so some of my classmates and I had a really good dinner at par-fyum, a bistro on the Gatineau side of the river. The food was amazing! I've decided that its worthwhile to pay a little more and go out less often to really enjoy the food. My favourite was the creme brulee trio. (I would put the accents in, but I can't figure it out right now...) They were tiny but delicious, in ginger, vanilla and citron. Then, just to avoid work for a little longer, we went for a drive in Gatineau Park. It was my first time heading out there, which reinforced for me that I need access to a car. I don't want one full time, but I've lived here a year and haven't seen any of the surrounding area. I'm thinking about looking into one of those car sharing things. I think virtucar has a drop off spot near my house.

After work, we had knit group. There were about 12 people tonight. I only talked to a few people because I have difficulty hearing in large groups, but I did get to have more in depth discussions with a few people. It was nice just to get out and be around others. I also made some progress on my fuzzy feet! I did the heel and the gusset decreases on the first foot in forest green Patons Classic Merino. It's a good thing these things are a fast knit, as I'm really slow when I'm chatting.

For any Ottawa located knitters/spinners, the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners Guild Annual Exhibition and Sale, "Feel Your Fibre", will take place at the Glebe Community Centre (175 Third Ave.), November 4 (4 to 8 pm), 5 (10 - 4 pm) , and 6th (10 - 4 pm).

morose

This is all a bit 'woe is me,' so if you're not interested, come back another day. I'm currently fighting with the seaming of the sleeves to the armholes of samus, so I expect it to be done soon. And I have socks, scarves, and fuzzy feet in production too.

I'm feeling a bit like I'm disappearing. I moved to Ottawa a year ago, and I just haven't found my groove here yet. I know people at work and at knitting group, but I haven't really found a group of people I'd call friends. I recently realised that I went a whole month without talking to anyone from the group of people I hung out with during training last year (and we all work in the same building now), and not one of them really noticed. And as much as I love hanging out and chatting with the ladies at the knitting group, I don't think they would really notice if I stopped showing up either. And if no one would notice if you were not there, aren't you already partly invisible?

Not that this is anyone's fault but my own (and even that is somewhat arguable). I know that I'm the one new to the area, and that sometimes really building a community takes time. It just makes me a little sad when I realize I've spent (almost) the whole weekend in my apartment because I didn't really have any reason to go out.

Anyway things aren't that bad, as I'm easily able to entertain myself most of the time. And there are things to do when I make the effort to go out. There's another meeting of the knitting group tomorrow, and there will apparently be new purchases to see.

Spoiled!

That's what I am! I picked this up today, while mailing off a package for my secret pal.



And this is what's inside!



(Sorry, I haven't arranged this list in any particular order) 2 24” Clover bamboo circular needles, sizes 3.25 mm and 3.5 mm, David and Goliath (of “boys are smelly” fame) sticker, magnet and key chain, Care Bears stickers (2) and Magic 8 ball, gummy bears (now how’d she get that through customs? When I was at the post office, they questioned me at length about food. Apparently we can’t even send gum to the US!) and 3 balls of Filatura di Crosa Sesamo in colour 15 (an orange-copper-pink mixture, very nice for fall). I have some ideas about what I’ll try with this, but I need to swatch to see what the fabric will be like.

In other knitting news, I have finished the sleeves for Samus! Now all I have left is seaming and knitting the rest of the applied i-cord. I hope I can finish it this weekend to wear next week, although new may win out over finishing.

Surprise!

What could this be?


surprise

Actually, It could be a number of things. A belated birthday present from a friend? Movies I bought off another friend? Sockapal2za socks? Or, a new Secret Pal package? Well, it could be anything, but since it might be a Secret Pal gift, I'm making myself wait until I have my package ready to send to go pick this up. I'm thinking Saturday. Although that's also the only day I can really get to the pickup, so its not really a choice on my part.


samus sleeves

Here is my update on the Samus sleeves. I have progressed since this picture was taken, but its just a whole lot more stockinette, so this is good for now.

Finally, I saw this in the window of a local bedding store. Isn't it cute?


cute

Besides the animals knitting, there are sheep wearing scarves!

daffodil?

Here's a photo of my newest sock. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do a pattern or ribbing, but I like how the turkish cast on worked out. However, I'm not certain the colours look like a daffodil to me. I think the yellow is a little too light.


daffodil sock

I have to admit, since I know the chances of my getting home during daylight hours during the week are slim at best, I stockpiled pictures on the weekend. I'll spread them out over the week, even if they don't show my most recent progress to avoid big gaps. Hopefully its still interesting.

krazy socks

Well, despite not doing much knitting, I have managed to finish my third pair of socks (ever)! They are knit on 3mm needles from Patons Kroy Socks Stripes in Krazy Stripes. I didn't follow a particular pattern, but I used a short row heel.


from the side


from above

The one thing I would change next time would be the toe. I didn't think to do some decreases when I switched from ribbing to stockinette, to I have two corners. Lessons learned.


toes

I have already cast on for a new sock. Since, I've got this cuff down thing figured out, I tried the Turkish cast on for toe up socks. The first couple rows were a little tight, but its going well now. I'm using Knitpicks Sock Garden in Daffodil. And, I knit the cuff cables for Samus on the trip last weekend, so I've been working slowly on knitting up from there.

In other news, I've finally started giving family and friends my blog address. I waited because I wasn't sure it was going to stick this time (I had a blog when I was overseas and then stopped posting when I got busy. I didn't want to mislead them again.) At a couple month of regular posts, I think its time, since many complain that I never tell them what's going on in my life.

slow down

Wow. I was so quick off the mark with the Rhinebeck post, and now I've completely dropped off the map. I've been tired still from my busy weekend, and work has been busy (I just found out that I'm on call this weekend too, so no respite for me). I haven't been doing much knitting either. I knit a bit on my sock at the knitting group last night (It was crazy! There were twenty-odd people there! It was the largest crowd in a while as we joined up with some people from the knitty board). Justine and I spent a lot of time winding our purchases from Rhinebeck on Daisy's swift and ball winder, which she was kind enough to bring. We got a lot of stares with that contraption set up in the middle of the coffee shop (there are pictures available on the yahoo group if you want to see). There was one point where her skein kept tangling and we were both sitting on the floor babysitting it and we were giggling like mad... It was a nice moment.

Other than that, I've been reading a new book! That's pretty new for me, since I haven't read much lately. I'm reading The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, which I picked up from the Bookcrossing meeting that was going on during the last knitting group I went to.