Christmas Knitting Round-up

Whee Christmas is over!! I got most of my knitting done, the only things left on the needles is one half sock for my Grandpa, and about three quarters of a scarf for my FIL.

All told, I think that makes this Christmas a successful one.

On the finished side, we have:

Specs:

Pattern: Generic sock pattern, see Yarn Harlot’s Knitting Rules, random stripes added

Yarn: Paton’s Kroy in Black and orange varigated (colour 54567)

Needles: DPN 2.25 mm

Started: December 10, 2007

Finished: December 18, 2007

Thoughts: This was the last minute socks that were requested of me from my Step-mom (she of the amazing knitting bag which apparently came from Regal online). In an email I was hinted at that a black pair of socks with stripes that weren’t too bright in a size 5 would be perfect.

So I broke out my sock stash and whipped these up. She really loved them and wore them for the next 3 days that I saw her. She lives in British Columbia so while she might not have the extreme cold of Ontario, she does have the extreme dampness.

These were top priority for me because she is the main family member who encourages my knitting habit (even more so than my Gramma). I knew she would absolutely love them and would wear and take care of them. She is definitely going to get more of these in the future.

Next up:

Specs:

Pattern: Arrrrgh-yles from Moth Heaven

Yarn: Paton’s Kroy in White and Black, Lily Chin Chelsea in Green, and Dalegarn Baby Ull in Orange

Needles: DPNs 2.25 mm

Started: August 25, 2007

Finished: December 6, 2007

Thoughts: These were made for a friend of C’s in Singapore. They play the online game Puzzle Pirates and when I found these socks I showed it to C who showed it to his friend who asked for a pair. She’s going to be heading out to BC next fall to go to school so again, see damp wet winter which wool socks are perfect for.

I really enjoyed this pattern, it was another attempt at intarsia and fairisle, this was better than some of my previous attempts. I had fewer holes to sew up, and I was really happy with my back seam on the socks, you can see it in the sock on the right in the picture. I’m really bad at finishing so I was proud that I buckled down and did it right. I also conquered Kitchener Stitch in these socks and then re-conquered it in the stripey socks… I might not have such a war with it from now on.

Can you tell this was a year of socks? :

Specs:

Pattern: Generic kid sock with short row heel and normal toe

Yarn: Lang Yarns Jawoll Cotton Jacquard

Needles: 2.25 DPNs

Started: December 5, 2007

Finished: December 10, 2007

Thoughts:This is one of two pairs of identical socks for the granddaughters of family friends. This was a bit of a struggle because I was just given the age of the girls and the approximate size of their feet. So I went and grabbed a chart of foot sizes and the corresponding stitch amounts, and away I went.

Luckily both pairs of socks fit, and I was quite proud that I managed to match up both pairs.

Hopefully the girls won’t fight over who’s socks are who’s.

Last but not least, a baby blanket that wasn’t actually a Christmas Present:

Specs:

Pattern: Snowdrop Shawl by Yarn Harlot

Yarn: Some mystery yarn that I inherited.

Needles: 5.5 mm Straights

Started: November 28, 2007

Finished: December 22, 2007

Thoughts: This was a really fun lace project. It was my first time adding an actual edging to a shawl. I was really pleased by how it ended up.

Due to the different yarn and the fact that I had absolutely no info on what this yarn is, I did fewer repeats for the bulk of the shawl because I was worried I wouldn’t have enough for the edging. In the end I had over half a ball left so I can make baby hats or whatever from it.

This poor baby girl is the first girl in the family for 13 years, she’s got way too much pink already, I need to make her something yellow or such.

So that’s my Christmas knitting. Now to get back to the unfinished boring socks for my Granpa. I got a really cool present as well that I will talk about next time.. It ties in with the end of my BC trip.

Till next time.

I think I may be crossing a line….

I realized something today… I may be getting a little too obsessed with this knitting thing. Not so much with the yarn or the act of knitting or what but well… let me explain.

I ride the bus everywhere, I don’t have my driver’s license at this time, and though I intend on getting it, it’s not on the top of my list right now. Today I was sitting at the front of the bus, trying desperately to fight off a bout of car sickness that was creeping up on me, when a woman stepped on the bus. I was looking at the floor and noticed her scarf.

It took about 2 seconds while she was paying for me to go… hey, I recognize that stripe pattern. It was in different shades, but as I followed the scarf up to her neck, I knew for certain that it was a Dr. Who Scarf, much like the one I recently finished.

As I was formulating a very suave comment to say to her about it however, she walked past me and sat down somewhere behind me. I debated moving seats so I could ask about her scarf, if she knit it.. how she found slogging through the 11 feet of garter stitch, but I thought it might seem rude or presumptuous. So I stayed where I was, hoping that she’d be getting off at the station where I was so that I could then strike up a conversation about it.

Oh believe me, the conversations we had in my head were wonderful! Comparing experiences, talking about Dr. Who and knitting in general. I’d mention that I was part of the local knitter’s guild, and I’d find someone who could relate to my love of knitting.

And then she got off 3 stops early. This is where I think I completely lost my mind.

I very nearly got up and walked off the bus to follow her and strike up the conversation. I debated very vehemently with myself about how I could go shopping at the grocery store there and just happen to notice her scarf.. after all.. tomatoes with dinner would be lovely.

Then the sane part of my brain spoke up and mentioned that not only was I late getting home, but I was becoming a stalker of knitting and that the woman probably saw my crazed look as she walked past and fled. Sanity won out in this instance.
I just hope I spot her on the bus again soon…

Till next time.

Off Topic

Ok, so here’s the scoop. I have the post about seeing the show and the FO pretty well written… except that when I got the pictures I realized that I forgot to take the picture of the FO!

So while I wait for my friend who now owns the FO to take pics, I figured I would tell you about one of the best knitting birthday gifts that I got.

On October 12 it was my birthday, and while most of my family gives me boring normal items, my step mother gets me knitting stuff. (my gramma is pretty good at getting knitting stuff too, but most of my family don’t).

I usually get a bunch of knitting books from my Step mom (and my Dad by rote), and maybe some yarn, or something like that.

This birthday, they totally scored.

This is a wicked cool knitting bag! This thing is huge, and can either be used for a number of projects, or for very detailed fairisle. See the plastic stuff at the front? Those are 6 sections that will hold 1 ball of yarn each, then the little dots at the top are holes to allow the yarn to go through without tangling!

See those rectangles by the holes? That’s velcro to hold onto the yarn when you’re not using it. There’s also a section up at the top, seen here, for needles, pins, small notions and do-hickies.

On either side is a good sized, zippered pocket. Perfect for small patterns, or folded print outs. Bigger notions, or even a quick grab extra ball of yarn.

The best part tho is the fact that, this bag looks mostly empty… it’s sagging, it’s unhappy… and yet…

There are 12 balls of Phentex Mohair Mist filling the bag up. This bag can hold a TON of yarn! When I got it, it had 2 jumbo balls of acrylic baby yarn, these 12 balls of mohair, a bunch of crochet cotton, and another 10 balls or so of yarn that they found at a garage sale.

This bag is huge! And it’s wonderful for holding travel projects and the like.

I’ll have to ask her where she got it because it totally rocks.

Till next time.. hopefully with that FO

FO! And a Book Critique.

I just read through some of my past posts and realized that I didn’t finish what happened on my BC vacation…. I’ll do that later, there wasn’t really all that much but I will get to it.

Today however I bring you the promised FO! This is a gift for a friend of mine who came to me last year and asked if I would help him reach geek level 5. It is a Tom Baker Dr. Who Scarf!

(as always, click the pictures to see bigger)

This scarf is LONG! I’m 5′5″ and it’s wrapped once around my neck loosely. It’s probably about 11-12 feet long all told.

The specs for this:

Pattern: Season 13 (first) Scarf from The History of Tom Baker’s Scarves

Yarn: Paton’s Classic Wool Merino

Needles: 4mm straights

Started: February 2007

Finished: October 2007

Thoughts: This scarf felt like it was never ending. At times it was quite fun, I’d finish a colour section and start the next, realize it was only 8 rows and try to get to the next section. It became a bit of a race with myself. However, it was also completely in Garter Stitch and made for very boring knitting after a while. Especially when I interrupted it with the Mystery Stole. Going from interesting lace back to garter stitch was hard. The pattern is sort of interesting though, in that it just gives you the colours you need, then lists which colour comes next and how many rows to do. It was fairly simple to follow.

That is until I skipped a line of the pattern and forgot about 10 colour sections. I ripped it out, cursing all the while, and added in the colours I missed. Looking back on it now, I realize that I could have just done some surgery on it, leaving the sections I’d completed to the side (cutting them off) knitting the ones I’d forgotten, then grafting the section back on. But I didn’t think about that until after I’d ripped it all.

My friend should be careful, because after that lovely picture up top, the garter stitch monster decided it wanted it’s revenge on me for taking so long.

But I beat it into submission and snapped a couple of pictures to warn you of any impending doom you will have if you make this scarf.

 

Sobering isn’t it.

On the plus side, I have at least one full ball of each colour left over to figure out what to do with. I’m pondering a colour work sweater but I’m not sure yet. We’ll see. Any ideas? There are 7 colours, I would probably have to do this sweater in the round to make sure I had enough, but I might be able to split the balls.

Book Critique!

Recently I went out and bought the book Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair  by Crazy Aunt Purl. This was a book that I was really looking forward to. I’d been reading her blog for about 6 months and had almost fallen off my chair laughing through most of it.

When the book finally came out, my local book store didn’t get it in stock for a month or so. When I finally found it, after reading great things being said about it, I snatched it up and bought it before the words “can’t afford it” could go through my head.

I was reading it in the car on the way home (my fiance was driving) and pretty well devoured it over the next few days.

This book is fantastic. It had me laughing, crying, agreeing, and emphasizing. I’m only 25, not married and never been through a divorce as one of the married people. I have however been a child involved in 2 divorces, one involving many acts of adultery and abuse, and do know how trying it can be on a person and a family.

This book is not a tale of woe, it is not a pity party or a “he was mean to me so I wrote this book”. This is a history of a woman caught in a tough time and surviving it. Finding strength in herself and moving forward. Plus, it’s got knitting included.

Totally my kind of book.

Oh and Laurie, if you’re reading this, you may say you decided to “not bring back the leg warmer trend of  1987″ but looking around the stores… you LIED!!

Till next time!

Very quick update

So, I know I’ve been HORRIBLE to you, leaving you with the August vacation for the last month. I have been suitably whapped by the Imported Italian from that trip for not updating.

Before I go any further, check out Quirky Nomads new podcast!! I’m a guest voice! Hello anyone who’s come here from Sage’s site.

This month has had a fair amount happen in it,  and I will post a whole bunch of pictures, but sadly, you will be without them for now.

I joined the KW Knitters Guild (hello discounts and cool speakers!) and got to hear Debbie New give her speech. In fact, I showed my Mystery Stole to the guild, and Debbie came up and chatted to me about the beading I’d done. She knew they were plastic beads right away, and gave me some tips for the next version of the shawl I’m making for me.

I’ve got a new job that I’m starting (hence my blog silence) however it’s just another waitressing job. Still hoping on an office job of some sort, need to put the old Diploma to work.

On October 12, I reached my quarter century… yup, I’m now 25 years old, and with the fact that I threw my back out yesterday, I’m feeling it…. My mom says that my warranty is up and now everything on me is going to break.

I’ve been knitting, but mainly on big projects (Like the 10 foot Dr. Who scarf) and on projects for other people (not as much fun as a new sweater for me). I’ll hopefully have some pictures of those for you soon enough. Just as soon as I charge the batteries for the camera.

I think that’s it for now, though I’ve probably forgotten something.

Till next time!

September 11

So, I am going to take a small digression from my vacation (at the beginning of this post) to talk about the significance of today for me. 9/11 happened when I was 18 years old, I was in my first year at college, and I was failing miserably. When I heard that the World Trade Centre had been hit by a plane I didn’t really believe it, it was too much for me to comprehend. I was actually in class when one of our teachers told us, however by the time we knew, the WTC had already collapsed.

Thinking back on that day I am ashamed of myself. I was too immature to really grasp what had happened, and it was too far away from home for me to really feel the impact it truly had on the world. My main memory from that day was that the senator in California (I think) who was being investigated for the disappearance of a young woman would be really happy now that the heat was off him.

Not my shiniest moment.

However, over the next year I changed and grew, and in the April following I watched a documentary on some of the firefighters that went up the towers. It was then that everything hit me as to what really happened that day and how much was lost. I bawled like a baby for a good 3 hours.

Turning on the tv today was hard for me, I look back on that day with so much emotion now, pain for those who suffered, both those who died/were injured, and those who survived, and Shame for the way I reacted to it.

The way I try and remember that day is with hope. While so many horrible things happened, it also brought so many people together.

Due to this, I try to think about what I’m grateful for having, that if something that catastrophic happened to me, what could I look back and be happy about.

Right now it’s this:

Good friends

A loving fiancé

A happy family

An appreciation for beauty

 

The ability to knit

And most importantly, the opportunity to give back to others.

Which is why today at 6:35, I am donating blood and why even though I’m terrified of needles, I’m going to try and donate blood more often. Being O- means that my blood is not only one of the most rare, but is also a universal donor.

On days like today, it’s always good to list what you appreciate, because you never know when it will be taken away from you.

Till next time

Still a Distraction

This is supposed to be a really cool image telling you the cost of my cadaver… only… the coding won’t work, so I’ll just tell you that I’m worth $5,125 apparently… bleh silly coding.

Ok, so I’m still working like the wind on my MS3, I’m finished Clue 4, and I’m working on the wing. I was hoping to have it finished for this coming Saturday (thinking that once the clue was revealed that would be the end of it) only to find out that there was still at least one more clue to go. I’m just hoping to get it finished in time as it’s for a friend.I was also commissioned a set of warmers, arm and leg, for a Cats costume for this weekend (luckily it’s for some friend’s I’ll see so I don’t have to worry about mailing it or anything). So I’m a little strapped for time and such, as I also have to pack and get ready to fly out to the west coast on Thursday. So busy busy. Sorry for the lack of posting… much much knitting going on.. hopefully lots of pictures.

till next time.

MS3 Clue #3

So here is clue #3 of the Mystery Shawl 3, finished just in time for Potter Mania.

Clue #4 has had a notice up for the last few days stating that we’re about 1/3 of the way done at the moment. Clue #4 is where you get to extend or shorten your stole if you’d like. According to the designer, her stole at this point unblocked or stretched was at about 25″. Which, for me, would mean that my stole would be 75″ and that would be a wonderful length.

I like my stoles to be longer and able to wrap around my shoulders. Luckily, just to make sure it’s long enough, my 1/3 of the stole is closer to 28″, so my stole will be a bit longer.

Here’s a close up of the main beaded section. I’m loving the way the beads stand out. I didn’t exactly match my yarn to my beads, I just grabbed whatever I had from the stash. Still, I’m one who likes my accents to stand out a bit. I don’t see the point of putting beads into a project when it’s not going to be seen easily.

That being said, I wouldn’t want them to clash horribly.

We’re now entering the 2 week break from clues. This is due to the new Harry Potter book being released and the designer allowing people to read the book.

I like the Harry Potter books and have read them all, I also have Alison’s book Charmed Knits and quite enjoy it. I am not however a person who obsesses about the books. They’re good, they’re fantasy, they’re fun, but they aren’t my favourite. Don’t get me started on how irritated I am with the movies.

Anyway.

Due to this break in the clues, we were given a slightly larger clue with 2 charts, so next Friday you will get the first chart and the Friday after that you’ll get the second. I think it works out well.

Here’s a picture with flash that shows the colour of my yarn better.

That’s it from me for now.

Till next time.

WIP’s and FO’s

Today I’m going to discuss some of my WIP’s and a couple of FO’s that I’ve been working on lately. You all know about the Mystery Stole 3, and you’ll get updates on that on Fridays as I complete each clue.

This is for other things I’m working on because I’m very much not a monogamous knitter in any sense of the word.

To start off let’s look at my FO’s. These are my charity FO’s that I’m working on to try and rid my stash of extra yarn that I don’t need.

To start off with, here is my pinwheel blanket

This blanket is made with 3 colours of Red Heart Acrylic. I started this about a year and a half ago, and it would have been finished quite quickly, but I kept getting distracted from it. It was nice mindless knitting for a while. I finished this with a plain stocking stitch edging.

It still needs to be blocked, but that won’t take long.

This next project you might need to put your sunglasses on for. Any retinal burning you may experience has been forwarned.

This is the picture without flash. This hat is the Center Square hat from knitty. It was my first successful attempt at colourwork with the yarn held in both hands. There is little to no puckering and all the colour switches worked very well. I altered this pattern by using a worsted weight yarn with only one strand, and extending the bottom ribbing. It’s longer than just a beanie, but it’s small enough for a toddler or small child.

My WIP’s at the moment are mostly socks.

This is the Grasshopper sock from the Socks that Rock sock club. Don’t expect this to be done any time soon, I’m making the knee high version. I’m really enjoying working with the silkie though it’s a beautiful yarn and the colours are gorgeous.

This is a completed Jaywalker, calmly waiting for its mate that is currently on the needles and just past the heel. I’m hoping to get this one done within the next week. They yarn is Paton’s Kroy Stripes and I love the colourway. Even better is that without meaning to, the colours on the second sock are very close to matching.

This is my Pomatomus sock. It’s an old picture as I have now worked my way around past the heel by now. This is worked in some extra Trekking XXL that I had laying around. I made some plain stocking stitch socks out of this yarn previously and I’m slightly worried I won’t have enough yarn.  Due to that I’ve only done two repeats on the leg instead of three, but it’s a long enough leg for me right now.

This is just scratching the surface of the projects I have on the needles, but some of those will get their own post in the future.

Till then!

A late MS3 Clue #2, and come join a contest

I was trying to keep my MS3 updates on Fridays, but I ran out of time on Friday and didn’t end up finishing my Clue #2 until today.

Link to big sized picture

This is a relatively bad picture because I wanted to have a dark background to show the lace pattern. I’ll probably take some more outside pics at a later time. If you click through to my flickr page, you can see where the beads are, they’re clear and don’t photograph very well.

About the contest, Heathen Housewife also known as Shelly Kang, is hosting a contest for Victorian Lace Today and some beautiful white laceweight merino, that she’s willing to dye to any colours you’d like. Go there and put a comment on her blog, and please please tell her I sent you because then you’ll help me get another entry (if you post this link to your blog and get people to enter through it you’ll get more entries too!)

I’ll try and post some pretty sock wip pictures tomorrow.

Till next time.