mjm knitting

Wet and Wild October

2011-10-27T15:32:00.000-04:00

Man has it been a wet and damp October so far. With only a few days left in the month, I thought i'd just manage to squeeze in one blog post for this month.

I am currently working on christmas gifts. I have 8 to do this year and have four and a half completed which considering this is October 27th and there is still two months til the big day, I hoping this year I won't be as panicked as previous years.

For Thanksgiving this year, as we have done the past few years, we've packed up the car and headed to visit family just west of Toronto. It's always so peaceful and relaxing and is Polly-Jean's second home.

For two days, I caught some much needed vitamin D and read a book, while Frost did pretty much the same and stinker got to play on just under an acre of land. There is so much to do and see there is never a chance to get bored.

Here are just a few shots of Polly-Jean frolicking around

And for us, we get a great golden hour shot of the beautiful country side that surrounds the property

On one small side note, today would have been my grandfather's 91st birthday, so happy birthday Opa, we miss you!

A year and two days later....

2011-09-10T11:25:00.000-04:00

I won't bore you with all the details of the last year. Let's just say it's been a great one.

I travelled with Frost to New York City for the very first time in October of 2010 as well as to Italy just after Christmas for our honeymoon (only two and a half years after the wedding). Polly Jean turned two while we were away on our Middle America road trip through Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. The cats are great although Lenix has put on a few pounds from being banished to the 2nd floor of the house for fear Polly-Jean will eat him. Tuesday not so much but they are all starting to come around to each other finally.

As for knitting, it comes and goes in spurts and waves but there is always a thing or two on the needles. I do believe it's declined heavily because of my newest obsession. ROLLER DERBY!!!! I failed graciously on my exam in July with ToRD but am starting up again this Wednesday with the GTA Rollergirls as ToRD (toronto roller derby) isn't doing another intake of Fresh Meat until next year. I am thrilled however that Miko, Rosa, Lise and Michelle all passed minimums and are now on ToRD's farm team the D'VAS.

Since February, with the beginning of roller derby, I now go to exercise class three mornings a week and have been using my bike more this summer than the last two previous summers combined. I can't believe how fast cycling gets me everywhere in the city, It's astounding and I love it.

Polly-Jean

2010-09-08T16:44:00.000-04:00

Just some photos to share with you, (for those who may not have seem them on fb), of Polly Jean who turned a year old today.

These would be the out takes from our quick photo session this morning before I had to head off to work. Polly Jean was way more interested in chewing on a stick and jumping up and down at me then being cooperative.

What can I say, she's still a puppy.

Finally a keeper:

Back in the Saddle Again

2010-07-19T00:06:00.000-04:00

Long long time no post. I am happy to report that all is well here at the Mountalan abode. It feels as if Polly-Jean has been around forever even though she is only 10 months old. The cats act like grumpy old men around her, which seeing as they are 8 years old I guess that's okay.

I have been plugging away at knitting here and there when the time suits me. Some days my mojo is on and some weeks it's off. The weather was really hot a couple weeks back and i didn't knit one stitch for almost 5 days. Instead I sat around and read The Gargoyle between walks to the park and turning the ac on for an hour if only to drop the heat in the house by a degree. I'll attempt to have photos in the next post. Perhaps a few of the stinker (aka Polly Jean) all grown up, and some of my knitting projects even if they aren't blocked. I finished a long cowl and a sinful ribbed scarf back in january, colonnade in april, wisp in june and tudor grace in july. I am currently working on a shawl but can't give away any more details as it's a gift for someone later on in the year. I am thinking of doing a shawl or two for me next. I really like spring leaves and i have three skeins of blue malabrigo sock yarn called impressionist sky that I think will go well together.

I hauled out all my yarn on friday and reorganized it into yarn weights. A half tote has all my lace and dk/sport weight yarn. One bin has all my aran/worsted weight yarn and some stuff that i'm not too keen on, that i won't be touching til sometime in the fall. The final bin was chock full of sock yarn. Now the two large bins where overflowing a bit so i had to throw the four skeins of twinkle that i own and a half dozen skeins of sock yarn into a forth bin so that i could close them but all and all not so bad. Although I do have to say I have quite a lot more sock yarn than i remember having, and I know it doesn't count in the grand scheme of things in the stash world, but it does to me.

Oh and I may have taken just one photo of all that yarn in bins just to remind myself of how much yarn i really do have. That photo i'll definitely be including in my next post.

Ciao for now!

Sunday morning resolution

2009-10-25T00:59:00.005-04:00

Regarding talking off/taking flight

1. Neither Frost or myself, can get through this next move alone
1a. This is a big step for both of us, in the next chapter in our lives.

2. We can either do it together, alone or by ourselves.
2b. It's best when we work together, as their is no team in I

3. We both have our own set of resources to call upon on when we need too.
3b. Clearly we both like being in the lead and supportive roles.

4. For both our sanity for the week ahead we need to be apart.
4b. But know that the other is near, and just a phone call away.

5. Technology has come along way since our parents and grandparents moved from house to house.
5b. With all the technology available to us in 2009, why not use it.

6. Frost seems to have a cast of characters in play.
6b. But to play nice he needs to send one over my way, as I just called red light.

7. Red light will be back on until Frost sends me a green light message,
7b. This green light message must not find it's way into my inbox until 9am on monday morning.

8. We are having a proper pre production meeting on Sunday the 25th of October at 6pm to go over the particulars of the week days ahead.
8b. You will get a message by 4pm today to find out where we are meeting.
8c. Should you not acknowlege this message by within twelves hours of this message being sent to you. I will null and void this transaction.

9. Should Frost meet me at my preferred meeting spot today at 6pm, to sign this contract he can then of course
9a. But we need to know
9b. We both my require your help at any time this week.
9c. If we don't call you to ask for help, please call us.
9d. Being on stand by is never a bad thing.

This was written at 12:59 am on the morning of October 25th, 2009. Later that day I was admitted to clark-the emergency ward of camh (centre of addiction and mental health) I was diagnosed with having had a manic episode. I was given enough meds at the time to knock me out and make me sleep for the first few days of my stay.

Unfortunately when I was able to get out of my drug induced haze, I wasn't allowed to leave maui-the mood and anxiety program-inpatient program. I had not played by their rules. I had bitten one of my nighttime pills in half and hide it in my bra. I was having heart palpitations and then passing out from the amount of drugs they had me on at night. I didn't know what was happening, so did the only thing i knew to do. This resulted in me missing the first halloween in our new house. I was over the fact that I had missed the move, but when the realization hit me that I was going to miss our first halloween at the new house I ranted and raged like a lunatic. No one who came to see me was good enough, everyone was against me and I needed to get out. Well that how I saw it anyways. I waited and waited for anyone to come get me that first weekend, but nobody came. And then when they did come finally after the weekend was over I ranted and raged at the entire lot who'd come to visit.

It wasn't until the monday morning of the start of the second week that i learned if i was to get out, i would have to ship up and play by the rules of maui. So i went to group sessions, I talked with other patients. I was the newbie on the floor, the first time patient, and I was going to find out everything i could to get myself out. Of course it helped a lot that I had been doing this since day one. I'd notice a new person on the floor and ask them who they were and wanted to see their badge. I even offered to take new photos if they didn't like their, that how much i was in a manic state that first week. Still trying to be the hero.

I was always the happy one, never the sad one. That is my role and I have played it well my entire life. I stayed at maui for 3 1/2 weeks. The last half week I was there, I did my own thing and stayed away from any new patient that came onto the ward. I had played my part, it was time to exit the stage. Don't get me wrong, this illness is far from over. I will be on meds for the next 12-18 months. My inner hope is that it will be less but only time will tell.

I have a new social worker and physiatrist now and will be going back 2-3 times a week to the outpatient early intervention centre unit. I decided last monday that I was ready to come home, to the house here on Mountalan. I could have gone into another program on site at camh, but decided that I have a huge support system here in the community in which I live that i didn't need to, nor want to, continue on with the inpatient program. I do know however that it's always there in the background should i need it.

I am a bit hesitant to post this entry as excessive writing is what got me into this pickle to begin with, but I have come to learn that I have always used the written word to get me through the rough times. It's been my mental escape since i was a teen. In my closet here in this new room, my own office/craft room from which i write, is a box full of journals from the time i entered high school until now. The only difference is that when I started this blog a few years back my writing stopped. It came back when Frost went away for 10 days to LA. The unfortunate part is that it was a flood of thoughts and insight into the world around me that came with it because i wasn't taking care of myself. I was depriving myself of sleep as I was helping out friends for the Creativ Festival. I was taking care of everyone else, except for the one person that mattered most-ME.

I acknowledge the fact that I don't ask for help most of the time. I am the sort of person who does what needs to be done no matter how long it takes or how much energy i give. I have done that since I was a child. What have i learned most these last four weeks, is that everyone needs help. I am just starting to learn how to ask for it. I am thankful for marrying Frost last year. This wednesday will be our 6th year anniversary of meeting on the set of a commercial. He has come so far so fast in his field. From a jaded production assistant to a very highly respected and sought after video playback/data management guy.

I am thankful for the support system we have surrounded ourselves with. Friends and family members know who they are but it's also those of you who read this blog that are supportive as well. I have no idea how many people read this blog, but it doesn't matter. Telling you what has happened, is what needs to be done. The real reason why I haven't posted in so long. You don't have to know all the sorted affairs and details but if you want to hear them I will gladly tell you over a pot of tea. I am just getting back into the swing of things here. My old physiatrist, asked Frost if I was back to normal, to my old self. Frost of course said yes, and that was what got me discharged, but the fact of the matter is, is that I will never go back to that normal. There is a new normal about. The entire four weeks changed me, and it changed me for the better. Would I wish these last four weeks on anybody. Nope, not for a moment, but if should happen again we know what signs to look out for now and I would be the first to ask you to take me back to camh.

Baby Set

2009-10-09T19:16:00.000-04:00

This is the baby set, I just finished for Baby Sophia, who was born at the beginning of September.

I finished the sweater back in July when we found out a baby was on it's way. The parents weren't divulging the sex of the child, so I waited until the baby was born before adding the buttons. I'd also purchased some navy mission falls wool to make a hat and booties to complete the set, but when the baby was born and it was a girl, I just couldn't do it. The navy looked too masculine. I decided that purple went well with the green and picked up some more yarn. The buttons are from The Purple Purl, as is all the yarn, and they're such cool buttons as the tree is actually a purple tree, the buttons have not been dyed at all.

The hat was finished in about 4 days. I increased the number of cables to twelve, since the original pattern size was for a newborn and I wanted the hat to last a bit longer as the baby is already a month old.

The booties took a bit longer. I started them before the hat, but put them aside as the seams were being finicky. In the end they worked, but I had to re-do them a few times each.

3 weeks + 2 days old

2009-10-05T00:54:00.000-04:00

Here's some current photos of Little PollyJean.

We visited PollyJean last Thursday, along with her two remaining siblings (the two black and white puppies from an earlier post didn't make it past a couple weeks old) along with her mom and aunt (the proud mother of 5 week old puppies) and her grandmother at the breeders home.

Above, from left to right are PollyJean, her brother, and her sister. Her sister is going to a home in Calgary, and her brother has yet to be spoken for.

*Although I'd love to take credit for all these photos, the only one in this post that's actually mine is the last one. The first and third images were taken by my father-in-law. The second photo was taken by Frost.

My new toy

2009-09-29T11:03:00.001-04:00

A very brief post, in the bit of downtime I've had since Friday afternoon.

On Sunday, I went with Frost, Ma Frost, and Pa Frost antiquing in the country. Our first stop was CJ's antiques on Hwy 24 between Brantford and Waterford. The store has three outbuilding and an unoccupied house full of refinished furniture that is all stripped and refurbished on site by the owners. I didn't know about the house the first time we were there, back in July. We spent at least an hour looking at all the interesting and locale pieces they have, and I had quite a lovely chat with Casey, the father of the owner who helps mind the shop. We might have a couple of pieces to go pick up, once we have moved into the new house, which dudes, is in 28 days, or four weeks from today!

Our next stop was at the two antique shops in Waterford, which are in one big building near the stream. The antique shop at the very front has very nice stuff however it's all priced by the owner and his prices are quite high. The second antique shop at the back half of the building is owned and operated by Dave and his family but it works more or less on consignment where they have vendors who set the price and they get a percentage of the sale. The name of the antique shop aptly called the Waterford Antique Market.

The first time we visited the Waterford Antique Market back in April, was the first time I layed eyes on this new toy. In July when we were there for a second time, as it's now become a key part of our visit to my relations in Branford to go antiquing in the country, it was still there. Again I hummed and hawed over weather to get it or not but left it behind. This time round, I decided that should it still be there, I'd take it, but try to barter with the vendor as it would not have moved in the last 6 months. To my surprise it was still there and I immediately clutched it in my paws and began walking around the store with it.

An older lady, I'd say somewhere around 75 or 80 years of age, actually came up to me and said she'd had one as a child, but hers was black and silver instead of all tan. As it has no instruction booklet with it, I asked her how to thread it. Which she gladly told me how to do, and then went on her way out the back door of the shop.

So here it is, a 1940's child's singer sewing machine. Complete with a clamp to hold it to a table. I don't own a sewing machine but it's in such great condition and working order, that I can totally use it to hem pants and such.

The pint glass in this second shot is just for scale. It really is quite tiny.

And the best part of all-Made in Canada!

Now the kicker to this story is that just before leaving Waterford, we all went back into the first half of the building where the expensive antique market is. Pa Frost found in a glass cabinet a black and silver child's sewing machine just like the one I got, but it came with it's original box and instruction manuel. Which I guess explains the $225.00 price tag. Mine was a mere $125.00 with a 25% discount which would have come to $93 dollars and some change but I got the vendor to sell it to me for $80.00. My grandmother might have passed away back in April but I am proud to have inherited her barter gene.

Why Ravelry Is a Godsend

2009-09-24T07:56:00.000-04:00

Okay so last night, I found a new feature to make me love ravelry even more.

Now I have a few wips at the moment that need to get done asap, before I die of boredom, they have been on the needles so long. The startitis flu takes me over every six weeks I have to admit. Nor does it help that the list I started to write out yesterday, of all the things I want to start and finish before Christmas, was blown out of the water last night when I realized I needed to haul ass today and cast on and finish the baby set for Frosts co-workers new baby girl. At least the sweater is done. All I have to do is whip up a hat and booties and find cute buttons, but I digress.

My new favourtie feature is in the advance pattern search area. Since lets face it, I love knitting from free patterns I find on ravelry. Be it independent, first time designers or from the plethora of free on-line knitting magazines available to us these days. Now don't get me wrong, there are also great single patterns out there that cost a few dollars here and there but I am more of a buy the book or the magazine if there are at least 5 or 3 patterns respectively that I will make somewhere down the road from it. (I've only ever purchased two pdf's pattern downloads so far since i starting knitting 5 years ago, as I don't want to fall down that black hole as well)

And that is where I get sucked in. Since I will go through books and magazines, find those patterns I will someday make, subsequently purchase said book or magazine and then come home and add it to my bookshelf. Half the time not even giving it a second glance. Until now. Last night I was trying to come up with what to make with the four skeins of manos silk blend yarn I recently purchased from my lys. While trolling through the advanced pattern search, I entered the weight of the yarn I wanted to use as DK and then for my second option under the "availability" tab, noticed in the drop down menu the "in library" option and clicked on "yes."

Which means, that the search engine looks at all the magazines, books, booklets, and those few pdf patterns that I have purchased and is stored in my on-line library, and tells me which patterns I can make from my already existing stash of patterns. It's absolutely genius. Now all I have to do is troll through those patterns that come up in the search, and co-ordinate them with yarn I already have in my stash. I will also write down in the "notes" area on each individual yarn page of my stash, what pattern I plan to use with that particular yarn. Not that it will stop me from buying knitting magazines and pattern books, but it should start to make me use some of the ones I currently have in my possession, as that is what they're for.

It makes having the amount of stash I already have listed on ravelry that much more bearable if I have some kind of idea what I'll be using it for. I may even start to add from that extra box of yarn that might be hidden under the bed into my stash page. In bits and drags of course as I don't want to give myself a heart attack.

How rocking awesome is that discovery, EH?

The real Polly Jean

2009-09-17T19:54:00.001-04:00

So there was a bit of confusion with the litter of puppies last week. There were two liver and white female puppies that we could choose from. One had a kink in it's tail, the other did not. Frost wanted a dog with it's tail still attached not one without a tail.

We were led to believe, the one we originally wanted, which has a white mark on it's arse, (what I refer to as an upside down heart) was the one with the kink in its tail, which needed to be docked. Since somewhere down the road it could have problems with a kinked tail getting caught in whatever blah blah blah.

Then, this afternoon the breeder sent us recent photos of the puppies including this one.

Clearly this dog has an upside down heart on it's arse and it's tail still attached.

It's a bit difficult to see, but the photo below was taken the day before all but one of the puppies got their tails removed. Polly Jean is on the outer right hand side and you can see has a very straight tail. Her sister on the opposite side, on the outer left hand side, has a kink in her tail. As does the male liver dog in the middle which is a bit easier to see.

Long story short we get the puppy we wanted all along complete with it's brown button nose!

There eyes are still closed and should open up by the end of the weekend.

New Magazine

2009-09-16T20:36:00.001-04:00

Have you seen the new knitting magazine that will be hitting the stands this fall?

It's call St-Denis Magazine and it's Premier Issue contains patters by Veronique Avery, Robin Melanson and Ysolda Teague just to name a few.

The cover shawl is amazing. I borrowed the image from the St-Denis blog. I can't wait to see this magazine at my lys. Wink Wink Hint Hint

Geek Tastic

2009-09-15T06:25:00.000-04:00

While at the Silver Snail last week with Frost, I spotted and scored this piece of beauty. It's my very own Captain Jack and Gwen Cooper mug. After watching the week long third season of Torchwood, Children of Earth, back in July, I just had to have it. Even though I was disappointed that Ianto Jones was killed off, and that the fifth and final episode of season three was not as fulfilling as the other four episodes.

They did have some Torchwood action figures in the shop but no Jack, Gwen or Ianto in stock so the mug will suffice for now, until we go back to the UK.

KW Fair Loot

2009-09-14T22:16:00.003-04:00

I was much more restraint than last year at the KW Fair. I don't think I've even touched any of the yarn I bought there last year but that didn't deter me from getting anything this year.

Having worked at the Purple Purl booth for the majority of the day, I finally set off with Miko and Lise in tow at 4pm to make the rounds. We had a half hour to shop. Earlier in the week, I had scoped out the list of vendors from the KW Knitters Guild site so I had a list of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see. I had a total of 7 shops. I found 6 of the 7 but only purchased from three. As I had bought nothing at the Frolic back in April, I really wanted to get a few mementos from this group of vendors. To be honest, I prefer the KW to the Frolic.

First off we headed straight to see SheepStrings. From the website, I learned that the owner was showcasing a new line of hand dyed yarns. The owner no longer has a store front, which had been near Huntsville, Ontario, but is still dying yarn and wow what beautiful stuff it is. I did have a quick peak at her stuff early Saturday morning, just before the doors to the fair rooms were opened to the public, but hadn't brought my wallet with me so I didn't get anything at the time.

At the end of the day there were still beautiful skeins to be had. I got two skeins of Rainbow Sock Yarn. They don't have dye lots or colour names so no two colours will ever be duplicated exactly the same, which I love. Of course these babies won't be made into socks. With 470 yards they will most likely become shawls or scarves. I know, I've been trying to stay away from variegated yarns but these were so pretty. One has more prominent shades of blues and purples while the other has greens and browns.

While talking briefly with Karen, of Sheepstrings, I learned that she had been at this years DKC Knitter's Frolic, which I had been oblivious too. I will definitely be looking out for her on 8th May, as that is new date of next years Frolic. (I just got an email from the DKC)

My second purchase was at AB Originals. I got four buttons which I'm not sure what I'll use for yet. I love them to bits but can't for the life of me recall what tree they come from. It's some type of cone, but I'll have to get back to you on that one.

My third and finale purchase was from ZigZag Stitches. It's a boxy bag project bag, which I later learned is a free sewing pattern that I can get of the net, but I don't care as I didn't have to sew it myself. I had seen this project bag on Carole's etsy site and was hoping she'd still have some left at the end of the day. Luckily for me she had not one but two still on the rack when I got there, and when I saw that the inside was lined with pokadots fabric, I knew it was coming home with me.

So was there anything that I missed that I really really wanted? Not really, but I do have my eye for one of Tanis' Fiddlehead Mittens Kit in Blues, and a ball of Zauberball-which I hope to score at the Creative Festival next month.

How I love noro when it's crochet

2009-09-10T06:15:00.000-04:00

This is the finished outcome of my three balls of noro kureyon sock yarn, colourway number S185.

It's hard to tell from these photos but the blanket measures about 30 inches square and has yet to be blocked.

I did use up all three balls but only had enough left over for one side of the blanket edging. Instead of ripping back an entire round of double croceht stitches, I dived into my stash bins to find the leftovers from the ends of days wrap. I was pleased to discover the dark green colourway from the wrap was very close in tone to the dark green in the blanket. I finished off the edging, which was a simple single crochet stitch around the blanket, but didn't like having 3/4 in green and 1/4 in burgundy.

Luckily for me I had enough green still left over and did a second single crochet stitch edging around the blanket. Which I love. All in all I used 10 grams or 46.2 yards of green for the edging. I know this because I weighed the yarn prior to starting the edging so that I knew how much I had to play with (there was a total of 19 grams)

If you want to see it in person, its currently on display at the shop here in the T-dot. It will be taking a road trip this saturday to the Kitchener Waterloo Knitters fair. So don't forget to stop by the Purple Purl's booth and have a look see.

The newest member of the family

2009-09-09T06:30:00.002-04:00

Here's the first few photos of our new puppy, a female english springer spaniel named Polly Jean.

Aptly named after the British singer PJ Harvey, when we discovered the name Harper was more associated with our current Prime Minister and not Roy Harper. The latter being one of Frosts musical heros, a famous British singer in the '60s and '70s.

She is currently in Gananoque with her mum and siblings, so it's not a short hop, skip and a jump away to visit easily. However we will do so in the next coming weeks. Once her eyes have opened, and she's more than half a foot long and a bit more playful instead of just sleepy and hungry from being born.

New LB Bag

2009-09-08T22:33:00.000-04:00

Have you seen the new Lexie Barnes bag prints?

Delilah is my favorite. I don't however need a new knitting bag.
I have a zillion already, but I can window shop can't I?

The Lady B is a classic

but the McCoy would work too.

September already!?!

2009-09-02T00:17:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how quickly August came and went.
With it being the 2nd of September already, its time to pull out fall projects that were on hiatus over the summer.
I finished my crocheted noro lap blanket yesterday, (Photos to come tomorrow) and just as soon as I finish my Eliina Shawl, (which is kicking my arse, as i've had to rip it back more times than I can count), I will start again on my Garnet Muse sweater.

I might even have a cunning plan brewing in my noggin. Last night at knit night while conversing with a fellow knitter, we were talking about the upcoming KW Fair, and I was saying how I never actually wear a knitted garment to these shows. The KW fair is in 10 days. I will be spending most of my time today working solely on the eliina shawl. The shawl needs to be done soon or else I will throw it in the bin in a fit of rage and that will be the end of it. I am just a tad shawled out at the moment. However starting tomorrow, I just might attempt to knit the remainder of my sweater in 9 days. It is a pullover, and knit all in one piece, so it is doable. Am I too crazy to even attempt this? Only time will tell.

And just so that this post isn't photo-less, here is a picture of the swag I acquired at the stitch and pitch last week.

The blue red heart yarn will be donated, as I am not a fan of it's 100 percent acrylic content. One ball of the sassy stripes was in my loot bag as was a green and black ribbon yarn which I gave a way to the knitter sitting beside me at the ball game. She had the same yarn in her loot bag but her ball was white and black so I told her she could have mine as I don't like ribbon yarn. As for the scoring the second ball of sassy striped yarn, another knitter was giving away all the yarn she didn't want and that's how I got it. It wasn't til afterwards that I realized it too was 100% acrylic but I figured I could make something for someone out of it and better to have two balls than just one. Plus I do like the colourway. The patterns are a mix of good, bad and just pain fugly, but it was a loot bag and thus free and really a lot of work went into getting this stuff in the first place so I am quite chuffed.

One year later

2009-08-30T08:51:00.000-04:00

It has been a fabulous first year of marriage.

In September, we travelled to the UK for our 2nd party and it was a blast.

In October, we celebrated Frost's birthday.

In November, I posed half naked for a knitting calendar in support of my LYS. When my grandfather passed away shortly thereafter, Frost dropped all is work commitments to drive me home to Ottawa

In December, we celebrated my birthday and then travelled back to the UK for christmas.

In January, Frost was sick for the first 10 days of our christmas holiday which meant we didn't travel much until the last few days of our trip. We ended up staying in a lovely hotel in Brighton, which was heaven.

In February, we went to California for a week as a mini honeymoon.

In March, a dear childhood friend of Frost's passed away. We were unable to travel back to the UK, for the funeral. However, I am very thankful for the beautiful painting we have from her. Which was an engagement present from her and her family.

In April, my grandmother passed away, and yet again Frost was there for comfort and support.

In May, we started looked for a house of our own, with our fabulous real estate agent.

In June, we went on a camping holiday at the beginning of the month (five days without a shower!) At the very end of the month we put an offer on a house that was definitely the one and got it, beating out 8 other bidders.

In July, we had a mini holiday at a friend's cottage in Bobcaygeon

In August, Frost put in an order to get ourselves a puppy, once we've moved our very first home.

Of course these are just some of the highs and lows of the past year. Through out all of this year, we continue to work at our respective jobs. I knit and crochet in my downtime. while Frost acquires more music now in the form of vinyl and cassette tapes. The cats keep us on our toes, and we have had great times with family and friends, old and new.

One year later, I have even more love and respect for the man I am proud to call my husband. I very much am looking forward to the next year a head of us. A new house, a new pet, a trip to italy in the spring perhaps. and of course, many more new adventures together.

Oh no new sock yarn colours

2009-08-26T19:27:00.000-04:00

As I was leaving my lys tonight, a new shipment of noro kureyon sock yarn colours was dropped off at the shop. There was one colourway in particular that I am in total love with. Colour number S242. Just three balls of it would make another great lap blanket for the new house. Hmmmm

The photo below totally does not do it any justice. It's so much richer in tone and colour. I am in love noro sock yarn!

Lets go out to the ball game

2009-08-25T10:35:00.004-04:00

Do you have you knitting ready to go for tonight?

See you at the Stitch 'N Pitch at the Skydome* tonight.

(*it's still the skydome in my mind not the rogers centre)

65 days and counting

2009-08-23T11:00:00.001-04:00

Until we get the keys to our new house.

Boxes are being acquired. Drawers are being purged and friends are being rallied to help with the move. Sorry, there may be a fight over who helps takes the stash from the old place to the new place as I only have three bins of yarn. There are however lots of pattern books and magazines to be moved too. The big stuff-sofas, shelving units, and dressers, well those will be taken care of by movers.

Noro Lap Blanket

2009-08-21T08:35:00.001-04:00

This is the progress so far on my noro lap blanket.

After taking this image, it measured about 19 inches square. I am about four rows into the second ball of yarn in this image. I am in love with how this yarn is adapting to the pattern. If I was using just one colour of yarn i'd be bored to death by now, but having the colour changes of the noro makes it super fun to see what colour will line up on top of the previous colour next. I thought once I'd finished the first ball of yarn, I'd take a break and work on my eliina shawl but I just can't seem to put it down. Every chance I get, I pull it out of my newest and most favourite project bag, and add a few more double crochet stitches. This project is turning out to be so addicting.

Tomatoe Harvest Begins

2009-08-20T06:25:00.004-04:00

A few months back, on May 1st to be exact, I posted a photo of the small tomatoes plants Frost had started from seed. This photo actually,

Well so far this is what our eight little plants have harvested. I picked these and photographed them on tuesday morning, and ate yellow one with dinner. It was delicious! The three on the left are yellow prefections and the two on the right are called tigerellas.

This is actually our 2nd to 6th tomatoes, as Frost brought in a ripen tigerella at the end of last week. I was working so didn't get a chance to try it. We also have two very large tomatoes which I think are cosmonaut volkovs in the kitchen from a few weeks back. They fell off a plant while Frost was tidying them up. They have started to turn from green to yellow and once they have fully ripened I will take a photo and show you them too. Already we have surpassed our tomatoe harvest of 2008. Last year I think we yielding 4 very small tomatoes from the one plant that survived.

A new skein of Yarn

2009-08-19T08:00:00.002-04:00

The best thing about being a knitter is the kindness and genrosity that we bestow upon our fellow knitters. The karma effect of doing one small random act of kindness most often results in something happening to you in turn.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I offered to and was lucky enough be able to untangle a friends skein of yarn. About the same time as he and I were discussing when we'd be at the shop again at the same time for him to hand off the yarn to me, another fellow knitter from my lys, and whom I consider a very awesome and wonderful friend, ask me if I wanted a skein of her yarn.

This of course just wasn't any old skein of yarn. It was one she'd won at a previous knitty yarn roundtable night. As she was the first number called at the end of the night, she picked the lovely skein of lorna's laces pearl in a green colourway that was being raffled off. I was lucky enough to have my number called second and pounced on the blue colourway of the same yarn. To make a bit of a long storey short, Carol offered me her skein of yarn in the green colourway becasue she didn't feel she'd like working with it as much as I had mine. How awesome is that?

I used my skein of lorna's laces pearl yarn to make a knotted open work scarf. Which is on my ravelry project page and still needs to be blocked and have proper photos taken of. With Carol's skein of yarn, I am going to make a cowl. Right now it's down to two patterns. Either the Noble Cowl by Emily Kausalik or the Beech Wood cowl by Ilga Lega, of which I'd have more than enough yarn. I am itching to work with the yarn right away but must wait until either the noro granny square lap blanket or the eliina shawl is completed.

So meet my new skein of yarn. Gifted to me, by my friend and the very generous Carol. I just looked at the ball band and noticed the colourway is called Fiddlehead. I love eating fiddleheads and think it's the perfect name for this colourway.

Thanks again Carol!

I was on a roll

2009-08-18T10:30:00.000-04:00

For a while there, I was on a roll with regular blogging. To be honest though, I was actually typing up posts a day or two before and then scheduling them to be published on certain days. Then of course work got in the way and I didn't have much to talk about.

The weather in Toronto has suddenly turned hot. Not that I am complaining. I was quite enjoying the mild and wet summer we were having. I was just a tad disappointed that our tomatoes were talking so long to ripen from lack of hotter weather. Then wham, heat wave of the year. It's not been too bad at our place. Luckily enough we have an air conditioner in our bedroom, and I am happy to report that we have only used it the last five nights. That's pretty spectacular in my book. It's the middle of august and we have just started using it now.

On a knitting and crocheting front, I haven't knitted at all in the last couple of days. I did a bit of crocheting on sunday while traveling on the ttc to work, but didn't touch either of my current projects yesterday.

I did manage to untangle a friends skein of yarn, which hopefully I'll be able to give back to him tonight. He gave it to me last thursday afternoon (sometime around 1 pm), and by 10 am saturday morning it was no longer a tangled mess but a ball of beauty. Malabrigo sock beauty to boot. I don't have a photo to share of the tangled mess, I wish now that i'd taken one to begin with but you'll just have to take my word for it that it was one heaping mess.

At one point Thursday night, I did have an evil thought of just cutting the mid side ball I had already managed to wind in lieu of continuing on trying to salvage the yarn into one full size ball. I hatched a plan to say I'd pulled at the yarn so hard it had snapped but then came to my senses and realized it was time to step away from the whole thing for the night. After work on Friday, I had an hour to spare, so worked on it before Frost came home and we went out for dinner. I managed to get through the mess I was having trouble with the previous night and knew I was on a clear path to having it all fixed by the next time I worked on it. I was so eager to get it finished that when I got up saturday morning, I made myself a cup of tea and went to work finishing it within a couple hours or so.

To be honest however, had this skein of malabrigo sock yarn not been a variegated colourway, I would never have taken on the project. Since it was variegated, it was much easier to decipher where the yarn was coming from while trying to untangle it.

It seems a bit cooler today. 10:30 am and it's overcast and cloudy. The weather forecast online says it's currently 24 degrees and there are thunderstorms scheduled for this afternoon. Time for me to do a few errands before the storms come me thinks, and maybe knit a stitch or two.

Project Bag

2009-08-12T08:38:00.000-04:00

Look what I made monday morning with the help of my sewing sensei, the very talented and lovely Lise.

The outer fabric was a christmas gift from my now sister-in-law, a few years ago. At the time, I loved the pattern, but had no use for it as I don't own a sewing machine. It had been sitting in a bin with my yarn stash until monday. I used only a small portion of it to make this bag and will most likely have enough to make either a few more project bags or a handbag similar to the one Lise finished herself a few days ago.

The fabric I used to line the inside of the bag, I picked up last august. I was going to use it as the lining of my wedding dress but realized when I put it up against the pattern, it got lost completely because it was so similar in colour. I think its still useful as a liner. Just for bags now instead of dresses.

Crocheting Again

2009-08-11T08:00:00.004-04:00

It has been a while since I picked up a hook. Since making the dress last year, I have only managed to crochet a bunch of granny squares. Three of them were 8 by 8 inch squares for various blanket contributions. Another 16 squares I made, in yet again a horridly awful colour choice on my part. An orange bernat variegated colourway yarn. I had wiped them up within a few days and was going to make a handbag with them, however, while weaving in the ends, I came to my senses, and they became dish clothes instead.

So just what did I start Sunday and worked on all day yesterday, avoiding a great knitted shawl pattern? Well while I was trolling ravelry early sunday morning, I found a fellow knitter who, with three balls of noro kureyon sock yarn, had made one generously sized granny square lap blanket. Final size 36 by 36 inches. I knew I had three balls of noro kureyon sock yarn upstairs in my stash of another colourway. I even have some leftover noro sock yarn from the "until the end of days wrap" that I can use if I want to make it just a tad bigger.

I had started using the second colourway of noro sock yarn I had in my stash, to make a Revontuli -huivi/Northern Lights shawl. However, when I looked at my ravelry project page, and saw that the revolntuli shawl had been hibernating since the end of last August, I knew it wasn't meant to be. As well, I was only about three inches into making the shawl, so it was very easy to justify ripping out. Plus I have been on such a triangular shawl bender as of late, that I have my last two currently on the needles and then that's it for a while. Of course I couldn't remember how to do any of the stitches, so had to take a quick refresher course with my Happy Hooker book by Debbie Stoller.

Et voila, my progress so far on the blanket. The colours are a throwback to the '70's granny squares blankets and I love it.

Movie Review Monday

2009-08-10T08:11:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday night we rented The watchmen. I had read the book previously, so that I could compare it to the movie when we went to the theatres to see it. Unfortunately by the time I'd finished the book, the movie was out of the theatres. It was great and action packed. We started watching it at 9:30pm and the three and a half hours just flew by. It was pretty true to the book and I think Alan Moore should be pretty happy with the end result. It's as if his book truly came to life.

This past Friday night, we watched On the Waterfront, with Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint. It was Frost's choice and halfway through the movie I still wasn't sure what the name of it was called. It was however very good for having been released in 1954 and therefore an old black and white movie. I had never really seen an entire Brando film before and was quite surprised by how perfect his skin was on screen. Make-up? Soft focus filter? Who knows but it was a good movie non the less.

On Saturday night, much to my delight we rented Coraline. We had gone to the film buff around the corner from us, as I was craving peanut butter ice cream. After about half an hour in the shop, I spotted it. I think it had just been returned and I was just lucky enough to notice it, after one of the chaps who works there, was restocking the shelves. It was fantabulous. I loved it. I might even have to get myself a copy of it when I come across it. To think it was all done as stock animation as opposed to someone sitting at a computer is mind boggling. If you haven't already, you should rent this movie.

Colourwork

2009-08-09T09:15:00.000-04:00

I have decided that by the end of this year, I will have completed my first ever colour work knitted item. I have never done any sort of fair isle projects and I want to try it. It's a toss up at the moment between a christmas stocking or mittens, but come hell or high water I will at least attempt this.

The yarn, slated so far for this endeavor, is recycled yarn from my ugly simple shawl.

I am not sure what ever possessed me to start this shawl with this yarn but luckily enough at some point I came to my senses. I have a second ball of black yarn that I purchased to use as the bottom edging of the shawl. Luckily I never got so far as to starting it. I'm thinking of using the black yarn as the main colour for a set of mittens or stocking and the purple, blue and/or pink as the contrasting colours. I do have a few free mittens patterns in my queue on ravelry and am just waiting for the christmas stocking book to arrive from the library.

A promise is a promise,

2009-08-08T10:15:00.000-04:00

even if it's a day late.

So knitting content. I promised you knitting content. Well yesterday I purchased some yarn from my lys. Some very pretty yarn to be honest. I know all yarn is pretty, but these colourways just happened to fall into my line of sight recently and I couldn't let them stay in the shop.

This is manos del uruguay silk blend. 4 skeins came home in the bag with me. The colour of the actual yarn is a bit off in the photo, than when you see it in person. It is grey but there are subtle shades of green and pink throughout. The dye lot is number 3044 and Yarn Market gives it the name of Brair. I found three skeins of this yarn in the basement of the shop when helping out with their counting of inventory day. Luckily I found another skein upstairs on the shelves. I have no plans or slated project for this yarn yet. Which I am totally fine with.

The second batch of yarn I acquired yesterday, was 3 skeins of malabrigo sock yarn, in the Turner colourway. I was drawn to the colourway when another knitter showed me her knitted socks on Wednesday afternoon while at the shop. Later in the day I might have actually gone up to the wall of malabrigo and taken a skein off the wall and wrapped it around my neck. Only to be told by three friends/very good enablers that the colour suited me very well. Why 3 skeins you ask? Well I am not exactly sure yet what I will do with this yarn either. Not socks, that's for sure, so I need more than one skein. Two would have been plenty enough for a shawl of a wrap for myself. However with christmas knitting on the horizon I wanted one more skein, just in case i needed it for a quick knit present.

The third skein that I have acquired in the past week, thought not from my lys, (no gasps please from the balcony) was a skein of painted fleece yarn. Last sunday, Frost and I went to the Distillery here in the city to check it out as we hadn't been in months. We happened to come across the last day of the Artisans of the Distillery Craft Show. There were tents of white all along the cobblestone paths with distillery artisans showing off their wares. From jams and spreads to hand carved wood bowls and jewelry. Frost noticed the yarn stall way before I did and proceeded to drag me to it. The seller hand dyes the yarn here in Toronto, so I had to support a local dyer. As I was about to ask her if she carried her yarn at any of the yarn stores in Toronto, thinking it'd be a great addition to the shelves of my lys, she mentioned she had some at one in the city already. The colourway is called Peter Pan and it consists of 70% super wash merino and 30% silk It's also fingering weight yarn and with 400 yards I am not sure what this yarn will become. I am, however very happy to have it in my stash.

A Knitting Post Cometh Tomorrow

2009-08-06T07:25:00.000-04:00

But for now I just have to say that yesterday I went to renew my library card.
Since Frost and I will be in our new house for the christmas holidays this year I want to start a christmas stocking tradition.

Now neither one of us have christmas stockings. So what better way to use up some stash yarn than to make one for each of us. Well that's not entirely true. I have one from my childhood, but it's currently at my parents house. And as I don't plan on visiting any time soon, I won't be getting my clutches on it. Plus truth be told it's pretty tatty and old.

So anyways a fellow knitter at my lys, made a beautiful stocking for her nephew. I loved the pattern and looked online to see how much the book was selling for. Turns out the book is so popular, it's out of stock. The used copies that are up for sale are 80 dollars a piece. I only want to make the one stocking from the book. I think that $80 for a knitting book of 18 patterns is a bit excessive.

Then I remembered, that I had a card, somewhere, in a wallet, somewhere, that I could use at a little known place called the public library. It took me three days to find said card, as it was not in my current wallet, but in one I used a few wallets ago. Of course, when I finally was able to remember my password to get on the website for the tpl, my card had expired. Well go figure, I hadn't used it since 2006, as I still had overdue fines from way back then. (a mere 90¢)

So yesterday afternoon I renewed my library card, paid my fine, and happened to be served by the chap that used to live in the apartment below us. He moved out last May and told our landlady he was moving to Kingston. Turns out he ended up moving across the street from her, as she lives only three blocks away from us and I guess didn't know that at the time. But that's another story.

When I got home in the evening after a night out with some friends for dinner, I got on the tpl website right away. I preceded to place a hold on the christmas stocking book as well as 10 other knitting books. Can you tell how excited I am to have my library card renewed? I used to get books out from the library all the time before my obsession for all things knitting took over my life. Now I can renew that passion again by incorporating the two together.

Actually knitting content with wips photos to show tomorrow. Unless of course any of the dozen of knitting books I have ordered come due for pickup.

Look what Frost got me

2009-07-31T12:47:00.003-04:00

Although I am happy to share it with him.

A delivery notice for pickup was in our mailbox Tuesday.
I didn't know what it was, as I hadn't ordered anything. I suspected it was Frost's doing.

I went Wednesday to pick it up at the post office.
It was in an amazon.ca box. Knittnig books? Sookie Stackhouse books? I had no idea what I was in for.
I might have said "oh my god, he didn't" when I opened the box.

Yesterday I took off the plastic to admire the packaging.
I love it.

Today I am blogging about it.
And later I will attempt to find a place for it as it takes up a whole lotta room with it's awesome packaging concept.

when closed...

when opened....

the four cylon boxes contain each season's episodes...

on the top of the box, which i can't figure out how to get out so have assumed it suppost to stay in the box....

let me know when you wanna come over and watch an episode or two with me.

Moving Day

2009-07-29T04:26:00.002-04:00

Has finally been set for the end of October. Which happens to fall on my grandfather's birthday who passed away last November. I take this sign as a great one and good karma. Not to mention the fact that the house was built the same year my grandmother was born. Had she lived long enough to see it with her own two eyes, would have loved it.

It's all uphill from here. Now I have a whole lot of packing to do but will be very excited to be handing out candy to the kids on halloween from our very own home. It will be the first firsts for us in this new home adventure for us and I can't wait.

What will come next?............ well a dog or more correctly a puppy of course, why what else were you thinking? Which even though it will be Frost's dog, as the cats are technically mine, I am excited about a bringing a puppy into our lives.

Although the cats might not be as excited when said puppy arrives.
However not before november and that is at the absolute earliest.

And yes folks this post was written and published at 4:30 in the morning, as Frost has come home from one job on set that went so late he didn't get any sleep before the next job started today and I felt it was my wifely duty to get up when he sat on the bed and talk his ear off so that he wouldn't fall asleep before he set off again.

I digress and am going back to bed now but don't tell him-k?

Movie Night

2009-07-04T23:36:00.007-04:00

We just got back from seeing a double bill at the Fox Theatre after first going out to dinner with my hubby.
It's been ages since we went to the movies, and was lots of fun.
First up was Star Trek, followed by Drag Me to Hell.

I loved Star Trek, and didn't even recognize Winona Ryder until the credits were rolling. Therefore I will have to see it again. All the actors were well suited to the characters. Bones/McCoy was my favorite.

Drag me to Hell was a very classic Sam Raimi film. Horror films are not my favorite, as I tend to jump out of my skin more times than I'd like to admit, but it was funny as well as being scary.

I highly recommend both if you haven't seen them already.

As for the restaurant we checked out this evening, Balsam,in the Beaches.
The food at the restaurant was mediocre, but the fresh strawberry daiquiri divine.

Our New House

2009-06-30T23:28:00.002-04:00

We did it! We bought our first home!

The house hunting saga continues

2009-06-23T12:17:00.002-04:00

We didn't get our 1950's dream bungalow last night.
There ended up being 9 offers on the house.
Even with putting in our maximum offer and a lovely letter to the seller, some tosser outbid us by $17,000

Shawls a plenty

2009-06-20T16:40:00.000-04:00

Recently my love of rectangular shawls took a kick in the arse, in favour of the ever popular triangular shawl.

I was always a rectangular shawl girl with my End of days Wrap, Otis, and Woodland Shawl all done and dusted and in the bag. However, it was the springtime bandit pattern that changed my knitting ways. I think it has something to do with the fact that I love wearing them backwards around my neck so that the point is pointing to my chest and not my backside.

I have a couple out takes from my "month into springtime bandit", and "princess maksoutoff's textured shawl" that didn't put on my ravelry page to share today. I love the textured shawl pattern so much in the variegated yarn, and it looks so good in a solid colour, looking at other knitters projects on ravelry, that I have started yet another textured shawl. This time using some organic merino/angora blend that I picked up at my LYS last fall. I don't have a wip photo yet but have one shortly.

Back again tomorrow with an update on garnet muse.

Current H-Hunting Update

2009-06-18T22:47:00.000-04:00

We ended up seeing three other houses today with our real estate agent.

The last one we liked A-WHOLE-LOT.
So much more than the one we put an offer on a couple days ago.

Offers for the house we saw today are being accepted on monday, so we have put a registered offer on the house, so that the seller and his agent know they will be getting at least one offer come monday night.

The house needs nothing done to it. Not one bloody thing. There is an open house over the weekend and I am planning on going back and checking it out, just because I can.

I love synchronicity sometimes.

Actual knitting content tomorrow, I promise.

Tobermory

2009-06-17T08:30:00.009-04:00

Our June 2009 Camping Expedition Started at Cyprus Lake Campgrounds just south of Tobermory.

We awoke our first morning to a shower by mother nature. Which lasted long enough for us to spend most of the day in the town of Tobermory doing a bit of retail therapy. In the late afternoon we did go for a hike from our campsite to the Grotto which we had seen five years earlier. I blame the weather for the lack of photos not taken the first day.

The second day of our vacation included a ride on a zodiac...

... to see a couple of shipwrecks,...

... the flowerpot islands,...

... and a lighthouse.

It also happened to be the day where Frost ate fish again for the first time in at least 15 years.
And of course, I got it all on film.

And by george, he likes it! Yay for having fish in the house again, although nothing too smelly, so only cod so far.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

With regards to the house we put an offer on.

The seller did get back to us with an offer lower than her asking price, which was complete bullshit to begin with.
The ball is now back in our court, so, tomorrow we put our top offer in for the house, and see what happens.
The seller will most likely not go for our second offer, and that is fine because that my friends is when we will walk away from this house entirely.
The seller's agent is a complete cracker (who the fuck can't email an attachment in this day and age) and has lead her client into thinking she'll get a price comparable to the houses that are selling in an up and coming area for a home that is only on the fringes of said up and coming area and is in need of a lot of cosmetic work for it to be priced so high in the first place.

And so, life goes on, and we have four new house viewing to go look at tomorrow so who knows, we might not even put in a second offer in on this house.

And so the waiting game beings

2009-06-16T09:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, we put an offer on a house.
It's needs some loving and would work for us, for the right price.
We gave the sellers until 8 o'clock tonight to get back to us.
Oh the agony of having to wait for the next 10 hours and 10 minutes to find out what the seller will say and do.
Having the day off is not helping keeping my mind off the possibility that we could be home owners by this evening.

I keep trying to convince myself that the more effort I put into not caring if we get the house or not, will in turn somehow all work out that we will get the house. How crazy is that?

If nothing else, I'll keep you posted.

Our first night in the woods.

2009-06-11T21:07:00.000-04:00

After setting up camp, and cooking Elk burgers, corn and other yummy vegetables on an open fire, what more is there to do other than drink some beer (Frost) or red wine (yours truly), eat some s'mores and take photos.

Of course Frost is keen at first to have his photo taken, but after a few, (since I looked horrid in number 4 and he was pulling a silly face in number 8,) he's not such a willing subject any more.

June Posting Commences

2009-06-10T11:21:00.000-04:00

Apologies for the lack of posting for 10 days.

For 7 of those days, I was up north getting the blood sucked out of me by mosquitoes and black flies, and trying to stay out of the path of foxes and bears.

3 nights in tobermory and 4 nights in killarney is about as much camping as I'll ever be able to take. Next time only a max of 5 days and most likely not again until september when all my bites will be long lost memories.

On the house hunting front. I saw one I really liked just before we left but it was a tad too far from where we want to be location wise, and really wasn't THE ONE. Yesterday we saw 4 houses the first was rubbish, the second good, the third even better (although it only had two bedrooms) and the fourth my very favorite so far, even though they painted over all the woodwork, it was still underneath ready to be rediscovered. I am looking at a couple more by myself later on today with our real estate agent who is a dream.

I have some great shots from my camping expedition and will share with you some of them over the next couple of days.

Now to go unpick a cast off and finish the textured shawl that only took me a week to knit. 5 mm needles are the best i tell ya!!!

Score: 14 outta 31

2009-05-30T08:39:00.000-04:00

This will be my 14 post of the month.
It was certainly better than March and April which was a grand total of one blog post each month.
I'd like to make June's goal for 2009 to be a minimum of 16 posts.
I don't think that's too unreasonable.
Here's hoping, Fingers are crossed.

So what's been going on round here for the last week?
A brief mini catch up for all my readers...

a bit of house hunting, a bit of work, not a whole lot of knitting-just a row here and there on my purple scarf and I haven't touched my garnet muse all week, a bit of cleaning, a bit of fun with some lovely friends, and enjoying the weather.

What more could a girl ask for?

New Sweater on the Needles

2009-05-24T10:41:00.000-04:00

Well almost.

I swatched last night with the new yarn I got from my lys.
I picked up 7 skeins of Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label Aran Weight yarn in Garnet.
Garnet is not a colour I normally would pick, I usually stick to greens, pinks and blues, but there was something about that colour that I was drawn too.

Anyways, the pattern I finally chose was Amused, in the winter 2008 issue of Knitty.
The gauge on the pattern calls for 16 sts and 24 rows for 4 inches with 5.5mm needles.
I prefer 5.0mm needles at the moment, and surprise surprise got gauge with them. YAY!

I started the crochet cast on last night, got about 20 stitches or so on the needles, and then put it away for the night.

If I manage to get the rest of the cast on onto the needles later today, I plan on using 2 balls of yarn at once. Ball A for the first two rows, ball B next two rows, ball A following two rows, ball B next two rows, repeat for entire project. As I am using hand dyed yarn, if there is slight differences in the dye per skein of yarn I don't want that showing up in the finished garment.

Central Park Photos

2009-05-20T12:27:00.001-04:00

Finally, after a weeks absence from the blog I have photos of my central park.

There are not the greatest shots ever taken.
It's what you get when I prop my small camera upon the bottom of the biggest stewing pot I own, on top of the butcher block in the kitchen (cuz who needs a tripod?).
My favorite shot of the four is the last one which is a detail of the collar.

I still have to put in a zipper but it's totally wearable which is what matters.
Except for the fact that it's 25ºC today and up to 30ºC for the rest of the week.
However it will be ready and wating for coolish summer nights, that are bound to be around soon.

I love love love this sweater and am trying to decide what sweater to knit next.
Amused? Corona? Sylvi? Mr Greenjeans? so many fabulous patters out there.....

Yarn: Galway Heather
Amount: 6.37 skeins
Needles: 5.0 mm
Started: February 4, 2009
Finished: May 18, 2009

Take Two

2009-05-14T08:18:00.003-04:00

At a shot of me wearing my new glasses.

Cop Out Post

2009-05-13T19:11:00.003-04:00

Look at this photo of my cute cat while I continue to work on my knitting projects. I am slowly progressing on the central park's collar. Once I get it done, I promise to post a photo.

Just in the nick of time.

2009-05-11T23:05:00.002-04:00

This will be a very brief post. I goofed up a secret project not once but twice while trying to knit it tonight. Obviously the half bottle of red wine I drunk with dinner has done me no good tonight. The red wine was a good one, Australia's Yellow Tail shiraz grenache blend. Try it, be merry!

As promised

2009-05-10T20:37:00.007-04:00

A photo of me wearing my new glasses.

Yea or nay?

Hiccup

2009-05-09T12:49:00.002-04:00

I missed posting to the blog the last couple days. Ah well, life happens.

A light bulb moment happened about fifteen minutes ago. I discovered while reading over a pattern, that I have been doing ssk wrong ever since I started knitting. My version is to slip one stitch knitwise, knit the next stitch and slip the first stitch over the knitted stitch. The pattern defines ssk as "slip one stitch as if to knit, slip another stitch as if to knit, insert left-hand needle into front of these 2 stitches and knit them together"

I have never noticed that my ssk looked wrong or different. Do they differ? I still get a left slanting decrease.

If anything, I am excited to try out this new to me method.

As for the central park, I am planning on getting the second sleeve in today. Perhaps tomorrow i'll have a photo of me wearing the half finished garment. I am still debating over to knit a hood or not. I picked up a zipper the other day while out and about only to discover it's 4 inches too short.

Just as soon as I get a decent shot of myself wearing my new glasses, you'll get to see them too!

Sewing up a sweater

2009-05-06T18:42:00.001-04:00

I finally picked up my cph again today and started sewing on the arms. As of right now I have one sleeve cap sewed in, as well as one side of the front and back together and half an arm sleeve.

The photo below, as is the sweater at the moment, a bit of a jumble. I'm hoping to have a sweater minus the hood and front band by tonight.

Fingers crossed.

Knitting Slump

2009-05-05T09:51:00.001-04:00

There is nothing I want to knit at them moment. Sure there are works in progress on the needles that need attention, but I don't want to give it to them. I want to start something new, something exciting, something different and refreshing. I have no urge to block or sew any of the projects that are finished. I have not picked up the needles in four days. I look at my stash and patterns on ravelry and nothing jumps out to say knit me knit me. Come back knitting mojo, come back!!!!!

Day 4 of 31

2009-05-04T21:24:00.003-04:00

And all I got for you today is an obligatory cat shot.

Tulips

2009-05-03T17:37:00.000-04:00

I don't have much time to write a proper blog post today.

Yesterday, I drew out a hap hazard map of the plants in the front and back gardens. There are so many plants, and I know only about 10 percent of them. I've decided my mission this summer is to find out what plants we have growing in the garden beside the obvious.

I leave you today with a photo of some tulips currently in bloom in the front garden.

Everything is so green, bring on the summer!

Gananoque

2009-05-02T15:45:00.000-04:00

A few weeks back, Frost and I headed up to Carleton Place for a funeral.

The hotel I booked for the night wasn't the greatest. I should have known better when we arrived and there was not a soul to be found at the front desk. The windows in the room didn't open, which sucked since they'd put the ac on full blast for our arrival. They played loud music in the halls until Frost called down to the restaurant and complained at 10:30 pm only to woken up by it at 7 am the next morning. In the morning we just left the key on the front desk since there was no one around. Clearly we had been the only guests for the evening. However it was very convenient to the location of the funeral parlour, being just a block away. It was definitely the most awkward funeral I have ever been too. There were folks there I haven't seen in almost 20 years. While certain people who should have been there, didn't attend, which really pissed me off. It was hard but it was closure, and I am proud for going.

Anyway, this post is suppose to be about a good hotel, not a bad one.

On our way home, we detoured to the town of Gananoque. Frost, on a spur of the moment whim, had the brilliant idea of spending the night there. I figured the cats had enough food to last one more day, and we had no where to be the following day, so happily agreed. We ended up staying at The Ganonoque Inn. Which was a complete opposite of where we spent the night before. We had a waterfront room with a jacuzzi. It was brilliant, tranquil and relaxing and just what we needed. We watched the sunset and then headed up to the main street for food. In the morning, we missed the continental breakfast by 20 minutes, but a manager walking by, happily went to find us leftover pastries and coffee for our journey home. It was great and I highly recommend it.

April sunset in Ganonoque, Ontario.

Plants and Purple

2009-05-01T15:17:00.000-04:00

For show and tell today, I have two photos to share with you.

The first is of the tomatoe plants Frost has grown from seed.
They were planted about 6 weeks ago and are about 6 inches tall.
He started out with nine grow pods but one never came up, so we have a total of eight.
There are three different varieties, but I don't know what they are called.
You can tell the difference by the leaves which I find really cool.
So long as we don't plant them outside a day before a massive rainstorm, as we did last summer, we should have lots of tomatoes to add to salads this summer.

The second is a work in progress photo of my springtime bandit shawl.
I started it last monday and have only 3 more rows to go but it's taking forever, and I'm worried I will run out of yarn.
I thought it'd be in the blocking basin by now, but no such luck. Perhaps tomorrow.
Yarn: Noro Cash Iroha
Needles: 5.0mm

Off to knit in the back garden as it's a beautiful spring day.

Back to the Blog

2009-04-30T12:13:00.002-04:00

It has come to my attention recently that I have been seriously lacking in the blog posting department.
Therefore I have decided that over the course of May 2009, which by the way starts tomorrow, I will blog once a day every day. May it be a small post with few photos or a long post with many photos.
May it contain knitting content or just the ramblings of a woman regarding the state of the world around her.
By all that is sacred in this world I will blog every day for the month of May.

Ready....... Set........ Go........

San Francisco

2009-03-09T10:26:00.002-04:00

I've just come back from a week away in San Francisco. We spent two days in the city and then headed to wine country for a couple of days. After that we decided that if we stayed in wine country any longer a lot more wine tasting and buying would ensue so we headed south to Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur.

By 4pm yesterday afternoon, I'd downloaded all the photos off my camera and uploaded a selection to flickr. That's certainly a first in my last few years of traveling. It was a wonderful holiday and I have a list of things to do for when we go back.

Here's one of my favourite photos of the trip.

The rest of the photos can be found on my flickr account.

This was the first time I decided not to have a list of yarn shops in hand, but let fate takes it's course if we came across any. Turned out I didn't need fate, just my husband, as he found not one, not two, but five yarn shops on our travels.

The first, Greenwich Yarns, in San Francisco. It was 5:40pm when we walked passed and while the door said they closed at 5:30pm, there was still ladies inside and they let me come in and have a peek. While I didn't pick up any yarn, I did get the latest copy of IK Spring 2009.

The second, Yarns on First, in Napa. Here I got my one and only skein of souvenir yarn. Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks Yarn Name: Texas, Dye Lot: Reds. The store was arranged by colour so it was a bit hard to get my head around the layout at first.

The third, Monarch Knitting and Quilts, in Pacific Grove. They had Lucy Neatby yarn and some that had the look and texture of Briggs and Little but was named something else, however I was on the hunt for Californian yarn.

The fourth, Knitting by the Sea, in Carmel (where Clint Eastwood was once mayor) had the least amount of stock I have ever seen in a yarn shop. It was the opposite to the shelves overflowing with yarn. It was a nice space but again I found no yarn that wasn't readily available here in Toronto.

The last knitting store was Fengari, in Half Moon Bay, which was shock full of stock. I did see some more Chasing Rainbows yarn and was on the verge of scooping up yet another skein of sock yarn but decided to stick to just the one skein of souvenir yarn this trip.

During the trip I knitted only on the flight to SF and while in the waiting lounge to come home. However I did finish a scarf out of the Rabbit Ridge Yarn, I picked up in Alaska last May. Photos next post.

Tea Time

2009-01-26T16:35:00.003-05:00

With my newest and most favorite mug of the moment.

Wanna close up?

How cool am I?

Now where did I get this here little beauty?

You'll never guess.

Unless of course you have one of your own.

Personally, I have been on a hunt for one since November.

When, I found a thread on ravelry that they were being sold at a local grocery store in Britain.

I kept my eye out at every grocery store we frequented while in the UK during the holidays.

However, my friends, I didn't find mine in Sainsbury's.

Nope mine came from a shop down the road.

I don't go there often, because well I don't drink coffee.

Also, I think they charge a bit too much for their drinks anyways.

However I was content enough to hand them over $11.25 (that includes the tax here in ontario)

Even if it is the most i've ever paid for a mug

I figure it was all they'd be getting out of me this year anyways,

So what the hell.

Now if you want one of your own.

And don't go all crazy and reck havoc on this establishment.

And for goodness sake don't tell them I sent you.

Because really I am not trying to promote their store.

But you too can get one of your very own mugs.

Just like mine.

At a starbucks near you.

It's blocking

2009-01-14T14:20:00.007-05:00

The ends of days wrap which I casted off back in December has finally had a eucalan bath and is blocking in Frost's office. Crappy photo I know, but there isn't a whole lot of room in the office and the lighting is really poor. I had to use the flash* just to get this decent a shot.

* which I can't stand having to use.

New year, new look

2009-01-12T14:13:00.002-05:00

I will return to regular blogging soon-ish.
Fingers crossed.

xxx

It's all I got right now.

2008-12-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

Your rainbow is shaded orange and violet.

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate a challenge. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it. Others are amazed at how you don't give up.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

I thought I was safe until......

2008-11-23T18:04:00.001-05:00

And so it grows

2008-10-25T16:33:00.006-04:00

This is the progress thus far on my End of Days Wrap.
Have I mentioned it's being knit with 2.0mm needles.
I must have been on crack when I decided that one.

Since the photo was taken, I've finished with the green and started on the more vibrant purple, (what looks like fuchsia in the photo) and have attached the first ball of yarn to the second with a bit of spit splicing. Gotta love natural fibers.

Only 30 more or so pattern repeats to go.

Super 8 Movie

2008-10-21T14:37:00.006-04:00

While in Dorset in September, Frost picked up an old super 8 video camera. He tested it the day we climbed Colmer's Hill and here is the result. Enjoy

And now for some knitting content, that has been sorely lacking of late on this blog.

First up a cabled baby hat i made for a friend, who's baby boy is due the middle of November. There were booties to go with but I haven't yet tweaked the photo yet. They were gifted to said friend last week and she loved em. Yay.

And a lace bookmark, for the Knitting 20th Century Novels, ravelry group swap I participated in.

You want photos?

2008-10-05T11:44:00.003-04:00

Below is the link to our flickr account with photos taken of our wedding by our friends and family.

Please feel free to leave comments.

We are still planning to get them uploaded to our own wedding website but that's gonna take a bit more time, so we put them up on flickr for the time being.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Wedding Photos

To the F%$#er who stole our sofa bed cover

2008-10-03T19:42:00.000-04:00

I hope you enjoyed stealing it out of the van yesterday afternoon between 1:30 pm and 1:45 pm.

It's fair to say we did leave the van doors open, and it took us a bit of time getting the sofa bed up our narrow staircase and into the office, giving you enough time to walk up the red ramp at the back of the van and steal it. BUT REALLY- A SOFA BED COVER???? Maybe you thought it was bedding sheets, or curtains. It was a blue and white checkered print. Guess you had no use for the duck down duvet or the mirror that was in the van as well. More annoying than that was having to go back to IKEA, twice in one day, to get another cover.

I have lived in Toronto for 9 years and this is the first time anything has been stolen from me. Hell this is the first time that anything has been stolen from me in my life.

Lesson learned my friend. Score one for you. Next time we lock the van doors.

If you see anyone trying to sell a Hagalund sofa bed cover in Fruvik Blue, like the one below, give him a kick in the arse from me.

Thanks

But now you’re here, brighten my northern sky

2008-10-02T20:01:00.004-04:00

We have set up a flickr account of selected wedding photos from family and friends which should go live in the next couple of days. We have them uploaded, now to organize them into a proper timeline. The official wedding photos are still processing. A couple more weeks and we should have those as well.

The last few post titles were from our wedding song. A few of you have guessed it already but if not, it was Nick Drake's Northern Sky.

I have been working on my end of days wrap, its now grown to 15 inches. As well as a baby hat for a friend that's due in November. I also have a bit of startitis and want to start some birthday cowls (they're all the rage at the moment) and a one skein tapestry scarf for myself.

Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree

2008-09-24T09:26:00.014-04:00

First photo from the UK wedding blessing on top of Colmer's Hill in Dorset.

I brought Purl, The Purple Purl's Mee Monkey Mascot with us to the UK, to represent the shop back home in Canada. More on her UK adventures to come.

A close up of the same photo only because, dudes i did my own makeup and am darn proud of it.

Last but not least there has been knitting, more on that soon.

I never held emotion in the palm of my hand

2008-09-11T21:00:00.003-04:00

Some of my favorite photos, taken by our friends.

I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea

2008-09-06T11:32:00.000-04:00

I stole this image from The Purple Purl newsletter, because I really like seeing Frost wearing his brand new, have to have them as they'll go well with the suit, Persol sunglasses. As for the when the photo was taken I have no idea, but it's a great one!

This next shot was taken with the best man's camera phone. Post ceremony.

I never felt magic crazy as this

2008-09-02T04:10:00.003-04:00

The first two photos of many more to come. These were taken by my father-in-law. The dress is half hidden by my handsome husband, but we look so darn cute and happy in these photos I just had to share.

My feet are ready for saturday

2008-08-25T18:58:00.005-04:00

My very first pedicure, was a treat from two very good friends today.

Thanks ladies!!!

Done Like Dinner

2008-08-17T17:17:00.002-04:00

My wedding dress is finally 100% done.
No more lining to do. All the ends are weaved in, and it fits wonderfully.
Now to wait two weeks until I can wear it.

The March Hare

2008-08-02T10:43:00.006-04:00

My friend Meg, whom I met back in May on the Sea Socks 2008 Cruise to Alaska, has just opened her Etsy shop.
She is selling both roving and hand dyed yarn from her own flock of Blue Leicerter Lambs.

Please go visit her shop and give her some business!

Currently on my needles.

2008-07-30T12:41:00.003-04:00

I have not one but five, projects currently in the works.

They are as follows.

A beaded bracelet:

A crochet bag:

A stole/wrap, that may out live me, as it's on 2mm needles:

A pair of socks:

And my first triangular shawl:

Looking for.....

2008-07-28T23:46:00.005-04:00

.... one or two of these:

approx. 16 gallon galvanized metal tub to stash beer and wine in for an upcoming party I am having. For the life of me I can't rack my brain on where to find some. We noticed one at Lee Valley this afternoon, which took us on a wild goose chase to TWO Ikea's with no luck. Toronto area preferably, thanks in advance!

Torchwood Season 2

2008-07-21T23:16:00.009-04:00

To air in Canada on the space channel, Friday August 8th at 9pm

The first season was a bit goofy to say the least, but back in February while visiting in the UK, I was able to catch a couple of the second seasons episodes and they were 10 times better than the first season. Of course I missed the first episode which starred James Marsters (of Buffy Fame-hello if you don't know who he is-what rock have you been hiding under these past few years?) so I am eager to see it.

P.S. After looking at the space channels lineup for August 8th it seems the 2nd episode of the second season will air right after the first at 10pm, Friday August 8th so make sure to set your VCR's for both!

Knitting content soon-ish....

A cat's work is never done

2008-07-20T21:08:00.004-04:00

Such a handsome model!

Joss Whedon Fans Rejoice

2008-07-17T12:05:00.006-04:00

First seen on Katydid Knits blog.

Take a peak at Mr Whedon's newest singalong blog.

It's awesome!

If ever there was a reason....

2008-07-09T19:09:00.002-04:00

why I need to stop buying yarn and start knitting it, well it happened tonight.

I added to ravelry, my 100th stashed item!

I have catalogued 100 balls of yarn, There's actually more than 100 balls of yarn in my 3 bins as some are multiples. GASP

Not to mention the few odds and sods that live in the corners and crevices of the bins.

THAT's IT-NOT ONE MORE BALL OF YARN TIL CHRISTMAS-2009!

It's the newest fashion craze....

2008-07-09T09:14:00.004-04:00

Don't even get me started on how long it took to get it on!

Lace Headband

2008-06-29T19:18:00.000-04:00

I finished this project almost a month ago now. I had just one skein, 112 yards of this Louet Gems sport weight sock yarn leftover from a previous project and wanted to do something with it. I found the Trellis lace scarf online and decided to forge ahead. The scarf ended up being a bit on the short side. As I went to put it around my neck a brilliant thought came to me. Why not use it as a headband instead?

Et voila!

Currently on the needles are:

February Lady Sweater

Princess Lace Wrap

Clapotis

and the Lace ribbon Scarf

Do Not Adjust Your Screen

2008-06-27T16:04:00.003-04:00

Yes, my friends, I have a new blog layout.

Change is always a good thing, and since I can't re-arrange some things I'd like to on the home front... For example, I dislike our kitchen layout, (and as we rent, not own, there is not much I can do about it) I'll do it here instead.

I have a few knitting projects on the go, and a crochet one I am about to start, but nothing that are worth sharing as they are in still in early stages.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. FYI: It's Canada Day on Tuesday for those non-canadians who read my blog.

Cat Photo Wednesday

2008-06-18T18:27:00.004-04:00

Lenix

Alaska Part 2

2008-06-16T11:25:00.000-04:00

Our teachers extraordinaire. From left to right: Heather Ordover, Chrissy Gardiner, Amy Singer, and Brenda Dayne

Proof I had a spindle in my hands. Not for very long but having a bit of liquid courage helped. Yes folks, the yarn is still tied around my wrist in mock bracelet form. As it's superwash I may never take it off.

A montage of photos from the formal party night as well as a few images from juneau, including Alaskan Beer.

Meme of Photos

2008-06-15T14:48:00.003-04:00

As seen on not another knitblog

If you want to play too, here's how:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

An FO and WWKIP Day

2008-06-14T09:23:00.004-04:00

GET YOUR KNITTING GEAR AND ARSE OUTSIDE PEOPLE! IT"S WORLD WIDE KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY!

Although the weather is not so great here in Toronto (it's raining) I am still heading to the Purple Purl for their festivities.

Also a finished object: my sea sock crazy monkeys!

Soon...

2008-06-12T10:13:00.000-04:00

...i will have photos of a finished object for your viewing pleasure.

For now a photos of Tuesday the cat-to hold you over.

Finally some Alaskan Photos

2008-05-29T13:25:00.002-04:00

The hubbard glacier:

Alaskan snow caped mountains:

The splitting roving dance:

High tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria B.C:

More snaps from the Empress Hotel:

Some favourite shots:

Within the next couple of days there will be images from Juneau, and the Party, and perhaps of someone spinning her tussah silk, just to name a few. Stay tuned

p.s. To view larger images of the above photos visit my flickr page

Insert shots from Alaska here you bugger

2008-05-29T11:38:00.000-04:00

So I've spent the better part of the last two and a half hours going through 500+ photos of my trip to Alaska. Half the time wondering why I took so many photos. There are just to many to choose from. I was going to post a mere selection for the moment, as I have only cleaned up about 50 images so far, and what should happen? Blogger won't let me upload any of the photos. Argh! Sorry folks. Hopefully later this afternoon or tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

How many Yarn Stores are in Toronto?

2008-05-26T12:30:00.001-04:00

Answer: a helluva lot

I myself nearly fell of the sofa when I saw this. Check it out:

Toronto Map of Yarn Stores

Just one of the many reasons you may want to visit this fine city of mine.

Hint Hint Nudge Nudge

So Much Yarn Seattle

2008-05-22T19:56:00.005-04:00

Here is the first group of photos of my Alaskan Adventure.
There are so many photos to go through, it may take a couple of posts before I get through everything.

The top row is the shop itself.
The second row is the shop owner's pet-an adorable French Bulldog named Phoebe.
The last row are the wonderful ladies I first met at the Seattle airport and fellow Sea Socks cruise mates.
From left to right-Dawn. Judy. Dawn and Meg. Meg

I realize now, thanks to Jacquie's comment, that the image in the previous post does look like a fountain it's so perfect.
Here's proof it really was waves in the pool because if the rough seas we were traversing.

(p.s. click on the images to make larger)

2008-05-21T08:35:00.002-04:00

This is the first image I took on the boat. It was the first morning, after setting sail. Honey, those waves in the pool, on the 10th deck where the pool is located, is from the boat, ahem I mean ship, rocking back and forth in the open water. That's how rough the water was our first day and no wonder why many passengers had a hard time of it.

Way more photos to come, blogger was being a bitch yesterday....

Alaska was Amazing

2008-05-17T17:37:00.002-04:00

I am home and just a wee bit tired.

I will have a proper post complete with photos by the end of the week-end. promise

Thanks for all your comments on my previous entry, even if they were infused with green with envy remarks. ;-)

Bon Voyage!

2008-05-09T04:37:00.000-04:00

I am off to Seattle for the Sea Socks Cruise and Yarn Expedition to Alaska.

Back in a week.

Sea Sock Slippers

2008-05-08T11:40:00.000-04:00

These are the slippers I made for the Sea Sock Cruise's Felted Slipper contest I am departing for tomorrow.

They were huge before I felted them and instead I just took the plunge and threw them into the washing machine without testing the test swatch first. Anyways, they did felt, and although are about an inch too long in the foot the width fit is great. They've been "drying" since Monday afternoon, and are still a bit damp. I need to "bling" them up a bit, but as this is for a contest I don't want to give away all my secrets.

Some of the stitches are still a bit noticeable, especially at the top orange bit of the slipper but I like the textured effect. Plus after having spend half and hour beside an agitating washing machine I'd had about enough and had to go to work.

Now dry you buggers Dry!!!!!

Wedding Socks

2008-05-07T16:21:00.002-04:00

These are the first pair of toe up socks I've made. No I won't be wearing them at the wedding but Frost will-they're for him.

Timeline: March 5th, 2008 to May 6th 2008. The first sock was finished on April 22nd, the second sock was made in 5 days. (May 2nd to May 6th, no second sock syndrome here)
Yarn: Zitron Trekking Pro Natura, only 84 of 100 gram ball used
Needles: 2.5mm for foot and heel, 2.0mm for leg and cuff

Ta Da!

2008-05-01T13:50:00.000-04:00

Remember this post?

The one where Debbie sent me a pair of beautiful socks she made, that I couldn't get on my feet because the bind off was too tight? Where almost 8 months ago I promised to fix and then show them off. Well they got left in the bottom of my knitting basket. Forgotten about after two failed attempts trying to bind off using sightly larger needles.

At the Kitchener Waterloo Fair last fall, I lamented to Sandi, Jacquie, and Lisa about my sock dilemma. Lisa mentioned a sewn cast off that might help. I believe Jacquie, may have used it on her first pair of toe up socks she was working on at the time, however I am not 100% certain on that fact. Anyways, I googled the information when I got home and saved it in my knitting reference bookmarks folder.

Fast forward to last week, when the first mate to the pair of toe up socks I am working on, for Frost, wouldn't fit over my ankle, let alone his, when I bound off the bugger. This provoked me enough to look up the sewn cast off method again. I am thrilled to report I used Knitty's Techniques with Theresa as a guide. It's about three quarters of the way down the page titled Elizabeth Zimmermann's Sewn Bind Off

And look-

-a perfect fit.

Ravelry Projects

2008-04-12T19:46:00.003-04:00

You may just want to check out my projects page on ravelry.

That's all I am saying.