Not Again

I had such high hopes for my twice-weekly blogging plan (which in itself should have been a warning sign ....) and it's fallen off the rails before it's even really begun. No time to moan about it though, better to just get back on track.

A number of things conspired to keep me away from the blog. One of our computers coughed quietly once or twice and then died unexpectedly the other day. This throws himself and I all out of whack: We're nerds (as you may have noticed by now) and being down to less than one computer/Internet portal per person is not a good plan. The whole things is made more vexing by the fact that the deceased machine was purchased less than a year ago. However it seems that the nice folks who made the overpriced brick are going to make good. We'll just see how that turns out.

In happier news actual knitting has been keeping me away from the blog somewhat too. As you may recall I dodged the holiday knitting bullet and now the knitting goddess is, predictably, exacting revenge. Since the holidays I've always had at least one "obligatory" knit on the needles. Now it could be worse, certainly, and I'd still rather knit for all of these occasions than just buy something, but my selfish inner knitter wants to hide away and work on things for memememe. And there is one thing for me, the as-yet-un-named pink vest. I was making good progress on it for a while but now it's semi-stalled right in the middle of the bust-darts.

those stitch markers look like rather odd nipple rings in this photo, sorry

I like working on it and I like how it's coming out, but other things have been pushing themselves to the top of the pile lately.

I finished the boot socks for Dad (who reminds me he never reads my blog anyway, so I can post pictures). Pretty standard stuff, but my Dad is not one for interesting foot coverings.


My husband, on the other hand (or should it be foot) has no such constraints. He needed more heavy socks and we had this worsted weight self-patterning stuff in at the shop. I had to buy a couple of balls just to see. You can just see a few of his board-game boxes in the back there, he calls these his Spiele Socken.


Vivid no? The repeat is super-long so I didn't bother trying to start them in the same place or anything. I actually sort of like that they don't match, it seems like they shouldn't, somehow.

With those done I'm zipping through a birthday gift with another to follow closely behind. Those are secret though, so no pics yet. None of this is tedious knitting or anything, I just want to work on my vest again! Whine whine.

Also crimping things a little is the fact that my energy has been kind of low lately. As I write Kingston is in the grips of it's umpteenth serious snow storm of the season, with about 20 cm (that's 7.8 inches for you imperial hold-outs) falling today. It's kind of pretty and fun the first few times it happens but when it's on a Wednesday at the end of January and you have to go to work...well the thrill is gone. It is cold and dark and nasty and everything that winters in Canada predictably are but I'm just tired of it.

However it is good knitting weather and I have lots of that to get through. And lots to look forward to including some experiments in different fibery-arts and planning a knitting retreat in the spring. Which can't come soon enough.

Done

The Winter Apple baby set is done, and not before time. I spoke to the soon-to-be Mom on Christmas Day and she's feeling ready to go too, though she's not a knitter herself, and seemed slightly unsure that the bairn was in fact waiting for it's knitting to be done.


The sweater is adapted from F. Pea's Super Natural Stripes, the hat is my usual fruit shaped infant hat. Because I was working on this during late December I was a little concerned that it was looking too Christmasy, but I think it has all come together nicely. The green really is more of an apple green that a Christmas green and the little details are (I hope) cute without being twee.

Click for bigger

The Scotch Mist hat is also done. It's actually been done for a while but it took me a bit too long to get around to the washing and blocking. My photographer is at work today though, so only the 'hat-on-bowl' shot for now.


I still love this yarn, the Topsy Farms 2 ply I talked about here. It softened up some after a good Euculan soak but it's pretty rustic. I like that but I know some won't. The colour is great though and there is so much going on in it. In fact I have picked up a ball of the natural colour and started a cowl, of which more later.

The first of the Tesserae socks is done and yesterday I turned the heel on the second one. The feet go faster than the leg so these should be complete soon. This is going to be the last pair of light-weight socks I knit for a while though. The reality of winter is really setting in and thicker socks are required around here.

So done, done and nearly done. To be frank I'm feeling about done too. Work, the holidays, the weather and a nasty virus brought home by Himself have conspired to wear me down and make me thoughtful. I've been neglecting my blog for a while now and while there have been reasons big and small more than anything else I think I lost the groove of blogging and lost sight of why I started.

I'm going to take some time to make some changes around here. Partly just to freshen and tidy but also to figure out what it's going to take to get me to the keyboard more often. My big (non-knitting) project for the New Year is to finally get my studio/office set up. The room has been full of unpacked boxes and mess and finding anything (even a set of DPNs) has become a pain. Also with no bookshelves all of my books and patterns are packed away, not out to inspire me and with no desk I have been blogging from the dining room table. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to having my fiber space and I really do hope that it will give me a creativity kick-start for both writing and designing.

So I'll be quiet for a little while, though perhaps it won't be a noticeable difference from my spotty posts of late, and things may look a little messy around here but it'll get better. And I'll still be knitting, and will likely have stuff to show.


The cowl seems to be a big accessory this year - which from a knitters perspective is great, they're usually worked in the round, don't take much yarn and are over much sooner than a scarf. This is a cowl of necessity for me. Having been in a warmer climate for a few years I don't have a lot of hand knit scarves and none of those I do have has turned up here yet (I still don't have all of my stuff here). I have several of the enormous, woven euro-scarves that I always wore while living in France but every time I try to wear one here I feel rather self-conscious and affected. I am hoping this is going to be a good solution and finished before it gets ridiculous cold again (it has been both ridiculously cold and unseasonably warm in the past week).

Thank you all for visiting still, I hope that you'll bear with me. I wish everyone a joyous and knitty New Year.

Done and done

The birthstone socks were, in fact, done on Easter. Okay it was Easter Monday, but I've decided that it still counts. They turned out beautifully. A fortuitous meeting of yarn and pattern. Here they are fresh off the needles, unblocked and not showing to full potential.

V's Birthstone Socks
pattern: Hedera by Cookie A.
Fleece Artist Basic Merino in Amethyst

Overall I really did enjoy working on them. I finally decided that the problem I had sticking with them came down to the lace element. I like knitting lace, and I like knitting socks, but I knit them in entirely different situations. The combination meant that I needed an additional, plainer sock project for my traditional sock moments.

Speaking of plainer socks, the Serious Hiking socks are also finished. It was a productive week. Not least because the weather here, in these first days of spring, has been absolutely wintry. This pair has already had a trial in the weekend snow.


I have some thoughts about these socks, but I'm going to save that for another post. I may write up the pattern properly and offer it free here at some point. Anyone interested? There don't seem to be a lot of heavier weight sock patterns out there at the moment.

The clouds did lift for a time today and all the snow had a highly picturesque effect on the mountains. Alas it seems that there is more weather to come and thoughts of spring knits remain far off. However the Spring Interweave has finally arrived and the weather will catch up eventually. And there is a sweaters worth of yarn on my coffee table, just waiting to be wound.

Heads and toes

No points for guessing what this is.


Ah Kureyon. So pretty and yet so frequently vexing. Why is it so often the case that the best this yarn looks is sitting there in the ball? This time I seem to be lucking out and things are still looking good. This colourway, 149F, is about as neutral as Kureyon gets, I think, and the pattern works with the yarn rather than against it.


Another hat for Adam, who has gone way above and beyond for me this week. He does like a knit hat, though we've been having unseasonably spring-like weather recently so this may be the last one for a while.

Also in gift knitting: anyone remember this?


One of the yarns from the Chevron Scarf Fiasco (let us never speak of it again). I came across this Fleece Artist Merino the other day and was reminded how nice it really is, despite the fact that it didn't work for it's intended project. The colourway is Amethyst, the February birthstone, and as it turns out my soon-to-be Mother-in-law has a birthday in February. Perf! She won't get them anytime close to the birthday, of course, but it's a nice idea anyway.

I hunted around a bit for a little scarf or wrap, but defaulted to socks (I know, look surprised). I'm thinking something something a little lacy for spring. I'm thinking Hedera. This semi-solid should make the pattern interesting without obscuring it. Also despite ogling many, I've never actually knit one of Cookie's sock patterns.

Off to cast on and try to follow the NHL trade deadline via the Internet. Because apparently you can take the girl out of Canada......

look! alp!

New Year

New year, new projects, new stuff. Where to start? I did indeed get all of the xmas knitting finished, though the mystery project didn't come off the needles until the wee hours of the morning of the 25th.

They were felted clogs, from the (brilliant!) Fiber Trends pattern. I gifted them in their comically large pre-felted state so that I could felt them with the recipients feet present for the best fit. It took a couple of cycles to get them felted down, but the end result is excellent. I can see knitting more of these.

Alpine Clogs
Pattern - Fibre Trends Felted Clogs
Patons Classic Merino

The coffee bean socks were also finished and a big hit, though I seem to have neglected to get a photo of them in their finished form. The Somoko was a dream to work with, beginning to end and washed perfectly. All in all a successful season of gift knitting.

I got a few lumps of coal for xmas (corundum too):

Yes, I was surprised. And very happy. Spreading the news and celebrating made the rest of the holidays even busier than usual, and knitting (for once) took a back seat. After a couple of days things began to return to normal and we made a trip to the yarn store. I picked up 3 balls of Sisu on sale, which are becoming the Uptown Boot Socks by Jen Appleby from Favorite Socks.

The large size of the pattern is pretty large, so I went down a couple of needle sizes, which is also giving a really nice thick fabric. If you look carefully you can see that my Harmony sock set finally arrived from Knit Picks. Pretty no? The finish is exceptionally smooth. I may be truly converted to the non-metal school of sock needles.

So 2008 is shaping up to be a big, exciting year. Stay tuned.

So close

I just might make it. The Gran hat is done. It still needs the ends woven in and the button sewn on (I found a button on Friday - harder than I expected) but it's done.


The coffee bean socks have been zipping right along. They need only a toe, a little weaving and a quick wash. Easy.


The un-bloggable gift is where I may fall down. I worked on it till the small hours this morning, but it still needs several hours before it can be called done. This doesn't sound bad, I know, but my non-knitting life is starting to interfere. The wrapping and cleaning and cooking and requests that pull one away from the needles.

So tonight, yet again, I'll be plugged into some podcasts and knitting after midnight. I'll get it done. It might be close, but I'll get it done. I thought I'd kept the list short this year, and started in good time. Perhaps the knitting expands somehow to fill all available hours? No time to speculate now - must knit.

Getting there...

Is there an inverse relationship between the amount of knitting and the amount of blogging? Surely this shouldn't be. When one is knitting a lot one should have more to blog. I think I'm running out of things to say about hats.

This one has taken forever to dry (it's winter, apparently) and so will be late getting in the mail. With luck it may still make it for the day.

Utopia Hat
by smariek
Cascade 220 Heathers

And the last gift hat of the season is cast on. This one with no cables at all.

Bright, isn't it? This one is for my Gran, and she loves her purple. Pattern is by Rachel and can be found here. Very quick knit in bulky yarn, the only challenge will be finding the perfect button. The knitting portion should be done by the weekend.

There is one more gift on the knitting list for this year, which isn't even started yet. Still, I think I might make it. Knitting all these gift hats, combined with the chilly temperatures, has had me thinking about a topper of my own. I have cables twisting in my brain and I should get them onto paper and onto the needles.

In fact, there has been lots of yarn activity here I just seem to be having trouble merging it into a cohesive post. Aside from the holiday knitting (and the non-yarn holiday planning), I'm in my last few weeks at my job and getting ready to move. Having small projects to work on has been good - I can't seem to focus on anything for more than half and hour at a time. I think for January I'm going to need something absorbing, yet not too trying to absorb my pre-move anxieties.

The mail this week included a package from Scappoose, Oregon so lighting allowing, there will be pr0n tomorrow. Maybe a book review too.

Times two

It's very rare that I knit a pattern twice and even rarer to knit a pattern twice in a few weeks. But the Christmas knitting makes us do unusual things. Having finished the second Basic Cable hat, I have started a second Utopia.

What can I say? A good cabled hat pattern is a good cabled hat pattern. With 20 days to go (and less, really, as these need mailing) I'm not feeling like it's time to innovate.

The three phases of coffee socks aren't Christmas knitting in the deadline sense, but they are distracting. I can't say enough about this yarn. It is so subtle and soft and lovely. The surprise?

Those are bamboo needles and I don't have to fly anywhere for weeks. I was very happy with the High Altitude socks, and I took some time to think about what makes the difference between a satisfactory project and a really great one. Obviously the end result is big, but for me, the process has a lot to do with it too. In the case of the HA socks, needle choice was dictated by the travel. I stumbled onto the Kertzer brand, which are a marked improvement on the Clover bamboos I've tried in the past, but I still considered them a stand in for my preferred aluminium double points.

The more I worked with them, the more I warmed to them. I'm lucky not to bothered much by hand pain but I did find I like how light the Kertzers are, and though I suspect that I knit a little more slowly on them, I can knit for longer. That's the process part. I was more surprised by the product bit. My knitting, straight off the needles, was much more even, especially in ribbing. I initially attributed this to the elastic content in the Megaboots stretch that I used for the HA socks. A little swatching and experimentation, however, suggests that a stickier needle plays a part as well. Who knew?

So given the slick nature of the Somoko and all the ribbing I decided to stay with the bamboo DPNs. So far, so good. I've even been eyeballing a set of those Harmony wood DPNs from Knit Picks, having heard that they too are nice and smooth. I'm not the only one, apparently, since at the moment I'm on the waiting list to be emailed when they start taking orders (back ordered) again. It's great to see businesses serving knitters doing so well, so I won't complain.

I'm curious though, what are your favourite DPNs and why? Leave a comment.

Deja Vue

The mossy cables hat joins the list of finished gift knits. I ended up doing 6 repeats of the cable, which makes it too long for me, but will hopefully fit the recipient well. Excellent quick knit. The Cascade 220 looks great, as usual.

Basic Cable Hat
from Stitch and Bitch Nation
Cascade 220 Heathers

The second of the pair is started, this time in Patons Classic Merino. I'm working this one on 4.5mm Addis, aiming for a slightly smaller finished circumference than the one above.


The lovely red Shepherd Sock is looking even lovelier now that it's wound and resting in the (rare) autumn sunshine. I've gone back and forth a few times on a pattern for this yarn. The colourway is not really variegated but there is a lot going on it. And the colour itself is eye catching enough that it's going to obscure detail. As is so often the case, I have returned to Nancy Bush and cast on the Ringwoods from Knitting Vintage Socks, though I'll modify the leg length. I can see these becoming my soothing go-to knitting in the stress of the coming weeks.

Though my reverting to knitting one of Nancy Bush's sock pattern isn't unusual there is one surprise about this project. That'll have to wait till the weekend.

Quick Trip

Gift knitting continues. Progress has been somewhat slower this past week as much of my spare time was spent filling in forms and collecting documents in preparation for a visit to the French consulate in Vancouver.

Travel knitting was a top secret project, seen here in earlier days.

And that's all your going to see of it until it has been gifted. Though of course everyone who has knit this pattern is looking at that k4p1 ribbing and going "I know what that is". Gotta love knitters.

The second gift hat is nearly complete. It's even farther on than this now, I ended up adding several repeats of the cable. The pattern (basic cable from Stitch n' Bitch) is seriously short as written. A quick Ravelry check confirmed that I was not alone in this decision.

The ability to do this kind of search is, to me, one of the most useful aspects of Ravelry. If there's a problem, I tend to assume that it originates with me, not the pattern. Having a quick way to find out that others have had the same issues saves much knitting anxiety.

Aside from the length foibles I am loving this pattern. I'm now planning another, though in a slightly brighter shade, for another person on the list. At first I felt like that was a little cheaty, but the yarn choice makes an enormous difference. The two hats will go to a couple.

I got some long anticipated yarn in the mail today, but too late to take photos for YPF. If I get a little luck with the weather I'll post photos in the next day or two. New yarn is a good closer to a great week.

Cover your ears

The gift knitting continues. I'm with Carolyn; this year it's hats.

The red cabled hat for the Aunt is done.

Utopia Hat by smariek
Patons Decor

Again with the boring flat photo. Must find better way to display hats.

I've been going back and forth a bit on how to deal with blogging the holiday gifts. The red hat is for an Aunt who I'm fairly certain does not read the blog. The next hat however is for someone who does look in on these pages from time to time. Gifts are pretty much all I'm working on at the moment, without them I will quickly become low on blog fodder. I've decided to continue blogging gift projects but in most cases I won't identify the recipient. Friends and family may read (or not) at their own risk.

Next up is another hat with cables. This one in Cascade 220 Heather, a yarn which I really like to work with.

It's a bit further on now but since the time change chances for good photos are few. I have been craving earthy greens lately and this one will suit the giftee perfectly. If I can bear to be parted from it.

.

Socktoberfest

The high altitude socks have been completed before the end of Socktober. Only one pair for me this year. I'm extremely happy with them though.

Oak Rib Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks
Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch Softcolours

Aside from the previously mentioned toe modification and a slightly shorter leg these were worked as written. The yarn has a bit of elastic in it, which took a little getting used to (keeping an even tension seems to be key). The stitch definition is still good, though I don't think it would be ideal for detailed texture work.

A shot of the modified round toe for Sarah (who seems to have the cold now). There is still a little extra fabric drawing in towards the closure, but probably not enough to be noticeable. When I get a report from the recipient, I'll pass it along. These are now making yet another high altitude trip back to France to Adam.


So far I've resisted the siren song of the lace knitting and cast on for the first Christmas gift knit. Another hat. I love to cable and this one is going quickly. It's easy to be optimistic in the early days, isn't it?

This yarn turns out to be an excellent match for the little Japanese maple in the front garden. This is the last tree to turn in the autumn and with the time change coming this weekend, it really is starting to feel like winter is on the way.

Quatre

The little hat is finished and embellished and ready to be popped in the mail to start winging its way to the birthday girl.



The basic template is the Inca Snowflake from Itty Bitty Hats. The edging reveals my lack of dexterity where the crochet hook is concerned, but I'm really happy with the overall result. It is being modeled there by a one liter wide-mouth Nalgene bottle, which doesn't really help the shape. Here's the flat shot.


Still cute. However if hat knitting is going to continue at this pace, I'm going to have to think about getting one of those Styrofoam heads. Where does one even look for something like that?

I've been searching through hat patterns on Ravelry and plotting more gift knits. This may reach knitting jag proportions.

Joyeux anniversaire, Jeanne!

Blank Canvas

Once I recovered my senses enough to knit straight I zipped through the little hat in just a couple of evenings.


Doesn't look like much yet, but there is embellishment yet to come. That's the fun part.

The yarn is Patons Decor, which is 75% acrylic. Does anyone know if they've changed the 'formula' for this? I used Decor a few years ago for a couple of kid projects (washability, ya know) and didn't like it at all. Squeaky, sticky, kinda stiff - the usual complaints about the genre. This ball (and the three others I picked up recently) seem better. The label still lists 75% acrylic 25% wool and says it's machine washable. It's not something I'd use for a real garment, certainly, but the hand isn't all that bad.

The second high altitude sock is nearly complete. The pattern calls for a round toe, which I've never used before. It's easy to work and looks kind of cool so I'll be interested to hear if the fit is as good as my usual toe. I did modify it slightly: I don't like the little hole that inevitably results when drawing the tail through live stitches to close the top, so I reduced down to 16 sts as directed by the pattern, then closed as usual. Sort of a modified round toe, I guess, but I find that little flat bit pleasing.

I finally got a copy of the Interweave Knits Gifts Special today so now I can start my holiday knit list in earnest. I'm thinking more hats.