Is 3 sweaters at once overkill?

In Celsius:

In Farenheit:

Do. Not. Want.

See there where it says "Feels Like"?  That's the wind chill.  That one up top says -49.  MINUS Forty Nine.  The one on the bottom???  I don't EVER want to see a 56 in the temp unless it's warm outside.  

Contemplating calling in "Too FREAKING Cold".  Wonder if that would go over.  

Felted Fair Isle Bag

I've had this bag in my head for a while now. I've seen lots of other nice felted, fair isle type bags but nothing that was exactly what I was looking for. So...



Pattern: My own. I adapted a chart I found on Jessica Tromp's site I lined the inside with some plain fabric from stash. The base is reinforced with plastic canvas mesh cut to fit.
Yarn: 2 balls (exactly!) Galway Heather in dark green (color 701); 1 ball (about 5 meters left over) Galway in beige (color 112); 200 meters=100 grams
Finished dimensions: Base is 12" x 4"; 10" high. The side panels taper to 2" at the top.



It turned out a bit larger than I had intended, but since I didn't swatch or really do any sort of calculations it's not overly surprising... I think it will be more of a go-to-work tote than a wallet-cell phone-kleenex small bag.



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Yesterday afternoon it was about +3 Celsius (37 F). This afternoon it is -22 Celsius/-36 with windchill (-7F/-32F with windchill). Yay Calgary. ugh. Good thing I have all this wool...

Edit @ 10:37pm Sunday Jan 27/08
Just incase you thought I was exaggerating the current temps, it got MUCH colder


(screen grabs from The Weather Network)
Yes, that says MINUS 43C/MINUS 45F. Feel very sorry for me, for I live in a place with NO SNOW DAYS. EVER.

Lacey Cowl Sweater

I've been meaning to post this since Christmas! Don't know where the time went...




Pattern: My own
Yarn: Paton's Decor in Rich Country Blue (I think)

Sometime in the fall, I saw a lace knit sweater with wide ribbed collar and cuffs. My first thought, as usual, was "I could make something like that." I had this yarn for a while now, and love the color. I have used Paton's Decor for sweaters before and it was surprisingly soft. This batch doesn't seem as soft, (and I sort of wish I had used a different yarn) but it is quite wearable.

I started knitting in September but only finished the weekend before Christmas. It was simple enough to knit, but it seemed to get pushed aside for other projects.

The collar nearly did me in. The semi-cowl collar above is the 4th attempt. I finally just got tired of knitting it and bound off. I'm happy with how it turned out, but initially I had wanted a shawl collar.

In all, I really like how it turned out. I think I may give it another try in a wool, or maybe a cotton for spring.

Christmas Gift Knitting: The Receiving End!

The Boy asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I don't like telling people what to get me so I kept telling him that whatever he picked out would be great. He kept asking and I kept telling him I didn't want to tell him what to get me. Finally I decided to give in, reasoning he's a guy and it was a bit unfair of me to not give him any ideas. I wrote up a big list of ideas and emailed it to him. I had books, fiber, a new car, a big screen HD TV and a few other things on my list... (I didn't expect the car or TV but a girl can dream, right?)

Well, The Boy did good. He got me a speaker/dock for my iPod (yay!) and this:


100 grams of Superwash Merino; colorway "Bob" dyed by Spinknit Yarns & Fibers. I was so excited!! I've never been given fiber for a gift and it is definitely ALWAYS on my list!

I started spinning on Christmas Day, which amused The Boy. I said "Did you play with your PSP on Christmas day? Same thing."



I got approximately 250 yards of a DK-ish weight two ply. It's just even enough to not drive me crazy while knitting and just uneven enough to be interesting.


It is so fluffy and squooshy (totally a word, whatever spellcheck thinks). I think this is my favorite spinning project yet.

If you know me in real life, you know that these colors are a departure from my normal blues/greys/greens/black/brown. I do really really love it though. I think the fiery color will be great come the dead of winter, which should be in about a week or so!

Being an impatient sort, I started on a pair of mittens as soon as the yarn dried after setting the twist

(I managed to find a tiny bit of snow left. It's cold, but not much snow)


I used the Plait Cable Mitt pattern (link to pdf file) from KEFKnits.


I knit my mittens on US4 (smaller than called for in the pattern) in order to make the fabric a bit denser.


I changed the cable a bit by knitting 3 plain rounds in between cable crossings.

The mittens used up about half of the yarn, so now I'm working on a scarf which may end up being a scarf-lette (to be determined)

I'm knitting this on US7s to give it a bit more drape. I'm using the same cable as the mittens and simple 2x2 ribbing for the sides. I'll make a decision on length when I get to about 15" or so, but at the moment, I'm thinking about putting buttons on one edge and button holes along the cast-off end to make a short scarf (scarf-lette) rather than a long wrap-around-three-times scarf (plus, I'm impatient)(haha).

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve/Day. Mine was spent on the couch dozing due to the flu, but I have my pretty yarn and I got a kiss at midnight, so it's pretty good all around...