Flame Stitch Scarf

In honor of the new Calgary Flames season (and to have something red to wear to the game on the 28th) I used a Flame Stitch lace pattern from a stitch dictionary and some leftover red yarn to make myself a new scarf.



(Also, check out my new bangs! My hair was WAY overdue for a cut).

ALSO, i finally finished the first of my Spiral Boot socks. I hope to start and possibly finish the second within a reasonable time period... ehem.



I had about 5 yards of yarn left from the skein. whew. (Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed)

I need to focus on finishing up some of the random UFOs lying around, and I'm also thinking about Christmas (I know!! early!! well... for me it's early). What are you planning to knit/craft for your friends/loved ones? (or are you planning to knit/craft for Christmas?) I'm looking for inspiration.

How to make a Knitter's day

A couple of weeks ago a new coworker found out that I knit. She and I talked about it and she expressed interest in learning sometime. She told me that a friend of hers had sent her some yarn a while ago to try to encourage her to learn. She wanted to give the yarn to me because it had been in her house for a long time and she knew she wouldn't ever use it. I said sure (who wouldn't??) and didn't really think about it further. Today she told me she was going to bring me the yarn and I didn't know what to expect. I thought maybe it would be a skein or two, enough for a scarf or toque & mittens. I didn't know what kind of fiber to expect, but I can tell you what I didn't expect:



10 skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair in Blue Gentian. Enough for a sweater.

(I'll wait a moment while you either seethe with jealousy or gasp in delight)

I was so excited and told her I would make her a sweater with it. She insisted that I wasn't supposed to make something for her with it, it was for me. So I told her if she wouldn't accept a sweater for herself made with this yarn, I would make her something with some other yarn instead (we argue back and forth "No, you're working too hard, let me help you" all day long. It's refreshing really).

So, I'm looking for suggestions for my windfall and also ideas for something I can make to return the favor. Any thoughts?

February Lady Sweater

I knew I loved the look of this sweater when I first saw the pattern appear online. Then when I saw the (literally) thousands of projects on Ravelry I just kept wanting to make one.



I knew I wanted to make this sweater when I was dying the yarn and ended up with a colorway that was vastly different from what I had imagined. (A colorway I am so in love with by the way).

I knew I would like the sweater and that I would probably make good use of it, but...



I didn't know I would love it THIS MUCH

Stats:
Pattern: February Lady Sweater (direct link to the pdf on Flint Knits.) A grown up version of the Elizabeth Zimmerman classic baby sweater (I need to get my hands on that book...)
Yarn: Mystery wool mill ends bought in a 1 lb bag at W*lm*rt. Dyed in brown and blue but somehow a beautiful silver/black mix. I ended up having about 5 meters left of the last skein I was working with. I have one more that was dyed but it was sort of the odd-ball skein from the dyepot so I was glad that I didn't need to try to make it blend.
Mods: None really. I quit knitting the lace pattern on the body at about 13-ish inches, knowing that it would grow with blocking. It's really just perfect. The sleeves come to mid-forearm and are just right I think.

Sigh. I guess I can't wear it every day, can I?

We need to talk...

Dear Options needle set*,
You know how much I love you. I love the whole set of you. The smooth needles with super sharp points, the joins, your case. I love how pliable your cables are and how easy you are to switch. In fact, I love you so much that almost all of your parts are in use at any given moment.

But, my dear Options, I think it's time for us both to admit we have a problem. I think it's time for us to take a step back. You see, this is the third time one of your cables has come apart on me in the middle of a project. Now, considering how many cables I have (a lot... 1 set of 2 in each size available) it's not that bad, but... well... I'm hurt and a little angry after you came apart on me on Saturday. I was in the middle of the back of my February Lady Sweater ** and you knew how much I wanted to finish it. You also know how much I hate the thought of having to save stitches in a lace pattern.

I just think I need some time. I will come back to you, you know I can't leave you. I know you don't mean to hurt me, but... I just think we need some space. You understand.

I do still want to be friends,

Lori


*Dear reader(s), please do not let my experience with these joins deter you if you are considering these needles. I LOVE them. I can't overstate that. They are great. In fact, after the first problem, Knit Picks sent me a replacement set immediately. Love them.
** I keep forgetting to post the in progress pics of my February Lady Sweater (you can get the free pdf from Flint Knits' blog on the linked page). I kettle dyed the yarn using some beige wool I got in a bag of mill ends from W*lm*rt a couple of years ago ($4.99 for a pound!!).

Birthday Socks and WIPs

so... wow. Where have I been? hmm... Well, you know how you sometimes have to plan your day around nap schedules when you have babies and/or small children? Yeah. My days for 3 weeks were scheduled as follows: Wake up at 7:30 am. Make coffee. Eat cereal. Climb back into bed with laptop and log in to work. Work for 3 hours from a nearly horizontal position (due to the magic of my awesome wedge shaped pillow that i made years ago). Sleep for an hour or two. Lunch/shower/brush teeth. Lie down for a bit. Work for another couple of hours while watching the Olympics (and then later the nearly endless CSI marathon on Spike TV). Lie down for another couple of hours (possibly sleep). Find something to eat that doesn't take much effort to prepare or eat. Lie down for another few hours until it's time to go to bed. This past week I was at work until 3pm when I would come home and crash. It's been fun. Most days I've not even felt like knitting. I can't believe how tired I was that I couldn't even do that!

However, I've been able to get back on the horse somewhat and I finished a pair of socks for my friend Julie's birthday:


Pattern: my own. I charted a Diamond pattern with knit and purl stitches, knit toe-up with short row heels.
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed Sock Yarn in Auburn Kettle. I love this yarn!! I bought the Essential Kettle Dyed sampler earlier this summer and I am so excited that I have enough for 5 more pairs of socks!


(modeled by me)

These were a present for my friend Julie. She loved them, which always makes me glad.

Now that I'm back to knitting I've been WIPping it up (hahaha, I'm hilarious).


Today I finished off the body of my Sahara. I'm using Super 10 Cotton which I recycled from my Modified Mesilla. Somehow I seem to have gained weight since I made the original (I have NO idea how that happened... cough cough) and the Mesilla, which I LOVED no longer fit. I had a whole extra skein of the yarn so I decided to go ahead and make something I could wear now, rather than wait for my weight to comply with my fervent desire that it go back to normal... (apparently wishing it has not made it so. Which is strange. cough cough).


I love the hem in this pattern. The shirt-tail hem made up with short rows and this lace rib is a really great touch. I was going to start on the neck line and then the sleeves but I need a break from the yarn. I love the look of mercerized cotton but I do not like working with it.



I've also been working on my Sunrise Circle Jacket. The yarn is 100% wool that was unmarked, sold in 1 pound bags at Walmart a few years ago. It's mill-ends and is similar to Patons Classic Wool. I need to block it because I realized, after I was already half way through the left sleeve, that my gauge was smaller than called for... I started the back in the spring sometime and apparently I thought I had checked gauge at that time, but apparently I did not.


I have no idea how this will look on me, but it's so fascinating to knit. I knit the sleeve in the round (the pattern calls for flat) but switched to back and forth for the start of the front. The front grows out of the edge of the raglan decrease on the sleeve. I'm really looking forward to finishing this for fall.


As soon as I finished Julie's socks, I decided I needed to knit a pair for myself with the Essential Sock yarn. This is the Spiral Boot Sock from Interweave Knits Summer 2007.


I am into the ankle section of the leg and have about 4 inches to go before the heel. I love how this yarn looks (colorway: Oak Kettle according to the number on the ball band) and feels. I'm sure these almost knee high socks will be a favorite in the winter.

And... um... I can neither confirm nor deny that I started another sock on Friday because I couldn't seem to find the Spiral Boot sock (it was in my bag)(duh).

Pattern: Spring Forward from Knitty Summer 2008.
Yarn: Silver Pine from Gaslight Dyeworks Etsy shop. So soft and i love the color.

So, now we're (pretty much) caught up. Gotta go. Geek time (i.e. new Mythbusters).

Day 16: The End

I would love to tell you that I finished my blanket and completed my event for the Ravelympics...

but that would be a lie. Sure, I could probably get away with it, but eventually someone would find out and there would be media scrutiny and scandal, and frankly, I just can't deal with all that attention.



I completed 3 rounds, but being sick just knocked me off my game. When I was awake I was too tired to knit most of the time. Plus it was boring to knit all that garter stitch. And I had this to distract me in my brief periods of alertness:


Spunky Eclectic July 2008: "Eclipse" 100% Romney, 4 oz, 2 ply, approximately 252 yd/ 230 meters. The colors aren't exactly "me" but I quite like how it turned out.

I also received the Autumn Sock sampler from Knit Picks (that makes it sound like it was a gift or something. I ordered it and it finally arrived, no thanks to Canada Post and their "we MIGHT tell you you have a parcel or we might not" policy) and started a sock for my friend who has a birthday in September (I know! I'm starting this really early!!).



It's going really fast. I started the toe and the foot of a different pattern last night, changed my mind this morning and charted and started knitting this Moss Diamond pattern. I'm at the heel already. Why don't my plain knit socks go this quickly? Maybe it's this yarn: 75% Superwash Merino, 25% Nylon. So soft. I'm so happy that I have enough to make 6 pairs in total... I'm predicting at least 4 of them will be for me... I might gift another pair. We'll see how stingy I feel.

Now it's time for another nap, so ... Happy end of the Olympics everyone.

Day... uh... 10? Can't keep track...

Too hot...


The temperature onscreen during the 6 oclock news kept fluctuating between 34 & 38 Celsius (93.2 & 100.4 F). There is no cross breeze in my apartment and, as much as I love hot weather, I already have no energy so it's not helping that it's so stinkin' hot.

****

Watching the replay of the Women's Trampoline final just now, I caught myself bobbing my head and sort of pushing my hand down on the couch a bit, as though I could somehow help the athletes through their tricks... (are they called "tricks"? Whatever they are, it's cool). When I was in elementary school/junior high/high school, we had a trampoline. Everyone else around who had one had a round one, but ours was rectangular. I spent many many many summer days on the trampoline imagining that I was a diver, practicing my flips and pikes and... Back then there wasn't even trampoline in the Olympics, otherwise you can BET I would have been fully convinced I could go and medal!

****

It was a few days ago that I last showed you progress on my Leftovers Blanket, so here it is as of 6 pm today. I didn't really knit much on it today, since wool blanket + hot weather = lost will to live... (not really, but, yes, really)



I was so scared on the navy round that I was going to run out of yarn. I had about 20 yards leftover in the end! Whew. The third round is narrower, for no reason other than I felt like it. I have lots of this yarn, so that wasn't really a factor, but 6 stitches should go faster than 12, don't you think? Yeah, I hope so.

It's currently about 36" x 42" (to the navy round). I would like it to be useable for me, so I'm going to just keep going until I run out of yarn or out of patience, whichever comes first. I really would like to finish during the olympics but I can see that might not happen. Maybe it's almost time to take an example from Liu Xiang and just walk it off. I'm not giving up, but I'm not going to kill myself to get it done by Friday. Or, maybe I'll just call it done where I end up on Friday and get my badge!

Day 8: Medals for Canada?? WHA???

Yay! Canada finally has 3 medals (one of each). So exciting. Too bad all of them happened live in the middle of the night so I didn't get to see them happen, but YAY!! (And don't get me started on the 100m Butterfly final...)

No update photo today (use your imagination. It's the same as yesterday just a little further on). Knitting has been happening but has been very sporadic as I have energy then suddenly need to lie down over and over.

You know what's the best thing ever? The sound of little children happily playing outside on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. You know what is the worst thing ever? The sound of little shrieking children happily screaming and playing outside on a beautiful Saturday afternoon when your ever cell is telling you to SLEEP NOW NOW NOW.

So, yes. I'm a tad grumpy and can't hold my head up and probably won't knit much this evening either. I had tons of energy this morning and felt really awake so I took care of some stuff in my apartment before needing to crash. This should be an interesting few weeks as I figure out the balance between being active enough to not feel tired from inactivity and resting enough to get better.

How are you all doing? Anyone participating in the Ravelympics?

Day 7: So much more exciting than Day 6...

Really, it was! (no it wasn't)



Rounded corner #3 of solid round 2. Woo.

I'm also knitting a sock. Well, I mean, it travels with me and I knit on it at lunch sometimes and while waiting at the doctor's office yesterday.


Also terribly exciting at the moment, don't you think? I'm knitting the Houdini Socks from Twist Collective. There are many patterns in this inaugural issue of Twist Collective that I would like to purchase but for now, I'm contenting myself with the free sock pattern offered. So far it's just a normal toe-up sock but I'm interested to get to the Houdini part.

I got my blood work results and I have a "weak positive" for Mono. Yes. The "Kissing Disease" just like a teenager. So awesome. That explains the exhaustion. So, while I'm not sleeping I'll be working on my blanket, but the tiredness is really cutting into my desire to knit which sucks.

Day 6: zzzzzzzzzz

I don't have a picture for you today. Look at yesterday's update picture, add about 6 inches and there you go.

Before the Olympics started I joked about maybe needing to take some sick days during the Olympics (which, had I been thinking about time difference, wouldn't have been necessary anyway). Why WHY didn't I joke about being given a million dollars during the Olympics?

I will be spending most of the next 3 days (if not longer)(hopefully not longer) going back and forth between the couch and my bed. Not sure yet what it is, I had bloodwork done today (whee). The phlebotomist (why WHY do I know that word?) distracted me by asking about what I was knitting (a sock, I'll show you tomorrow if I think of it) and talked about having knitted as a 10 year old. She then distracted me further by showing me a photo of some beautiful eggs that she had painted (and had me wondering why she had the picture in her pocket?)...

So, I'll have lots of time at home but I don't know if I can stay awake enough to knit all that much.

Track & Field starts today (tomorrow? time difference is messing me up) at the Olympics! Yay! For someone who would only run if she were being chased by a rabid dog or someone with a firearm I have a bizarre obsession with track and field. Not as a participant, but as an avid spectator. Just today I remembered that Don Wittman passed away this winter. Anyone who had ever watched any sports on CBC knew his voice as he called so many different major sporting events for that network. Olympic track just won't be the same without him and Geoff Gowan doing the call.

This is kind of a morose post. Sorry. Um. Here, a LOLcat. enjoy:

Day 5: Slow and Steady... not really winning much of anything

... But I am making progress.

Day 4: Already out of clever titles

I don't know if this is a cold or what but I had my 3rd nap in as many days today. I don't nap. I don't know how to get that across to my system but... Come on. I couldn't stay awake at my desk at work. Not good. It's cutting into my knitting time.

In other news, I somehow managed to not notice that the lid on my travel mug was open when I was coming home from work today and spilled the dregs of my coffee all over the passenger seat in my car. Of course I noticed this when I was driving down Deerfoot at about 100 km/hr (I say "about" so as not to implicate myself in a crime of any sort as the speed limit is 100 km/hr) so of course I couldn't do anything about it. Then when I got home I forgot about it in my haste to get to a nap, so now I'm sure my car smells like the inside of a coffee shop. On one hand, I love the smell of coffee... but... uh... it's all over my seat. so there's that.

Progress report:


Day 4 saw the first round finished and the second round begun. I'm using navy for the second round (I know. exciting.).

Yarnhog (I don't know your real name.. sorry) asked in the comments about the squares so I thought I would talk about them. That'll give me something to write about! Yay!

For the squares I used a pattern from Vogue Knitting Fall 2007 (available online as a free pdf here). The pattern is actually for a jacket and pants, but um... jacket & pants from modular squares? not so much. It's pretty basic and once you get done one or two you can do them in your sleep.

As the name suggests, I used all the leftover sock yarn I had. I had been saving it with no real plan for it, and these squares seemed perfect. Each square was knit on US 3 needles and measures about 4 1/4 inches by 4 1/4 inches. (you know. like a square). I set each square on the diagonal to seam and knit half squares to finish the center section.



The solid bands around the edges are knit in Patons Kroy Sock yarn that I picked up by the basket-full at Michaels once when it was on sale. Each band (so far that would be 1.1 rounds) is 12 stitches knit and knit onto the round before it. The bands are approximately 1 1/2 inches wide. So... I have a ways to go.

Day 3: Could these updates BE any more boring?

I would have finished this round and started the next but I had to finally concede defeat and acknowledge that I'm getting a cold. A cold. In the Summer. Awesome. I ended up sleeping yesterday afternoon for almost 2 hours. I don't nap. I never nap. If I nap it means I'm sick. So, there you have it.

This post should be enough to put anyone to sleep, so if you find yourself needing some sort of sleep aide, feel free to bookmark it to help you out next time you're having trouble dozing off...

Day 2: Quarterfinals?

As you may have predicted, updates of my progress on the Leftovers Blanket will surely go down in the annals of internet history as some of the most riveting blog posts ever. The pictures alone are so exciting and moving as to merit mass-downloads and re-prints.



Yeah, I can't even convince myself of that one.

I turned the second (of four)(haha) corners for the first solid round. This is turning out to be quite good olympic viewing knitting. It doesn't require much thought at all and is going fairly quickly.

I'm surprised at how faithful to this project I've been. (I know, it's only been a couple of days... but it's solid garter stitch!) I only had one minor slip:


I needed something to try to keep bills together. They have a habit of sliding under a pile of stuff (too much stuff+too small of a space=where did that go?) I need to finish the edges and finalize a way to hang it (I'm planning button holes and hanging it from hooks at the moment).

Now back to the olympics.

Day 1: Qualifying Trials

The time difference between Bejing and Calgary is making it possible to watch some events live, but it's making it hard to figure out what day it actually is. Is it Friday or Saturday? Day 0 or Day 1? The poor broadcasters: At noon in Bejing, the announcers from CBC were saying "Good evening" when it was obviously not evening where they were... so confusing.

I started on my Leftovers Blanket yesterday morning before going to work as the Opening Ceremonies were being broadcast on CBC. As crazy as it was to start the solid bands over again, I think I made the right choice.


Not bad for the first day's progress. This might be do-able...

As I type this the CBC is showing highlights from the Men's Cycling Road race. I was watching it last night but they cut away from coverage after about 30 minutes. I think it's probably an apt comparison to me working on this blanket. The men's road race is 245.5* km with a lot of uphill sections. That's pretty similar to knitting a garter-stitch blanket on US 3 needles (I was wrong yesterday when I said US 4. They're 3s)


I love this mitered corner. This is what is making me believe I made the right choice in starting this section over. The corners would not have been this neat & tidy if I had carried on the way I was going.


I even kind of like the wrong side!

Oh! Swimming is on. Gotta go.

*why is it 245.5 km? Why the 1/2 km? anyone?

Summer Olympics Day -1

I decided to participate in the Ravelympics in the WIP Wrestling event. My project? The Leftovers Blanket. It's a long way to go and miles and miles and miles (or, to be Canadian: Kilometersres and Kilometersres and Kilometersres) of garter stitch. I think it'll be good Olympic watching knitting, since it doesn't require much focus and I can just knit and knit.

When last we saw it, the Leftovers Blanket looked something like this:

I haven't really knit much on it in a month or more. Can't imagine why it's not done by now...

My original plan was to pick up stitches along the edges of the center and knit 20 rows of garter stitch before binding off. Then I would pick up stitches on the opposite side, then the edges and so on. I planned to knit rounds in this manner changing colors for each round. Mostly I liked the look but there was one problem:


The solid bands sort of flared. Not sure why, but they didn't lie obediently flat like I had hoped. I tried steaming them which helped but I wasn't 100% happy with them. (Can you feel where this is going?) I had (the past tense is sort of giving it away here isn't it?) 2 sides complete and had picked up stitches for one of the ends when the blanket began its 2 month hibernation. This morning I started thinking about having to pick up all those stitches from a bound off edge each time I started a new band. And the daunting task of knitting upwards of 200 stitches per band (increasing each round)... and the fact that I wasn't very happy with the way it was looking...

Meet Plan B:

this isn't cheating... this is training. Honest. I forced myself to put it down once I had determined that this would work.
I cast on 12 stitches with a provisional cast-on and will knit the bands onto the center section as I go. This plan allows me to not have the entire blanket on my lap as I knit (bonus when it's summer) and it should allow for a neater overall look. I plan to miter (mitre?) the corners and I'm slipping the first stitch to make it simpler for picking up on the next round.

Is it too obsessive if I plan to start working on it at 6 tomorrow morning? Yeah. Probably. Hmm.

Let the Games Begin! (Go Canada Go!!)

Worthwhile pursuit or Insanity?

First off, I realize it's been a long time since i've posted... I haven't been finishing much of anything and I don't seem to be a very good "in progress" poster. If anyone has been waiting, thanks! Nice to see you!

I've been meaning to tell you about my latest "is she crazy?" project. After seeing the most amazing patchwork skirt on Craftster this past weekend, I realized I should post this. It definitely falls into the endless project/is it worth all that work? category. I've been thinking about that a lot ever since reading about the mocking that Megan experienced. I think I often feel like I need to justify things I make. I mentally rehearse explanations or uses for things I make, whether or not anyone would ever question the validity of the project. I need to stop that. So, in that vein...

I've been admiring Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts for a while now. I realize how much work goes into one, I'm not that crazy, but I've wanted to make one for a while. So...





I played around with layouts...


I think I like this one the best. I'll surround each diamond with a round of cream or white



I'm making headway but this will definitely be a long term project. I don't have any deadline for it. It's just kind of relaxing to baste the edges of the hexagons (i'm just using 2" squares cut from scraps) and hand stitching them together when I have a bunch.

After I decided to make the diamond shapes I had a couple of flowers that were odd balls. That is, I didn't have any more fabric for them and had already sewn them together. So I decided I needed a new pin cushion and sewed the edges together




In other news: I'm trying to decide if I'm going to take part in the Ravelympics. I think, if I do, I'll enter the WIP Wrestling category. I want to try to finish a bunch of things, but most of all I think I'd like to tackle the leftover sock blanket. Anyone else joining up? If so, what category/categories are you entering?

Covering every square inch of my world

Apparently I have some disorder that is causing me to want to cover every square inch of my world in fabric or fiber. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. There probably is some sort of support group for it. Oh yeah, there's Craftster, Ravelry, knit-alongs, sew-alongs, knitting meet-ups, spin-ins... I guess those things are more "enabling groups" than "support groups"... haha

I took a couple of extra days off this past weekend to make a 5 day weekend for Canada Day (July 1, Canada's birthday for those non-Canadians in the crowd). I caught a ride with my brother, sister-in-law and their three toddlers. Yes. You read that right: 3 toddlers. Almost-3-year-old twin boys and a 1-year-old daughter. Love those kids but, wow, they are, um, rambunctious. And loud. And hilarious. They were really good in the vehicle, but, still, three toddlers in an enclosed space is three toddlers in an enclosed space.

(where was I going with this? Oh yeah...)

Every time I drive anywhere for any length of time, or when it's hot in the car, I wish I had a cover for my seatbelt so it won't cut into my neck. I've seen fuzzy animal covers for kids, but hadn't seen one for grown-ups.

so...



The squiggle quilting on one end was a test patch with my quilting/darning foot. It wasn't overly successful. I used scrap fabrics and a scrap of batting, sewed a rectangle and quilted. I used velcro to close and voila...


Next up? TV cozy?

In other news:

I'm this close to being done my Roundabout Leaf Tank from Knitting Nature... I can't wait. I think I'll really love this tank when it's completed.