Growing a knitter.....

I taught Eli to knit last spring. He learned quickly, but only averaged about a row or two per week throughout the spring and summer and fall. He finished his masterpiece this past week. A hat, knit with Malabrigo. Using the inspiration I received from the Yarn Harlot's book "Knitting Rules," I cast on 20 stitches (turned out to be about 10 too few) and had him knit in garter stitch until the hat fit around his head, slightly stretched. Once is was completed, I then picked up and knitted a 2x2 rib brim with a bit of a rolled stockinette edge. Anyway... it's complete and it looks great! He immediately had me cast on for his next project... a matching scarf (although, I don't think there is enough yarn left, he might end up with a cowl).

Dontcha love the "teenager-ish" look on his face..... LOL





My latest project is coming along very nicely. After a few false starts (I thought I was going crazy... every time I started the sweater all of the cables were backwards... until I realized that I was starting on a wrong side row, which STILL needs to be read from left to right on the chart, not right to left.. duh....), I'm nearly finished the first front piece of my Fireside sweater (again, it's a Ravelry link for those who aren't members). I've added three inches to the length, but probably should have only added one or two.... Oh well, it's gonna be a wonderfully warm and luscious sweater to wear. The only thing I'm not super thrilled with is the buttons, so I'm going to knit that piece last and hope for some inspiration.

Oh... and don't look too closely... I've mis-crossed several cables, but decided that it can only be seen on close inspection




And finally, the last of my Christmas knitting... a pair of socks for my Grandmother.... Hopefully, they'll be done for Christmas, but I'm not loving the yarn or the colour (although, she really likes both), so it's taking me longer....

What's wrong with Barbie???

I've always wanted a daughter..... a girl, to do, well, girly things with..... a girl to play with Barbies, Dolls, Doll houses, makeup, clothes and of course to go shopping...... This, however, is NOT what I'm getting..... which I kind of figured because when you want a girly girl.. you get... a tomboy.....

Yesterday, we went to the movie "Bolt" (awesome 3D movie, BTW) and after went to Chapters (a Canadian Bookstore chain) to pick up a couple of new Christmas books. While we were there, Eli went straight for the Webkinz.... like a bee to honey. And Chey??? Chey went straight for the rack of animals.... not just ANY animal though.... the SHARKS!!! Yes, I said Sharks! My darling, sweet, girly girl wanted a Shark...... and a crocodile. I half-heartedly tried to convince her to get a Webkinz.... "How about a Dinosaur Webkinz??? No??? Sigh...." I knew it would be a failure, but I still wanted to try...... Here she is with her new toys.... which she slept with last night and packed around all day, until she set the shark down for an instant and one of the dogs stole it and ate it...... I suppose Santa will have to replace it for her, but he's gonna throw something girly in her stocking too... because I am not giving up without a fight!!!

Back to back..

It's been a busy couple of weeks, visitor-wise. First my Grandmother (my children's' GREAT-grandmother) came out for a visit and to watch the kids while Dale was working so that I could go to the retreat. Then, almost immediately following came my Mother-in-Law..... it's all or none in the visitor department at our house, baby!! LOL

Unfortunately, this means that I haven't done much in the way of any knitting. I started (and ripped out several times, until I liked the way the colours were working out) a scarf for myself out of Handmaiden Fine Yarns Swiss Mountain Cashmere and Silk in a colourway called "Nova Scotia" which is a lovely blend of teals, blues and greens. I'm knitting the scarf from a stitch pattern out of one of Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries, I think it's called Vine Lace..... I now know why it is that I've never knit myself a scarf before..... it's a lot of turning and short knitting rows.... although, I did take the opportunity to teach myself (I figured out how to do it without looking up any techniques) how to knit backwards and can now knit backwards as fast as I can purl and will soon be able do it faster, I'm sure.



What I have done, with all this company, is finish (or very nearly) my Christmas shopping! Yes, that's right.... I'm done!! I have four children left to buy for and I'll do that in the next week or so (I know what they're all getting so that makes it like they're done to, IMO)...... even my Christmas knitting is almost done..... I have two small-ish projects left.... mwhahahaha! I love being done early!

I also decided which yarn I want to use to knit my Fireside sweater (sorry, it's a Ravelry link for those of you not on Rav.). I'm going to use Malabrigo Silky wool, two strands held together in the colourway of London Sky. I had enough for one strand in my stash and ordered another "set". I'm not worried about the dye lot because I'll just hold one strand from my stash and one of the new and it'll blend out nicely.... I'm excited! I've loved this pattern since I first saw it......

Ohhhh.... and I'm pretty sure I know what my darling hubbard got me for Christmas.... but I'm not telling, just in case I'm wrong.... It's gonna be awesome though......

Make One Yarns Fall Knitting Retreat (or Myrna's attempt at recapturing her college drinking days)

I'm just warning you right at the start.. this is gonna be a LOOOONNGGGGG post, so if you're looking for a chance to escape the details of my most AWESOMEist (it's a word, damnit!) weekend, close the window and go about your day.... On the other hand, if you want to see what happens when Myrna drinks alcohol for the first time in, probably, ten years.... stay tuned.....

This was the weekend that I've been looking forward to all year, the Make One fall knitting retreat of 2008. It was super, fantastic, amazing, awesome, incredible, fabulous, and.... exhausting. There were stars! REAL LIVE knitting Super Stars!!! Including Nancy Bush of Lace Knitting fame, Amy Singer of Knitty, Cookie A sock goddess extraordinaire, Stephanie Japel the author of Fitted Knits and Glam Knits and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot.

The first night was a chance to meet new people and get the excited butterflies out of my system... The best way to do that??? BOOZE..... I finally found a drink that I like to drink and it was dubbed (by one of my new friends) SSK, which in knitting is way to decrease stitches by "Slip, Slip, Knit", but in this case meant "Sip, Sip, Keel". If you want one.... don't ask for a SSK (unless you want the bartender/server to look at you like you've grown an extra head), ask for Peach Schnapps, Banana Liqueur, Pineapple juice, Ginger Ale and a shot of Grenadine... trust me, it's awesome, but deadly..... Christina and I went to the lounge with a couple of our new friends and I made my first attempt at embarrassing myself. It was somewhat successful (let's face it, showing off the tattoo just above your ass in a lounge is always good for some embarrasement), but the last night was much more so (and also involved showing off my tattoo, but at least I wasn't the only one)....... Here's a picture of a Blue Hawaii... I wanted to like it because it was pretty and smelled like chocolate, but I just could.not.do.it. OK, I couldn't do ALL of it... I did manage about half....



Here is a view from our room




Friday was a full day class with Stephanie Japel on knitting raglan sweaters from the top down. It was really, really great. Exactly what I was hoping for, the details of "how" to create your own perfectly fitted sweater, not the blind following of a pattern (this has always been my preferred method, I love to follow rules and patterns have rules) which, more often than I care to admit, can lead to a fit disaster. I was very busy with math this day and totally didn't get an opportunity to take pictures, although she graciously autographed her books at the end of class. I asked her to sign the page in her book that has a rather large mistake (wrong pattern for the picture).... who knows, it might be worth something someday...... She signed: "Well - I hope you're right & this 1st edition with misprint will increase greatly in value for you!!! Thanks for coming to workshop & asking such great questions" I really liked Stephanie. She is a great teacher!




Friday night was actually pretty mellow, I think everyone was pretty tired and trying to save their strength for the following evening's pajama party (I can't WAIT to tell you about that!).

Saturday Morning I took one of Cookie A's sock classes "how to knit a toe up sock with a gusset". It was also fantastic! Short row heels just don't work for me (fit-wise), but I really like the idea of working socks from the toe up. There are some real advantages to this method, not the least of which is being able to split your yarn into two equal balls and just knitting until the yarn is gone. I made a little miniature sock which I cleverly (although, probably not uniquely) photographed in class with Cookie in the background.



Saturday afternoon was "Stump Steph" with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I was able to ask all of my questions which by that time had exceeded nine (everyone else had far fewer). Not bad, considering that before the class started, I had planned to listen to other questions and not ask any of my own..... But Stephanie answered them all.... and yes, she is JUST as funny in person as you think she is and yes, she really, really, really knows a lot about knitting and the history of knitting. I could talk to her all day and not be bored even once....

I asked her to hold the sock I knit in Cookie A's class.... this pleased me rather a lot, I must say..... In a "two birds with one stone" way....



After Stephanie's class, it was time for dinner (we did have a 2 hour break in which I went for a walk with some great new friends and did a 20 minute stew in the hot tub) and the pajama party. I had seen Amy and Sandra (the owners of Make One) in their pjs already and decided (and convinced Christina, I don't think she thanked me for that for some reason..... ) to wear mine to dinner as well.... It would have been great, but for two things. The first was that we had to walk through the fancy restaurant of the hotel to our private room at the back.... in our pajamas... at dinnertime... with a full restaurant..... This was horribly embarrasing and yet VERY humorous. The second was that of the nearly 100 knitters, only about 7-10 had on their pajamas..... sigh... See... lots of knitters and NO pjs....



The Table of GREATNESS: Seated are, from left to right, Cookie A, Stephanie Japel, Amy Singer, Amy Swenson, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (the people not seated are other knitters)




A picture of myself and Sandra (one of the owners of Make One)



Me in my "Racing Stripes" (an inside joke, started by Christina, which only those in the "know" will understand) at dinner, which I thought was funny (everything was funny this weekend) because the table was set formally.



My total lack of caring about nutrition... notice the lack of veggies on my plate...



And after dinner the REAL fun began... for me anyway because I started drinking my SSKs..... I also learned why it is VERY important to NOT knit while heavily intoxicated..... Notice the rather deformed toe on my sock..... it was much more dramatic in person, trust me.




I know what you're thinking... it's ONLY three drinks for cryin' out loud!, but remember... I'm little, I don't drink AND each of those babies had more than two full ounces of liquor (the bartender liked me... or so I like to believe)..... I was VERY, VERY happy..... I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life. I had the vague thought, through my alcohol induced haze, that I might actually do some internal damage from the intensity of my laughter...... but I seem fine today (internally at least). I was even able to repair the sock and show you what you CAN drink while knitting......




Here is Amy (the other owner of Make One) and a knitting star in her own right.



And Stephanie Japel....



And The Yarn Harlot.



I had a TON of fun and met some really funny, smart, interesting new friends (you know who you are....) and I'm already starting the countdown for next year......

and if the photos are weird, I apologize.... the uploader wasn't working properly tonight....