why, yes.. I do still knit...

I was looking at my last couple of posts and realized that they didn't have any knitting or knitting related references in them.. Shocking really.... so this one should make up for it..... it's gonna be ALL knitting.... you have been warned.

I finished these gloves tonight. After the mismatched fiddlehead mitten fiasco, I really wanted to make something that, well.. to be frank.... fit... AND that fit the same person, at the same time without any injuries that would require a mitten to fit over, say a hand that has swelled up to three times its normal size (the mis-sized mittens from hell did find a good home though, so I'm happy).... and I LURVE Julia Mueller's patterns..... These gloves (pattern is Rococo from Twist Collective) are to be given to my friend Barbora for her birthday. We are having lunch tomorrow and I am pleased that she will receive a pair of gloves that I can be proud of.... and both at the same time which is an extra bonus...(I was prepared to give her one with the promise of a second).





I've also been trying to write up patterns for both Chey's mitten scarf AND this fun fur vest thingy..... When I made the orignal vest for Chey, I just winged it in the car on a very long trip around a rock slide on a drive home from BC... I turned out to be quite cute, but the pattern notes I made did NOT create the same garment (I tried several times and failed and the yarn I chose does not like to be frogged, so the results were tossed)..... I then decided I'd do it top down, but it's just not turning out right... so I think I'm going to give it up...... I have knit two vests in the last two weeks and they don't look bad when they aren't ON, but lose much of their appeal when worn. The mitten scarf is being test knit (by myself) and it's going slowly because the damn scarf part has to be twice as long as a normal scarf so the scarf doesn't choke the wearer when the mittens are on.... and I need more yarn to complete that, which will happen tomorrow..... and hopefully the pattern will be done shortly after that.....

Original Vest	Top Down Versions

I've also been working on this cardigan. It normally only takes me a couple of weeks (it's been three and I still have both sleeves left) to finish a cardigan, but I'm just not lovin' this one and it's slow going as a result. The colour is "meh".... I plan to overdye it when it's finished, but first I must actually FINISH it......









And finally...... I've joined the Western Canada Oddball Baby Blanket Society (I was peer pressured into it.. I'll admit it). This is a wonderful group of knitters who knit baby blankets for the NICU of the Foothills hospital in Calgary. I knit with several members and their overlords (just kidding, sort of....*wink* ) and was feeling a bit off... being the only person at knit night who wasn't a member.... and so here I am.... contributing to my first blanket.... The theme is the 3 little pigs and I am knitting the last piggie and then finishing the blankie up with some kind of border..... I'll post pictures when I'm done (or at least have started on it... I must buy yarn first as I don't actually have any acrylic in my stash that would be suitable). I officially have a month to do my 6 inches and the border, but my intention is to finish in a week or so.....

Oh... and I made another crochet hat (the same as all the ones I made in December) in there too..... just thought I'd mention it....

A trap of my own devising.

It's November 10, there are approximately 40 knitting days until Christmas..... Notice I said "knitting days" not "shopping days"...... and really, if I think about shipping times... it's more like 25 knitting days...... yikes! The trap of Christmas knitting has been set, concealed and sprung......

Last year I knit several of my loved ones items for Christmas and although I enjoy giving my knitting to other people, the actual PROCESS of knitting on a deadline sucks.... I'm a moderately fast knitter, I think, but for some reason, the moment I feel like a deadline is looming... I stress. Last year was no exception and it was about 2 seconds after the last item was finished, I decided that I would only knit for gifts on alternate years.... well, except maybe my Dad's, now annual, socks.... and if I'm knitting something for him, I should knit something for Caren, his wife..... and if I'm knitting something for Caren, I should probably knit something for my Mother-in-Law.... and if I'm knitting something for my MIL, I should probably knit something for.... (insert recipient here). You see the trap, right??? Apparently, I did not... even though I set it myself.

My Christmas knitting has now grown.... and I thought of a new one or two today....... sigh..... Oh... and now that I have all of these Christmas creations to complete, I have found not one, but TWO sweaters that are begging me to cast on...... I even have the yarn for one of them.... maybe I should do a quick gauge swatch??? No! I must resist! and NEXT YEAR, I am determined! No Christmas knitting!!! ..... well....... except, knitted gifts are special and let's face it none of the people that I knit for are easy to buy for....... Perhaps I should space it out a bit better instead....... there. Next year's trap is already in place.... remind me of that next year... Ok?

My list so far (I'm only posting pics of stuff for people that I know don't read my blog... I don't want to give it ALL away).

1) Syd: Handspun, handknit scarf (this was supposed to be a just-because gift, but I'm sending it for Xmas) - Finished

2) Dad: Finished

3) Caren: 25%

4) MIL: Idea is brewing, not sure if I can complete for Xmas or not.....

5) Chey: Dragon, Dinosaur or Snake scarf... perhaps of my own design.... 'cause I've got a great idea in my head..... Not started, but will be done last....

6 & 7) Nina & Natalya: Crochet Caps..... I've already made myself and Chey one (the pattern is AWESOME and ADORABLE... I hate hats on me and I still love this one!) ... I'm going to give Chey's to Natalya because it's a bit big for Chey and and the colours would be awesome for Natalya's jacket. PLUS mine is made from the same yarn so it's a bit too matchy, matchy for my taste......


Those are just my "for sure" presents.... and looking at them itemized, they don't seem too bad..... except the list started as ONE..... and now is SEVEN.... in just a few days.....

Here are the cute hats..... the pattern is called "Swirls Cap" (ravelry link). It only took me about 3-4 hours to make. I used a thick fusible webbing for the hat brim, so the hats should be washable...... The designer had stopped offering the pattern for a while, but I noticed that it's back up....



I do have a funny story about Chey's hat. While I was making it, I asked her if she would rather have a flower instead of buttons like mine. She replied that she "hates flowers!". I asked her why and she looked at me and said, in a very serious voice "because, flowers don't kill you" (I'm assuming she meant "you" in general and not me in particular.... at least I hope so).... I told her she was getting a flower anyway and when it was done, she said it was nice because "it looks like a mouth with teeth so it can bite you" (eh? a mouth??? I don't see it, but whatever works to get her to wear the darn thing)........ her obsession with all creatures dangerous has apparently reached new heights...... I think my days of dressing Chey as a girly-girl are numbered..... she's definitely heading down the tomboy road..... sigh......

My Love/Hate relationship with silk.....

I love/hate silk. It is one of my most favorite/feared yarns to work with. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the colours and sheen of silk, the drapiness (not a word, apparently) of the fabric, the summer wearability factor, the feel of the yarn as I knit it.... I even like the smell (although I have recently discovered, and maybe it's just me, that wet sea silk smells like decomposing seaweed (probably because that's what it's derived from)..... which is kinda gross, but does remind me of the ocean, so I kind of like it anyway)...... What I don't like about silk is the unpredictability of the finished product. Maybe it's just me, but I can't seem to get the "growth" factor straight in my head. Take this, recently finished item.






It's made from Tilli Thomas Pure and Simple and crocheted.... It washed beautifully and has wonderful drape and feels GREAT on... I LOVE it! It sucked me right in to the gloriousness that CAN be silk....

Then I knit this. It is also made from Tilli Thomas Pure and Simple. The first picture is pre-wash, the second is post-wash. Notice the change in length and width in the second picture... although I do like the ruffle much better now, I wish I hadn't added length when I knit it... and I feel like it's too big for me now... but I wear it anyway.




Yesterday, I finished this..... I really wish I had taken pictures of it first because... HOLY CRAP! did this sucker grow! It was a bit long even when I finished it, but before I washed it 'cause my sH** A** (excuse my language) gauge swatches LIED and not a little lie either... I did several swatches (meaning 3) because my gauge was way too loose... I finally went down from a 3.25mm to a 2.5 mm needle... The finished gauge (which I just measured) on my sweater is 25 stitches/4" on the 2.5mm needle, not 26 stitches/4" as per the pattern instructions..... I didn't even bother to measure the height gauge because I fear the answer.... hence the HUGENESS of the resulting sweater.... It's not supposed to be a tunic damn it! The sleeves are supposed to be shorter, a 3/4 length, not a cropped length AND the V-neck was only supposed to be 1 inch lower than the original pattern, not 72 inches lower like in the pictures..... I am glad that I eliminated the hood in the original pattern...because it probably would have hung so low that I could have carried several children in it.....





and yes, I realize that the pictures aren't that bad... even kinda good... but you'll have to trust me... I don't think it's flattering on me at all... I may give it to my friend Christina, unless I decide that I actually do like it... we shall see....

I think silk and I need a break.... perhaps Linen and I will be a better match??

Crochet Cardigan saga...

I finished my crochet cardigan last night and used almost EVERY bit of every skein of Tilli Thomas Pure and Simple in Jade that I had... After sewing in the ends, I *may* have had 2 meters left over. I had originally planned to write up the pattern for this cardigan, but honestly.... I ripped the damn thing out so many times and *intuitively* (or so I'd like to think) continued on, that I'm not sure I *could* write up a pattern. I did reverse engineer parts of it and wrote notes and I suppose if there is enough interest on Ravelry, I'll give it a shot, but only if....... The front is a lot more flattering than the photo shows... I promise.



Here ye be...

I'm still working on my Entangled stitches (now fingerless) gloves. The cables on them hurt my hands like hell and I needed a bit of a break, but I'm determined to get them done. I'm absolutely convinced that finished gloves will encourage the weather to change..... This is what my backyard looks like this morning....




it's April the 27th for Cryin' out loud! And it's supposed to stay that way (or get worse) for the next couple of days. I'll bet that the day after my gloves are finished, it'll be +20C...... and I'll embrace it! This is one glove that I finished a week or so ago...... I LOVE it!!!!! The cables are so pretty.... It's a great pattern, although sized for bigger hands than mine. I did go down a needle size, but it's a bit stiff, which I'm hoping will change when washed.




I'm also determined to get back to spinning. I haven't spun much in the past month or so (I'm overwhelmed by my knitting queue), but plan to finish a 3 ply (according to my handy dandy spinners control card this will make it between a sport and DK) this week sometime... One bobbin to go.

One for you... one for me.

Happy Easter! I hope that your Easter was fantastic! Mine was good, but once again, I bit off WAY more than I could chew. I didn't start Easter with Eli until he was 3 1/2 years old and at that time we lived in Calgary. Calgary is not a city where an outside Easter egg hunt is a guarantee and so I had to think of a fun way (that didn't leave forgotten chocolate laying around for the dogs to eat) for the Easter Bunny to hide eggs in the house and the annual photo Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt was born..... I went through the house taking pictures of locations and then did a scavenger hunt with each photo attached to a plastic egg (I buy the pre-stuffed with candy ones) and at the end of the trail... the holy grail.. also known as the Easter BASKET.....

This year I decided to make Eli's a little more difficult. I sat down and wrote 14 mini-poems with clues to the locations of his eggs. I then coordinated Chey's photo scavenger hunt so that they were looking for their clues in approximately the same locations. Sounds fun, right? Not.so.much. (at least not for me).

In my brilliance, I hid all the "stuff" in my closet upstairs (you see the problem, right? Excited kids, upstairs bedrooms, late sleeping, really late night for the Easter Bunny). Secondly, my poems, for some reason, were also centered around the upstairs. Thirdly, I thought it would be fun if the baskets ended up hidden in the kids' rooms...... the CELLOPHANE wrapped baskets...... I was able to smuggle the eggs that I needed for downstairs in a shoebox and get those done before the kids fell asleep, but I was stressed out wondering if I would get caught. I also decided to scatter foil wrapped chocolate eggs around for the kids this year.

Once the kids were FINALLY asleep (10pm, which isn't that late for normal people, but it is VERY late for my people) I hid the upstairs clues and then "operation cellophane" could begin. Chey's basket wasn't a problem. Her room was tidy and I had pre-prepped her closet for the basket. I snuck into her room and hid the basket and felt pretty good about the whole thing. Eli's was another story. I had planned to hide his behind his open door, his closet was a disaster as was the floor space in front of his closet, but the basket turned out to be too large for behind the door. Plan B. I had to clean up his closet and the floor in front so that I could get it in the closet. Eli's a light sleeper and every noise I made made him start and half wake up. After what seemed like an hour, the closet was ready.... I crept into his room with the cellophane bundle and stuffed it in his closet... it wouldn't fit without crushing the top of the cellophane and possibly making to much noise... I crept out and reorganized the closet... I tried again, same result..... finally the third time, I tried to stuff it in.. the crinkle woke Eli and he sat straight up.... I grabbed the basket and turned and ran... half giggling hysterically and half upset that I had just ruined Easter for Eli. I waited... nothing... I checked again... Eli had just flopped into a different position... I gathered up the basket and gave up quiet caution... I walked boldly into his room, stuffed the damn thing in his closet, slid the door closed and walked out..... He didn't even flinch..... but by this time I was all worked up and stressed out and didn't sleep much (I know, it's silly, but that's me). The morning finally arrived (6am, I nearly killed Eli) and the hunt started.... except I had scattered all of those damn chocolate eggs, some of which were hidden near the scavenger hunt clues... so I spent most of the scavenger hunt saying things like "Eli! get over here and find your next clue! Eli! Leave those eggs for your sister! Chey! Chey! Over here! Your clue is over here!!!! How fun for the kids eh? (note the sarcasm)..... I filmed it, but I will be erasing that, let me tell ya...... The kids did enjoy it and my Drill Sergeant version of a Easter Egg Hunt didn't seem to phase them, but next year will be different.. half the clues and really, really hidden so that I can just let them run wild through the house........


On the knitting front, I finished a cardigan for Chey. I really liked knitting Helena for baby Aubry and decided to knit it for Chey out of some pretty purple Malabrigo Silky Wool that I had purchased for some kind of cardigan for Chey. I should say that I decided to knit it with modifications.... It resembles the original only in the style. It's still a top-down raglan cardigan with eyelet increases, but instead of a garter band and a wave lace, I decided to do a piped band and a lace pattern from one of Barbara Walker's books called Ostrich (I think) Lace. I also did a band of lace on the 3/4 length sleeves. It's beautiful, see....





I'll post pictures of it on her tomorrow...


And now.. another sweater for me.... I'm very much into knitting Cardigans right now. I think cardigans are the perfect knitted garment. They can be worn year round and the look is easily changed by the outfit worn. I plan to knit mainly cardigans (this week) from now on. This will be a short sleeve (only because I don't think I have enough yarn for longer sleeves) crochet cardigan..... It's based on another crochet cardigan (Ravelry link) I did a couple of years ago (and modified last year from a crop cardigan to a full cardigan), but with a different stitch pattern, a heavier, silk yarn (I found the alpaca lace yarn to be to itchy) and a different edging... mainly the construction will be similar (although not the same), it's mainly the look of the back that I'm going for.... I've already pulled it out three times (due to the lack of yarn thing)... hopefully I can make it work with the yarn I have (Tilli Thomas Pure & Simple 100% silk in the colour Jade).



I'm also working on a pair of very lovely gloves (this pattern) in Handmaiden yarn "Casbah". Although, I've gone down a needle size to make smaller gloves and they still might not be small enough... so I might have to try an even lighter weight yarn and small needles and see how it goes....