I've been on a Bender.....

and I can feel it.... my head is woozy, my hands hurt and I don't really remember what happened. Somehow, in the last two weeks, I've managed to complete seven projects (actually nine, I did make two each of the toys). They haven't been large projects, mind you.... but even for me, seven seems like a lot.....

I knit these mitts for Dale to line his work mittens. He loves them, they keep his hands nice and warm even on the coldest days.....

I knit myself another pair of gloves to replace the cashmere pair I knit last year. They wore out, poor things..... Pattern is Meisi, by Julia Mueller knit in Indigo Moon Superwash Merino.

I then decided that I wanted to spin some top that I purchased before Christmas. Another JulieSpins creation in a blend of Merino, cashmere and nylon... so soft and squishy..... I made a 3-ply chunky yarn and knit this awesome circular cowl that can be worn several ways.

Next, I knit this super cool sweater... It's called Endless and it totally makes me happy. You can wear it a bunch of different ways, it is comfy, cute and fashionable. 

I also knit this cute skirt for my friend's daughter's birthday on Sunday (she turned 2... Happy Birthday Aubrey!). I must make one for Chey... it is a sweet, swingy skirt with an adjustable waistband.... perfect!

and finally, I  crocheted these critters inspired by the hot iPhone game "Angry Birds" for the kids... They love the game and Eli even had the plush birds on his Christmas wish list... I'm envisioning the real life version that's going to take place in the basement.... I hope I don't regret making these... ;) Two of each (I do have two kids... which can suck in these circumstances... why is it not OK to pick a favourite and just make stuff that that one?? Just kidding, just kidding..... mostly)

Believe it or not.. I still had time to go skating several times, volunteer in each child's class twice... and my house hasn't fallen apart..... small projects rock? 

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....

Test knitting...

I've recently asked to be included in a test knit for Lily (lprajogo on Ravelry). I saw the request, liked the sweater, had some yarn for it and, more importantly, was between projects (kind of, we'll talk about that later) and voila!. This is the sweater . I am currently doing a gauge swatch (properly, meaning I'm actually going to do a full size swatch and wash and dry it before it's measured. I thought a test knit was due proper respect) in a lovely superwash merino from Indigo Moon. I hope it's the right yarn for the sweater because the colour is lovely. If not, I have a couple of other options in my stash.


I, also, have finally finished the cashmere gloves that I started at the beginning of summer. I shortened the cuff and the fingers and made each finger a bit skinnier for my little hands....








Still working (OK, the term "working" might be a bit strong... perhaps "thinking about working" would be more appropriate) on the Super Fibre Sampler.... I'm nearly finished with the first portion (only 2 left to spin and ply) then I can post about it....

a Trip and a half.....

Visiting family is a necessary evil when you live in a different province (or a different town, city or country). Something I "try" to do at least once per year (and hope that the other family members reciprocate so I actually get to see them twice per year). We returned from such a trip last night..... late, late last night. Now, I don't want to sound like I don't LIKE visiting my family, I do. I love my family. But, and that's a big BUT, traveling to visit is a lot of work and very tiring (especially when you have limited time and lots of family to visit). I'm exhausted from all the driving and socializing and more driving and not sleeping and not eating properly and the driving and the not sleeping. We had originally planned to stop in Revelstoke or somewhere to spend the night and drive the rest of the way this morning, but somewhere in our fog ridden brains we decided to push on through and we made it home at about 1:30am.

Here are a few highlights of the trip (I can't figure out how to add notes, so you'll have to guess what we're doing and where we are in each shot):

You'll notice that I did manage to get in some knitting. I started a pair of cashmere gloves(Ravelry link). I also managed some yarn shopping at a nice yarn store in Kelowna called The Art of Yarn (Thank you for the early Bday gift Elizabeth!), it's a very nice store with a great selection of yarn (although only a very small amount of spinning fibre, mostly some Louet Northern Lights and a little bit of Fleece Artist).

Now that I'm home, I'm hoping to finally finish the sweater I was working on before we left. All I have left is to sew in the sleeves and finish the collar......

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....