Remembering...

(...and Nana too.)

A quiet evening at home...

Baking for tomorrow's United Way bake sale, knitting a little striped sweater and sipping spicy Chai.

The cookies are cranberry, apricot, white chocolate and ginger.

LS was here

Since her move to Montreal earlier this year, LS visits us once or twice a month. It's always a delight to have her around - I think she's more herself now than at any time since Mum's stroke and it's really neat to see that part of her.

As I cast on for a new piece, it's not unusual to hear LS call out "That would look perfect with my (insert corresponding garment here)". She's always right and it's hard not to hand over the finished piece knowing that it will be well loved and worn often.

During her last visit, she browsed through some of the pattern books that I had left in the living room. I'd forgotten that she leaves a calling card:



I'd also forgotten that most of my pattern books have stickies like this. I know I won't get to all of the projects, but I'll never move the stickies.

An afternoon among the leaves

As we were leaving for Mum's curling practice, she said "This is a perfect day to go for a walk in the woods." Her words echoed in my head as I dropped her off at the rink and made my way to the office. I logged in, stared at a presentation I'd been resisting all week, thought about her comment some more, logged out, went home and invited her for a drive.

Since a walk in the hills isn't an option this year, we made our way to the Champlain Lookout where we, well, we looked out. Our day ended with hot dogs and pop under a tree. All in all a good day. For both of us, I think.

Road Trip

We came, we saw, we shopped, we got pulled over by a state trooper...

Up Up and Away available for sale

The Up Up and Away pattern kit has been posted to the Yarn Forward website. It's also available in-store.

The finished size of the shawl is about 56 inches by 36 inches (142 cm by 91 cm). The kit includes two skeins of yarn and the pattern. You will also need one 4.5 mm by 80 cm (US 7 by 32 inch) circular needle, one 3.5 mm by 80 cm (US 4 by 32 inch) circular needle, stitch markers and a tapestry needle (not included in the kit).

Enjoy!

Live and in person

Fuzzy Face (hat and scarf) and Up, Up and Away (shawl) - both available at Yarn Forward and Sew On.

I've got the bug

I'm here. Just not posting. The soy silk shawl is going well. I've got wool for two more pieces (sigh) and have started a new sweater. So much knitting and just not enough time. I'd gladly knit all day every day...

I found the charger for the camera but haven't had time to take photos. It's on my to-do list for this week.

I've started my fall run of classes. I teach three classes on Saturdays. It makes for a very long day and an even longer week. My students are all fabulous. They're fun, dynamic and eager learners. It makes the day completely worthwhile and I find myself floating from one class to the next. I forget how much I enjoy teaching until I'm sitting at the table with my students and I'm knowingly in "the zone".

At my last knit night I was catching up with one my knitting buddies and filling her in one some of the projects I had on the needles or in the queue. She looked at me and shook her head as she declared "You've got the bug".

I've got the bug.

And with that, I'm off to cast on for the second sleeve on my new sweater.

They're off

I have sent out an email to my LYS with my very first patterns for sale. I'll drop off the store samples tomorrow.

This all feel very strange.



(On the running front, I was supposed to be doing a 90 second run/2 minute walk this week, but it's killing me. For whatever reason 60 second run/60 second walk is easier..so that's what I'm doing.)

Kitty swears and other adventures

Squish fell off something last week and ended up with a gimpy leg. When I first saw her she was dragging her left leg behind her and I launched into full panic mode. After a $100 vet visit and a prescription for 4 days worth of kitty aspirin, I returned home with a very quiet cat. Unless she was shifting her weight onto the left side - and the noises that sounded suspiciously like kitty swears. Really, really nasty kitty swears. She seems to be better (she has cleaned up her language) and the limp is not as pronounced. It was hard to see my Squishy in pain - and everything time I look at her I know that buried deep within her furry soul is trucker waiting to be released. (I'll bet she's got a pack of cigarettes and some tattoos under all that fur.)

I still haven't found the camera charger, but I did borrow a friend's - so here is the Blue Alpaca Shaw that needs a name.

One more down...

The Blue Alpaca Shawl is blocking. I still haven't found the charger for the camera battery (I haven't looked as hard as I could have)..so there are no photos.

I'm happy, but not over the top, with the final results. It's not as big as I had hoped, nor is it as square. I'll try it on someone smaller than me to see how it looks - not everyone wants a huge shawl. The border I chose looks great with the funky centre pattern.

I'm not too sure how I'll proceed - do I just adjust the pattern and hope for the best, or should I knit another sample?

This designing thing isn't as easy as I'd thought.


On another front, I've committed to running the Resolution Run on December 31st. It's a 5K run...and I don't run yet. I'm following the couch to 5K plan from cool running. This week's it's 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking. I'm telling as many people as possible to keep me accountable.

My computer is very very slow right now....so I'll leave you with that. I should probably look for the charger anyway..

LS is curious..

...so I'm showing her how to post to a blog. I've been busy on the knitting front - sans pictures as I've misplaced the charger for the camera.

See how simple it is, LS? (She can't answer...she's gone to get a snack.)

Scenes from camp

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go..

That's five balls of Patons Classic Merino, my in-flight reading, and the book of muses. The tickle trunk and a couple of WIP are tucked away in the suitcase. The Shoalwater Shawl is coming, as is Daffodil.

I'm off to camp! See you next week!

Two sleeps!

There are two sleeps left until I leave for knitting camp. I am so excited! My lovely non-knitting friends and colleagues have been so polite when I blather on about four days of knitting. Sigh. If only they understood...

I started one of the suggested projects last night. By the time I had finished casting on, I had already made two changes to the pattern. I'm halfway through the 10" body and will (hopefully) finish that off tonight, so I can focus on sleeves tomorrow. I should be finished by Friday morning...




My big dilemma right now is what to pack. Daffodil, of course, and the Shoalwater Shawl. The Blue alpaca shawl.


Lots of needles. My book of muses and my "tickle trunk" (the tackle box jammed full of knitting paraphenalia). Wool as recommended...but what else. How many projects does one bring?

Who cares about clothes - will I have enough room for my knitting??

(I checked, by the way. I can bring the needles in my carry-on even though they're considered "dangerous articles". I haven't yet decided if I'm going to chance it.)

Oh Canada...

I celebrated Canada Day with a lie-in, several cheesy movies and Daffodil - who is finished. Her official first wearing took place as I drove LS to the Byward Market where she was meeting her friends to celebrate our national holiday.

The crowds on Parliament Hill never really have been my thing - and after living in the heart of the Byward Market for six years, and in or around Ottawa or all but 10 years of my life I've decided that a quiet day in the burbs is perfectly fine. I've taken in the festivities as a reveler and as a volunteer - Canada Day in the capital is a whole lot of fun. Hey - I even got to meet Glass Tiger (oh my god they have a website!) when I was a "greeter" at the airport. Now I'm delighted to get an extra day off!

So today I backstitched my way around Daffodil's neckline (twice, of course). And here she is:


I wasn't so sure about the neckline until I added a ribbon through neck casing, which cinched up the whole things and produced a sweater that I am thrilled with! (The photo doesn't accurately reflected the neckline, which is more boat neck, less scoop.) I'll probably play with the ribbon a bit - maybe shorten it or create a hook and eye type of closing. The body length is just right - I added about 2 inches in the final re-knitting and that made a big difference. I've learned so much from this sweater and I'm so pleased with the final result.

Opera under the clouds

Mum and I went to see the Opera Under the Stars last night. We were rained upon for most of the 4 hours that we were there and we eventually left at intermission since it was already 10:30 and they were running very late. Here's Richard Todd's review.

All in all it was fun evening, despite being soaked to the bone. The wheelchair seating was next to the section reserved for the Diplomatic Corps. Mum, not surprisingly, was thrilled. She even got to see the Governor General "up close" as she inaugurated the venue.

Ahoy mateys!

For LS, and anyone else who wants to see, a few photos from our outing to the Able Sail demo at the Nepean Sailing Club a couple of Saturdays ago.

Meet Daffodil

Here she is. Mission Falls cotton in that amazing buttery yellow and grass green. 4 1/2 mm Addi Turbo needles. I'm loving almost everything about this sweater. The picot edges are exactly as I had imaged them. The colours are perfect. The waist shaping taking my breath away. And then I look at the neckline and I want to tear it all apart.

From the start I saw a deep scoop neck. It's the right thing for this sweater. And yet my first attempts haven't been successful. I put Daffodil aside this week to just think on how I wanted to move forward and I'm still not sure. Part of me - the part that wants to wear her, says opt for a boatneck and deal with the scoop neck another time. The visionary in me wants me to try again - because Daffodil with a scoop neck feels right.

This so frutrating for me. I've dreamed about this sweater for ages - I want her to be perfect. It's taken so much more work that I expected and I'm constantly second guessing myself. Set in sleeves vs raglan. Scoop vs boatneck. Sigh.


I'm going to go stare at the picot edges for awhile.

Mitts for Mary

I'm knitting along with Poor Miss Finch and her Mitts for Mary and Fridays are knit-along days at her blog. Since we're in dramatically different time zones, and I can't post from work, I guess that makes Thursdays my knit-along day!

I've finished my first glove. Yeah for me. I'm using some Koigu-like merino in a lovely grapey-variegated shade. The tag is buried in the pile that masquerades as my desk - but it's the same gauge and needle size. I'm using the Knucks pattern from Knitty, with some modifications - primarily adjusting for gauge differentials and adding a picot edge. My first attempted was measured this morning on H's fine hands (since I'm pretty sure my hands are bigger than Mary's) - and it was trifle tight. So it was partially frogged and the first glove completed. I've got a bunch of ends yet to weave in. But let's call it done, OK?

I can't wait to finish the second. Largely because I splurged on some very nice silk for my second pair of gloves. If you have to wear gloves/mitts every day you might as well have something luxurious for special events. The silk is in a very pale grey and screaming out for some lace.

Of course it needs lace - if I'm knitting it, it's going to need some lace.

A note to the cats

Seeing the bottom of the bowl doesn't mean you're out of food. It just means that you've got to start digging in a new area of the bowl. If it really stresses you out that much, kick the side of the bowl to redistribute the food.

Now go to bed!

Alive and knitting

I can't believe it's been a month since I last blogged. I've been knitting - honest I have. Daffodil is on it's second incarnation and about to enter a third. I wasn't happy with the fit of the first version, so I tore it all apart and started over. I'm much, much happier with version two, but the neckline's been causing me distress. So I'm tearing her back to the start of the neckline and re-working (again).

No progress to report on the Alpaca shawl. I did the math I needed to do - now I need to finish Daffodil, and Mitts for Mary, and then the shawl. And my "homework" for knitting camp. Did I mention I'm going to knitting camp?

Things I have been working on:


A bear for Ki, made from the snowboots of her best friend who passed away in January:







A bunny for H, made for the top of the wall between our office cubicles. To replace the crappy paper drawing I had thrown up. I used the Purl bee pattern and had fun with the clothes. She has a Koigu sweater, stretch denim slacks with a grosgrain belt, a calico blouse and a glass bead necklace. The face is blank - I'm working on some removable expressions so we can keep her dynamic. Bunny remains upright thanks to a ruler jammed into her belt. She's very accomodating.












On Saturday Mum and I took a trip to Upper Canada Village to browse their heritage plant sale. I hung out at the wollen mill and visited with the sheep (of course) and bought some of their roving at the gift shop. If you're wondering, about half of their houses are wheelchair accesible, and the roads aren't hard to wheel on at all. Everyone at the village was lovely and accomodating when they saw me wheel up with mum and her chair. Here's a couple of pictures from our day out.



This one's my favourite. I think it's because she was ungarded - just being herself, not posing for the camera, not trying to be something she's not. There's something about this moment that seems really, well, Mum-like.

Daffodil

I'm flying through a new project - a sweater in buttery yellow edged in bright grassy green knit with love for me. The sweater will be seamless, and is being worked from the bottom up and I managed to finish the body (up to the underarms) in about a week.

It's amazing how quickly a project can be completed when you're not using laceweight wool.

Future yarn suppliers?

As I was freeing my camera of its photographic load I came across these photos, taken during a trip to pick up LS from multi-week house sitting gig about 45 minutes from here. The excuse for the trip was to pick up LS, the reality was that puppies are always cute. And these guys will get cuter by the day.

They're Samoyeds. At the time of their photo shoot they were a mere 26 hours old. They've got a couple of weeks on them now and I'm sure they're approaching the mini-polar bear stage.


Samyed fur can be blended with wool and spun into wonderfully soft yarns. LS has a pair of mittens that someone knit from a Samoyed/Merino blend. They're lovely and soft and felt just enough to keep out the wet. (And they don't smell like wet dog!)

I'm still not sold on knitting with dog yarn - but there's a steady supply close by if I decide to give it a try. These six little guys hang out with 14 of their buddies!

Because I really should be working

...why not catch up with some photos.

A little pink sweater with yellow sleeves:


A little purple sweater (and its matching hat) with little leaves:











The blue alpaca shawl was at a standstill for several weeks. I wasn't happy with the final results, and wasn't sure how to join the two halves in the middle. The solution hit late one night while I was staring at a blank wall - a completely different approach. So I'm re-knitting and much happier. No photos yet.