Blankie blankie blankety-blank blankie...

So, last night I hit the halfway point on Beth's Blankie. And it's less than two months 'til Christmas. YIKES!!! So today I spent five hours on it - it's now nearly 5/8 complete instead of half. Somehow that fractional increase makes me feel much better. At that pace I will finish it in four weeks... YIKES! I have to do another one for Karen! HALP, what have I gotten into???

Ok, calm down. Happy things.

I got another big box o'yarn from eBay:

Over half of it is black, which is odd - all these part balls of black yarn in different weights, including a jumbo ball - I've ID'd it as Bernat chunky pound whatsis - anyway, it's going to become slippers and hats. Actually, it's becoming slippers right now because DH2B was whinging for another pair. He's so SPOILED, but I love him. ;)

And a couple days ago I finished a pair for myself, in the colours of my beloved Red Wings (or Canada, or Christmas, take your pick...) . Here's a picture of my feet, with the dog in the background:

... or not, because Blogger is being Bad. Grr. I'll post my feet later.

She sheds on everything so most stuff I knit has dog-hair for extra warmth. Mildly frustrating, but such is life with pets.

Now time for more hockey (JOY!) and more work on Beth's Blankie. I'd much rather be casting on for another Moebius scarf as I got five balls of Lang's Cora in a gorgeous grapey purple, but it's in the "after you finish the presents" box. I'm being good...

Dessert is served!

The Bohemian Dessert Scarf is finito! Finished it up tonight whilst reading KnitTalk back-posts, and it's purty! 64" long x 12" wide should keep me plenty warm this winter. The colour doesn't show so well in the picture, but it's purty, anyway.

Now Mom wants hers started right away (of course) - not happening! Got too many other projects to get done without starting in another biggie (mine took three skeins, hers will probably take four... and that Bohemian is FAT yarn!)

Ah well, another job well done (yes, I need to weave in the tails, I know). And Kim and Debbie both LOVED their hats (JOY!), and Sharon wants one the same as Debbie's, so that will start in a few days - need a break from the round-n-round for a bit.

Tonight (during precious Red Wings hockey time, of course) I will finish Ravenclaw and cast on for Slytherin - back on schedule, dagnabit! Well, there's only about 40 rows of Ravenclaw to go, and it's quick once I get a rhythm going. I will finish these scarves, present them to my dear friends, and never ever ever knit them again. No, really. I've discovered that although Lion Brand Wool-Ease (worsted weight) comes in pretty colours, it's not that nice to knit with. Plus these scarves are, to be blunt, boring. CO 27 stitches, knit 50 rows stockinette, change colours, knit 50 rows stockinette, change back, etc. etc. etc.... blech. But I love my friends. :)

Two-toque weekend!

The best way to make yourself feel better is to do something good for someone else - I am convinced this is true. Case in point: this weekend. Woke up yesterday with the flu from hell (they call it "flu" because fluids come out of every possible orifice). Spent the morning feeling miserable and the afternoon and evening knitting on Tim Horton's Toque #3. Finished the Toque. Today felt a bit better, got the AVON orders packed up (amid much cussing, sometimes the AVON aggravates me, but that's another issue) and started on Toque #4. Just finished the Toque. Two toque weekend - and a three-toque week! Woohoo! And, the flu-icky feeling is pretty much gone. So it works.

So, here are pictures of the Tim Horton's Toques (so-called because you "roll up the rim" - ha ha I'm so clever). From left to right: the original toque (mine), in Patons Shetland Chunky High Plains Variegated. Middle is Debbie's toque, in Patons Shetland Chunky Blue Jeans Variegated, and finally Kim's toque, in Patons Shetland Chunky Harvest Variegated (one skein of yarn per hat).

The "pattern" for these is very simple - on a 6mm x 60 cm Addi Turbo (or other circular needle), cast on 92 stitches. Join, and knit around and around and around until you have about 8" of hat (straighten out the brim to measure), or are nearly out of yarn. Then K2Tog around three times (3 rounds), cut an 8" tail, thread through, pull out the needles, and sew up the crown. Simple simple. They'd probably be better if finished on DPNs because there's little gaps at the top, but I just sew those together so it's weatherproof at the top. Whatever floats your boat.

And, for extra fun this weekend, I won two eBay auctions, so should be getting about 15 lbs of yarn in the post in the next week or so. EEP!!! gonna need another storage box - or two. Will post pictures of this massive stash enhancement when it arrives.

Did not manage to finish the Ravenclaw scarf this weekend but expect to knock it off tomorrow at the doctor's office (yay allergy shot day!). Then on to Slytherin and done!

Life is a special occasion.

Today was cold, and I had to take my car to the shop, and the news was all doom and gloom and I much rather'd crawled back under the covers. So. I wore the Moebius Scarf (aka the Fuzzy Blue Thing) to work. It's light, it's warm and fuzzy and I got tons of compliments on it. I feel all girly wearing it - wish I had the money and time to make a rainbow of them so I could wear every day (though that would reduce the "specialness" of it, I know...). Just a wee thing that made the whole day so much better!

So, moral of the story is that every day is a special occasion if you make it one. And now I have a reason to knit something else for the Christmas party! No idea what yet, but something will come to me, I'm sure. Meanwhile, I'm sittin' and knittin' and reading newsgroups in my fuzzy blue thing. JOY!

FOG again and more surprises by mail!

Here it is in all it's ribbed glory - the finished Luc's Toque! It's a simple black watch cap from an About.com pattern, knit up in Patons Decor black (though the picture looks brown on my screen...) Luc loved it. Yay! And, in finishing it last night, I had my first experience with DPN's. I won't go into detail, but they're tricky little buggers! Almost had a meltdown when I dropped three stitches (in the midst of a Habs power play) and had to pick them up with a darning needle. I've decided I don't much like knitting with plain black, but will probably do black socks once I get socks figured out. I need them for work.

If you're wondering, the Toque is "posing" on the yarn for DM's scarf-to-be. She was coveting my Bohemian Dessert Scarf (in progress, a few more evenings at the keyboard I think), and I told her to go buy the yarn and I'd make her one the same - but insisted on different colours. She picked a nice blue/black/white variegated... have I mentioned this already? I may be repeating myself. Meh.

It's been miserable cold wet and gray for days now, so imagine my JOY! when I arrived home to find my package from Freshisle Fibers had arrived. 3 skeins of Suffolk sheep wool hand-dyed with plants native to Manitoulin Island - just gorgeous colours, and a nice spicy smell from the plants (or maybe the sheep, who knows what they feed them!). It's gorgeous but I've no idea what I'll make of it. Something will present itself, I'm sure. Before that, I had to make a stop at Yarn Forward to pick up two skeins of my beloved Shetland Chunky - one in a blue-toned variegated, one in a jewel-toned. These will become Tim Horton's Toques for two friends who have been coveting mine, but in colours that suit them better than mine does. That's a quick hat, so will probably do one on the weekend and the other next week. It's definitely hat weather now - so windy and the forecast is for -1 overnight. BRR!

Tonight I'd love to be at the downtown Stitch'n'Bitch I am at home with my sick parents. Dad actually took a sick day from work (practically unheard of) and Mom's oogy too, so I'm staying close at hand to fetch drinks and snacks so they don't have to run the stairs. I'm a Good Person. :) So I'm working away at the BDS and will shortly switch over to the Ravenclaw scarf, which got bumped by Luc's Toque. I want to play with the new yarn but will be good and not start swatching just yet. Might wind a skein into a ball though, just to get the feel of it...

Luc's Toque and other stories...

So, DH2B has planted the bug that "Luc's Toque" is a great title for a book. So I'm going to write a children's book called "Luc's Toque" about a little girl that wants to make a hat for her friend, but runs into some - er - issues. I'll say no more! No more!

DM wants a scarf of Bohemian - managed to talk her out of having the same colour as mine (MINE!), so she bought two different colours - a light pink mix and a blackish-blue & white mix. Decided on the B&W mix so the pink mix goes into the stash. I win! The Bohemian scarf is my 'at the keyboard' knitting so coming along slowly, but started on the third skein of mine tonight.

Browsed a few new Yahoo knitgroups tonight, just for some extra enjoyment, and found the website for a possible new yarn source - when the first order arrives I'll post a review. :)

Also stumbled on this:
You're a young knitter, just starting out. Welcome
to the fold! Find yourself some nice soft yarn
and grab a latte- it takes a while to finish a
project but it's well worth it.


Are you a knitter?
brought to you by Quizilla

I like the picture, and the description is pretty apt. Works for me!

Now, it's time for Mechant Mardi, so I must go root for the Habs (and knit the Black Watch Cap / Luc's Toque). Et le BUT!!!!

Double-FOG Saturday!

The Moebius Scarf is finished! (JOY!) Finished this morning, folded, seamed, and done done done! It's so fuzzy and warm - I can't wait to wear it.

The pattern was from the summer issue of Creative Knitting, and the yarn was 5 skeins of Aerie by Moda Dea, colour "Denim". It's a darker blue than how it looks in the picture, but the picture does show the fuzziness and the drape of it - very neat!

I decided against weaving in the ribbon after all - it doesn't show up enough to be worth the effort, honestly. So the ribbon is in the stash for another project - maybe a long scarf for next year's Christmas party!

In other FOG news, Hufflepuff (Harry Potter scarf #2) is done done done, and I'll be casting on tonight to start Ravenclaw (HP #3).

Also today (been busy, it's just after lunch!) I re-organized the stash into two under-bed storage boxes - that don't fit under the bed. D'OH! So, they fit under the pool table instead. The important thing is, everything fits - except for the yarn I got off eBay that arrived yesterday. Let me tell you about the eBay yarn...

For about $20 (that's CDN funds), I got a huge box containing probably about 5 lbs of yarn. All colours, all weights, some little twists, some full skeins, lots and lots of black (can we say black socks? I think we can...). Dumped it all out on the floor and had a fun half-hour sorting through it - some to DM-I-L2B, some for me. Found that a lot of it was in goregeous earthy-fall-type colours, so it's been collected into a sub-stash for what will be a "scrapghan" of complementary colours in lots of different textures - probably smallish squares to get the full effect. Of course, having read in The Yarn Harlot about the dangers of doing large afghans from small squares, I was briefly thinking of just tying it all together and going for it, but I want to do some different types of stitch blocks, kind of a learn-as-I-go sampler thingy. It may take years, who knows? But I've got lots of pretty colours to start with.

Wow - long-winded is me today! Just one more thing to add, I visited a new-to-me LYS yesterday and grabbed a totally gorgeous skein of Fibre Artist wool from home (that's Halifax, NS). The colours are indescribably beautiful - it looks like the ocean - honestly, I got so homesick looking at this yarn! It came with a nice simple triangle shawl pattern, which I'm holding in reserve for the dark dreary days of winter - think the first part of March when everything's gray and mucky. It'll be stunning then.

Today is kind of gray and mucky too - been raining most of the week with no end in sight for at least 2-3 days, so I'm hibernating with my stash. Scarf, blankie, and shawl are the plan for the rest of today. And some hot chocolate. And a brownie. Yes, the last brownie is calling me!

If it's on sale, it doesn't count

I'm being undone by rationalization, I know it. I bought more yarn today (imagine, at this point, a deeply ashamed face, like a puppy that just ate your steak dinner and feels bad, but happily full). Here's the story...

I had to get a new Addi Turbo to make Luc's Black Watch Cap (well, I had to get a new circular. I did get a Turbo because I'm spoiled by them and won't use anything else for round projects), so went off to Yarn Forward. Something in the air this afternoon, because it was busier than usual in there. So. Thinking on my way in, it's almost scarf weather, and I don't want to make a matchy-matchy scarf to go with my Tim Horton's toque, so maybe I'll make a complimentary hat (not matchy-matchy, but colour-friendly in different texture) to go with my in-progress Bohemian Dessert scarf.

Digression: the Bohemian Dessert scarf is made of Patons Bohemian in "Wandering Wine", which looks to me like Godiva milk chocolate truffles with raspberry filling oozing out. Desserty. Yum.

So, I found two colours of Patons Decor that are just enough different (a dark maroon instead of the pinky shade, and a gold instead of the chocolate brown) but still look nice alongside the scarf yarn (remember, my head will fill the intervening space). So. The Decor was on sale, 40% off (JOY!), and it's more of a Part II of the project (scarf-and-hat) than a new project as such, so it doesn't really count as buying new yarn for a new project. HA!

And, for further rationalization power, I paid cash for the whole works instead of using plastic. If it's cash, it's available money, not overspending. Right? Right... I'm so clever, I could kiss me. Instead, I worked on the Bohemian Dessert scarf this evening at writer's group (they're getting used to me knitting now) instead of the Hufflepuff scarf which I had intended to work on. But Hufflepuff is coming along nicely and should be finished tomorrow evening - maybe Friday. So I'm close to my planned knitting schedule.

Now I have to work the new hat into the schedule. Hrm.

eBay is eVil! (well, not really, but...)

Two. Hours. Two hours I spent surfing yarn for sale on eBay - and that was just the Canadian offerings! So many tempting deals, so little money.

I did put in bids on four lots (which I will not describe, because I want 'em, dagnabit!), and if I win them ALL (probably not), it'll cost me about $70-80, including shipping. Not bad at-all. Of course, I don't actually NEED any more yarn just now, but - well, yeah, I do. Really. Winter is coming.

I blame the Yarn Harlot (TM) - everytime I read one of her books, I feel justified in buying more yarn, because I still have less (by about a houseful!) than she does. So thank you, Stephanie, for making me feel better about spoiling myself. You rock as a writer and a knitter and as a person of goodness generally.

Oh gods, look at the time. I have to cook a turkey in the morning. Go to bed!

Truck knitting

Or, why one should ALWAYS have a portable project on hand.

This morning, DH2B and I went for an early (ungodly early) Sunday morning breakfast and then to meet up with his client so DH2B could get paid for last week's work. Client was late, and we were in the (very cold) parking lot of a chintzy flea market. In the time we were there, I got almost a full 50 rows done of the Hufflepuff scarf! WoohoO! Hufflepuff is flying!

Also got some more done on DM's shawl and a bit on DS#2's blankie, but today I think I'll indulge myself a bit, flex my learning muscles, and figure out how to do a yarn-over so I can do more pretty dishcloth patterns. I picked up a ball of a new yarn called "cottontots" (don't remember who makes it), in a gorgeous lavendar colour, so am going to knit myself a couple of facecloths of it. Much much nicer than my ratty old green terrycloth ones. So today is greedy knitting day. That is, in and amongst Thanksgiving-dinner preparations (we eat tomorrow, but I'm precooking some stuff today). But first, a brownie. Yes, definitely a brownie first. Yum.

Guilty knitting

I've been trying to work diligently away on the Hufflepuff scarf, but the blue silky stuff of my Moebius wrap keeps calling to me! So tonight I did an hour of Hufflepuff and an hour of Moebius. I just can't resist that blue yarn - and can't wait for the Christmas party so I can wear it! I'm thinking of making the shiny ribbon part removable so that it can be "casualed-down" for everyday wear after the event. Extra work, I know, but it seems a shame to have something so pretty and not wear it often.

Anyhoo, Hufflepuff is coming along - on stripe 2 of the yellow, should finish that and get into stripe 2 of black tomorrow lunchtime. Seems to be going quicker than Gryffindor did, maybe because I realize how LONG it is so I'm dedicating more time to it.

Did a bit more on DM's shawl last night watching hockey and it's coming along nicely too - will work at that this weekend. In between dinner guests, laundry, housecleaning, baking, prep cooking, and Thanksgiving dinner cooking, of course!

So much to do... but if I'm sittin', I'm knittin'!

Wizards and frogs

This is cross-pollinated from the Ottawa SnB group, I'm lazy tonight. :)

I finished the Gryffindor scarf, so one down, three to go in the Harry Potter scarf set, but the deadline got pushed up by a month - eek! - to make the movie release on November 18. Guess what I'm starting on tonight?

Grabbed 8 balls of my favourite favourite colour - High Plains Variegated - of Shetland Chunky at Michael's yesterday; can't go wrong at $4.77/ball for that! This will become a sweater for me (ME!) after Christmas. Yum.

Last night I had to frog my Moeibus scarf (it was about 1/4 done) because the fuzzy silky blue stuff was "eating" the shiny ribbony stuff and the shiny ribbony stuff is discontinued. I'm going to weave the shiny stuff through in sections after the scarf is complete, so it will show better. Of course, the frogging process was a disaster because my "assistant" (DH2B) wasn't there to wind the yarn as I ripped. So I had a puddle of two yarns all tangled up on the floor, took about 3 hours to sort it all out. Argh. Restarted it with just the fuzzy/silky stuff and it's going to be very pretty I think.

OK, off to cast on for the Hufflepuff scarf ...

Back slowly away from the keyboard

I've spent the past hour reading other knitting blogs. Yikes. While it's always good to know that insanity (or sanity, take your pick) is shared by millions, it's disconcerting how one can get sucked in to reading others' knit-experiences so easily. (If you're reading this, maybe you can relate.)

But -this was supposed to be "productive" computer time, and while I try not to schedule things too strictly on weekends, I am now behind in the things I wanted to get done today. So.

Quick knit-update: DS#2's blankie is officially 1/3 done. I finished the first cream stripe and am ready to start the second section of the burgundy later this evening. And - JOY! - the Gryffindor scarf is 60 rows away from being done-done-diddly-done! Happy Happy Joy Joy! I intend to finish it tomorrow night whilst watching Corner Gas, where Emma tries to give up knitting. Should be a good one.

Now, time to tidy up the office, pack the AVON orders (ding-dong-AVON!), and think about starting some supper. Mm. Food. Then more blankie. Blankie blankie blankie. Blankie.

Plan the work, work the plan!

It's fall, which to me is the start of the new year - I guess it's a holdover from my school days. Time to tidy up, organize (see the earlier "an organized stash is a happy stash"), and get things sorted out for Christmas. So, I sat down with my Day-Timer and planned out the next two months (and a bit) of knitting projects. Amazingly enough, if I stay on track, I can complete them all in time and still have time left over to do a couple of small extras (like my red&white bootie-elf slippers).

More amazingly, there is room in the schedule for non-knitting activities, like working on my long-neglected novel, correspondence course work, even food and laundry. BUT - there's a trick to it. Here's the trick:

HOCKEY IS BACK!!! 1 Hockey game = 3 hours of TV time.

So, 3 hours of hockey = 3 hours of knitting. Most of the Christmas projects are straight knitting or stockinette, so no fussing with patterns during the game. I get to indulge 2 passions at once! And with 2 teams to follow (my beloved Detroit Red Wings and DH2B's Montreal Canadiens), there will be hockey probably 5 nights out of 7 each week. 15 hours per week of guilt-free knit time. JOY!

For extra joy, today's Michaels flyer arrived and they have my absolute favourite yarn - Patons Shetland Chunky - on sale for a substantial discount. So I have decided to get enough of the High Plains Variegated (used in my Tim Horton's Toque, which I still haven't posted a picture of) to make a super-warm turtleneck for me. Should work out to less than $50, so that's reasonable for a heavy-weight turtleneck, right? Right? Of course it is. :)

Doin' dishcloths

My knit-mentor tells me she knits dishcloths by the dozen for gifts and for her own use, and now that DM-I-L2B is getting back into knitting, she's doing dishcloths too. So, no reason for me to knit them, right? Wrong. A dear friend mentioned that her nana used to knit dishcloths for her, but now her nana has passed on. *choke* So, off I go yesterday to get the big ball of cotton yarn and a booklet of dishcloth patterns. Today, I have one finished; they really are remarkably quick to do!

The pattern (what the book calls "simple weave" looks kind of funky in the variegated yarn, but the cloth is the standard 9"x9", pretty, and soft. I hope it makes my friend smile.