Twofer Tuesday

Look! A pair of socks! Yes, the lonely right foot now has a toasty-warm and happy left-foot mate. I really like this Marble yarn; it knits up quickly (though it can split if you don't keep an eye on it), and the colours are both soft and rich. The socks are remarkably warm - I think a sweater of this stuff would be almost too warm - at least knit at this gauge. And there's enough left in the ball for about another whole sock, so the other two pairs I have already bought yarn for will be made "regular" sock length instead of ankle length. And, for bonus, they fit comfortably inside sneakers (and therefore work shoes) so I can funk up my work and weekend wardrobe a bit with these. Really, they're very quick to knit - I may make a pair in every colour that Marble comes in! And, at $6 a ball (approx.) where 1 ball gives a pair plus, they're fairly cheap socks too (at least compared to some of the sock yarns).

Ah yes, other sock yarns... I did cast on sock #2 of Mom's Safety Socks tonight and got a 1/2 inch of ribbing done. We're off to the races now!

Monday, monday

It's weird when a long weekend ends. It feels like today has been a Sunday - laundry, baking, general getting-ready-for-the-work-week stuff. But there was also lots of downtime and tomorrow will be Tuesday which makes work all strange too. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE a long weekend, it's just that it puts me out of whack a bit.

HOWEVER - I got stuff done, yessirreebob! See here, the first of mom's "Safety Socks", custom-fit and fitting pretty well. Although it does pooch a bit around the ankle bone, but she swears it's comfy, so it's all good. Now I just have to do the other one, but I messed up the cast on yesterday and had to frog it back to zero. Will try again tomorrow. Yarn is Jawoll Cotton.

See also, the "Seaweed Shawl", which is Fleece Artist "Curlylocks", not their new Sea Silk (oh, how I covet the Sea Silk!). When I saw this yarn in the store I thought it just looked like seaweed on the beach. Which made me homesick. So I had to get it, but I'd only been knitting about a month at the time so I was actually afraid to knit it up. Not anymore! I really, truly, ADORE Fleece Artist yarns (I know I've said this before), but this one, being my first, I think will always be my favourite. I don't know what that white blob in the bottom of the picture is, but the colours I think show up rather nicely. I didn't measure it but it reaches to my knees in back if I hold it at my shoulders, and to my butt if I actually wrap myself up in it. Light and warm and pretty and wonderful. And MINE ALL MINE!

Also finished the front of dad's cardigan, but no picture of that. Sleeve #1 is well underway - about 1/3 done, I think. Going to work on that pretty steadily this week in evenings so I'm hoping to have 2 sleeves by this time next week.

AND - I created a hat. Yes, from-scratch-my-own-design. Which is pretty cool, because I really hadn't planned on creating a hat when I made it. I was noodling around with some camel hair yarn (gorgeous stuff, BTW) and playing at making a skinny scarf. I held it up to the light and Peter said, "You know, that would make a cute hat." Ok, what the hey! I frogged the scarf and restarted it as a hat. And it's kinda funky and cool and I don't look silly in it (Yumi said so, it must be true).

I intend to submit the pattern for the 2007 Pattern-A-Day calendar (and post it free here too, of course), but I want to test-knit it in a couple of other yarns first. Hence, no picture yet. Once I get a couple more prototypes done I'll post pictures and pattern. I'm actually planning to make these for sale but need to scope out potential "real world" markets as I'm not ready for online salesmanship yet! So, more to come on that later. But it was a pretty cool long weekend.

A busy week of knitting and other things

If you read this already on "KnitTalk", there is other stuff here but you can skip the beginning. I'm recycling tonight. :)

Well, a soggy spring has sprung here in Ottawa and in my business that means "crazy-busy at work" time. Finding myself pretty worn out by the end of the day and just wanting some QNT - Quiet Needle Time. Last weekend I picked up Tara Jon Manning's "Mindful Knitting" and I'm really appreciative of how that wee book has given me a deeper understanding of how my knitting destresses me. Usually I knit in front of the TV in the evenings, but for this week I left the box off and just knit. The first time was hard because my mind wouldn't shut up - I was mentally watching "Simpsons" reruns, for heaven's sake! But the next evening, and the next, I found I could really just sit and knit. And it made me feel really, really good.

The book also deals with "regular" seated meditation - so far, I stink at that. I'm too fidgety, that's why having the knitting to focus on is so good for me. BUT - there's also a big point made of being "in the moment" in everyday living of life, and I've been working on that as well; here are a few "in the moment" joys I really appreciated in the past few days:

1. Lilacs are blooming everywhere and with all the rain this week the scent is staying low; I love the smell of lilacs more than almost any other smell, so that's been heavenly. I've stopped dead in my tracks a couple of times to just smell lilacs. Wonderful.
2. Also in flowers, the dandelions are everywhere too, and twice this week when out driving I've been caught in "snowstorms" of dandelion fluff. Something about that just makes me grin LAMOA*.
3. A hot bubble bath. No, really, I think I'd go mental if I didn't have the capability of running a hot bubble bath in an evening when I want to. Just feeling the muscles relax, the mind slows down... ahh.
4. And again, knitting. Beautiful things made by my hands make me proud and happy. And it's SO tactile, so soft... it's hard to find the right similes for it but it's all good.
   

I'm so looking forward to this long weekend - I've got some volunteer work scheduled but otherwise not too much. Hoping to finish Mom's first "safety sock" and get the second cast on; I had her try it on last night and it's ready to start toe decreases, so I just need an uninterrupted hour and it will be done. Good 'focus' knitting, doing sock toes! Finally got Dad's cardigan front done and now started the sleeves - the end is in sight at last - and I have a second sock for me at the heel as well as a gorgeous Fleece Artist "Curlylocks" shawl which looks like maybe 4-5 more hours (that yarn is deceptive, it just goes on and on...) So lots to knit and a few others waiting in the wings, but I want these finished up first. Pictures by Monday night, I promise!

Happy Victoria Day / Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

*Like A Monkey On Acid. No, I will not explain the provenance of this expression - but really, just picture it in your mind. Now I bet you're doing it too. :)

Happy Mother's Day from head to toe!

Happy Mother's Day to all knitfolk and bloglanders! It was a good knitting-week (we will not speak of hockey, hockey is now dead to us until the fall), and I have actual Finished Objects - woohoo!

First finished object, though, there is no picture. The shawl for Peter's Mom, which she loved, and which was the perfect colours on her. yeah, no picture. My bad. Trust me, it's pretty on her. Take the colours from the WIP picture and blow it up to the size of Mom's shawl and you got it. So. Onward!

I finished the first chemo cap for the Yarn Forward contest / fundraiser last night, and dropped it off today - but AHA! I remembered to take a picture first! So, here is a (I think) pretty funky and just plain pretty cap, in Eden which is a bamboo yarn, feels like silk and is both warm and really girly. :)

Funny thing about this picture though - that's not a head model the hat is on. It's an upside-down teddy bear, affectionately known as "Football". Football has been with me since I was 13 years old (Christmas gift, IIRC), and has seen me through many difficult times. I thought it appropriate to instill some of his positive karma in the hat before sending it on its way.

Now here, we have two pictures of my right foot. You will notice my foot is wearing a new sock, which was actually not accounted for in the massive WIP listing from last week. But it was in the car and got worked on at the doctor's office and at Tulipfest where I was volunteering today, and then well... I had to finish it. The yarn is Marble, 100% acrylic and mighty nice stuff to work with. As you can see it's self-striping, with very subtle changes, and there's a grey marl running through it too which further softens the colours. These are to be bedsocks for me because my feet get cold at night. Pay no attention to the lumpy bit at the heel, I mucked up the turning a bit but the sock is still super-comfy. The pattern is "Socks in Three Sizes" by Joan Fernbach, which I found on knitting.about.com - though of course I tweaked it a wee bit to custom-fit me.

You know what I notice though? No matter how much weight I have lost, I still have "cankles". *sigh* So be it.

Also well underway is Dad's cardigan-front part 2, about 30 rows to go and it's done. And Mom's poor wee orange sock is coming, but it appears to be at the black hole stage. This too shall pass.

And tomorrow is Monday - and May is now half over! EEEK! Seriously, someone has to slow this calendar down; in three months we'll be coming BACK from our Manitoulin vacation. For which, incidentally, I have grand knitting plans. But more on that later. To quote the great Sherriff Bart, "I always keep my audience riveted!" Or something like that. Happy Mother's Day, everybody!

Sometimes you just have to stay home

Yes, I had to take another sick day today. Dagnabit. I was having a WONDERFUL day yesterday - good weather, work-productivity-good, visit-with-Peter-coffee-break, all's right with the world kind of day. Stopped into Yarn Forward to get something (nothing specific in mind until I walked through the door, but 25% off made me pretty sure something was coming home with me!) Picked up a couple balls of camel-hair/wool blend (I'm thinking bedsocks or wristers), a skein of Briggs & Little in manly-type brown-mix colours (scarf for dad, maybe), and then realized - hey, I should get that Patons Classic Wool for that vest I want... ha! So now I have six balls of Classic Wool in "Evergreen Mix" which is TOTALLY beautiful and will make a gorgeous vest for me to wear in the fall. Yay!

So to round out my day, I figure I'll stop at Starbucks for a beverage and knit a bit on Mom's sock. Ordered an iced hazelnut soy mocha. Yummy right? Right. Except the serving staff were arsing around behind the counter and must have mixed up the order because I got regular milk. Which I can't have. Which triggered a MASSIVE IBS attack within about 15 minutes. Which ruined my evening, led to no dinner and little sleep, and me staying home from work today. Which annoyed me, but there it is. Sometimes you just have to stay home. And then, I realize just 10 minutes ago that I also missed my writers' group tonight. Dammit.

On the plus side, a whole afternoon of quality couch-time means that the shawl for Peter's Mom is done for Mother's Day (have to weave in four ends, but that won't take long). And I got to see the HBO/BBC two-part movie "Elizabeth I", starring Helen Mirren. She was awesome in the role, and I don't care what anyone says, Jeremy Irons is a damn sexy man. Of course he dies at the end of the first half (oops, sorry!), but he's terrific. Apparently he's done some books-on-tape - I will have to seek them out because he's right up there with Sean Connery and Morgan Freeman with the "all-time great male voices".

So that was my day. And now it's over and time for sleep. Goodnight bloglanders.

And in Other News...

Ok, two happy things to add.

One: Went shopping for summer pants (capri-style) yesterday and found some that fit beautifully, in - get this - size EIGHT! EIGHT EIGHT EIGHT! And also in 29" waist at a different store. Too exciting, because two years ago at this time I was up around a 14/34" waist. 40 lbs can make a big difference. Happy! (And Yumi, thanks again for shopping with me - it takes a really GOOD friend to tell you honestly how your butt looks in capri pants).

Two: I got an email today from The Harlot. JOY! I had sent her an email on Wednesday about how much I really enjoyed her latest book (and, well, everything she writes, basically), and she wrote me back, with compliments no less! Again I say, JOY! A little reminder there, that it's always nice to tell people you appreciate them - but it's double-nice when they appreciate you right back! Have you told anyone how great they are recently? Go do it now. It doesn't even have to be me.

A good weekend of knitting...

Nothing like a weekend of lots o'knitting to motivate a blog update. Well, that and Tara saying, "hey, there's not much on your blog lately!" Hi Tara - good to see you this afternoon. And Justine and Ginger too, if you're reading this. And hi also to the Cyberccino ladies from Friday night! What the heck - hi everyone in blogland!

So, time for some visual content, right? Hang on, I'll go take some pictures... ok. Here it is in all its glory - or shame, depending on your viewpoint. All my current WIPs, in no particular order:

1. Chemo cap, in "Eden" bamboo yarn, for the Yarn Forward chemo cap drive/contest. I love the cheerfulness of the variegated yarn and the hot pink band sets it off well. This is close to done but I need to get DPNs in the right size to do the crown decreases, which I totally forgot to do when I was at the store today, so... maybe later in the week.






2. Moose scarf. This is from a dishcloth pattern that I thought would be fun knitted into a scarf as a repeating motif. I haven't finished the first repeat yet but I like the look of it so far. The yarn is suffolk wool from Freshisle Fibers, nice stuff.









3. Socks for Mom - also the "Justsocks" KAL. This is sock 1 of 2, done on 2 circs (first time with this technique and I like it so far. Just turned the heel on this one. These are supposed to be for Mother's Day but I can only knit so fast -- hopefully will get at least this one finished with an IOU for the mate. These are in Jawoll cotton.






4. Socks for me! This picture goes a little neon-y, but the colours are purple, blue and green. 2nd sock at the heel, need to finish soon so I can (hopefully!) wear them for the 1/2 marathon which is in three weeks... oh crap. I am SO not ready for a half! Ah well, I'll do my best. At least the socks will be cute. :) Jawoll superwash.








5. Triangle shawl, also for me. Finally dug out the Fleece Artist "curlylocks" that I bought last year and started this up, and it's so pretty! I'm loving this and expect to wear it a LOT this summer. Nice cool water colours. Yum.









6. Triangle shawl, for Peter's Mom. Mother's Day is next week. This is a quick knit, in LB Homespun, so should be able to make that deadline. Spring-y type colours.










7. Father's sweater! Yes, it's still in progress but finally progress is being made. Here is the back, the right-front panel (with buttons), and the start of the left-front panel (with buttonHOLES, which are a royal pain in the patoot but an integral part of the cardigan process.) This WILL be done for Father's day.



































8. Last but not least, an actual Finished Object - yes, another triangle shawl, this one for Mom, also in LB Homespun, which keeps her warm at the computer. See, it's on the computer chair waiting for her.

FO's without pictures: N8an's slippers and Teresa's shawl. Gifted without being shot first (if you know what I mean!)

So as you can see, I have been busy with lots of knitting, but seem to have "start-itis" and not doing so well at finishing. But now you can all bug me and say, 'Hey, are those things done yet? Where are the FO pictures, huh?'. It might work.