Break time

In the mad rush to finish everyones knitted gifts I have not gone a single day without knitting- until yesterday. It felt weird to not have needles in my hand!

Here are the last projects I managed to finish by the deadline :)

Bears for the girls- I stuffed them with lavender scented fleece.

I used Knit Picks Crayon combined with Moda Dea for the brown and Knit Picks Palette for the pink.

The girls loved them and also got little outfits for them from my sister.

Getting down to busy-ness

It's been awhile since I last posted and I blame the Christmas knitting rush for that. I may not have posted in awhile but I have been busy knitting so I have a lot to show!On a sad note I have given in and given up on getting my sisters sweater finished in time for Xmas. It's a good thing that her birthday is not too long after- in February- and just in time to receive the benefit of my crazed ravelympic knitting spree- which I will blog about at a later date.

So, instead of a sweater she will get the other knitted gift she desired- a skull teapot cozy:)

That is still on my TO DO list.

Here are some things that are no longer on that list (YAY!)

• A beautiful hat for my MIL in her fav colour and made large to accommodate her head - her words, not mine ;)

• I finished the jaywalkers for Sarah- excuse the bad picture I took it with my laptop camera.
  
  
  
• And socks for my mom in her fav colours using a pattern I loved knitting.
  

I have been a busy knitting fiend but at least I am burning through my Xmas knitting list.

There ARE only 4 weeks left and I still have :

2 pairs of socks

a tea pot cozy

2 1/2 teddy bears and their outfits

and a pair of fingerless mitts...

I better go...

Look before you leap

Ah yes, the sweater.

My first one.

I chose the pattern because I liked it and it looked like it would be fun- especially the sleeves.

So I started.

Then I found out that people had some trouble with the pattern and there were corrections made so I hunted down the yahoo club and joined and now I am reading 4000 comments to try to get this to turn out the way I want it to. Sigh...yes, I could just knit a different sweater but I have my heart set on this one and I want it to work out so I will put up with the detective work and not complain...too much :)

Here is what I have done so far- a sleeve.

uncontrollable, incorrigible, unstoppable

Last week child #1 had her first French class in the beautiful Hydrostone market. I was very excited because the class is a few doors down from an awesome yarn store. I thought we may just peek in on our way home- 2 kids in a yarn store is not really good, quality time for me. Upon taking kid 1 into her class I found out that they really don't like the parents to stay so that the kids can focus better. Now that kid is 4 and way independent both her and I are fine with this arrangement...so are the owners of the LYS a few doors down. On a related note, my bank account is not.So, the first week I did have a project in mind as I went in. My mom really liked the jaywalkers I was knitting and wanted a pair in her favorite colour palate- browns, greens and burgundy's. I ended up purchasing 2 skeins of Sirder Crofter which is totally my mom's style but wouldn't be too great in a jaywalker type pattern. I also grabbed a skein of the woodland that became my scarf.

Now this week I went to drop kid 1 off thinking that kid 2 and I would go to the park down the street or maybe to the cafe for a treat...but no. Where did I end up? I really didn't realize until I was opening the door...I didn't realize I was going to buy something until I was holding it in my hand. I didn't even know what I was going to do with it. But it was beautiful and soft and yummy and now it's MINE. And man doesn't know about it. And I am choosing to ignore these warning signs. And next week I will promise to go to the park. I have enough stash to keep me going until next year at least.

Wanna know what I got?

One skein of Estelle Arequipa for these

and 2 skeins of Malbrigo Silky Merino for who-knows-what-but-it-is-yummy!

A sweater started/A diversion needed

I decided that it was high time I get a move on what will probably be my greatest knitted undertaking so far- my first sweater. I am knitting a hoodie for my kid sis for Xmas. I am almost finished one sleeve and because the sleeve is full of intricate chart reading I decided that I needed a break. So I grabbed a ball of Naturally Woodland yarn- a mohair/acrylic blend and knit my self a crazy easy and fast scarf. Instant gratification!

Hopefully this will allow me to refocus my knitting energy on my long-haul sweater project...

Fall Fair Finds

This weekend we took a family trip to my hometown of Sackville, NB to visit the Fall Fair. The highlight of the trip was definitely when we went to Doncaster farm for the Agriculture Field Day. There was horseback riding, a corn maze, live music and dancing, games, a petting zoo, wagon rides, food and a market. It was fantastic! There were lots of old friends I haven't seen in years and lots of family around too.

Of course, I was ecstatic to see a spinning demo happening in the barn-turned-market. There was an employe of St. James Textile Museum spinning and Heidi Wulfraat from London-Wul Fibre Arts was there with her beautiful fiber and weaving demonstration. There was also lots of knitted products for sale courtesy of Brenda Trafford

- a fantastic creator. She had great knitted hat kits and gorgeous felted bags.

I wanted to buy the entire room but because there was no banking services close by I had to settle on one skein of beautiful handspun wool. Spun in varying thicknesses and dyed with natural dyes it called to me from the basket. I was so in love with it I couldn't even wait to get back to Halifax I had to knit it up right away! I settled on The Yarn Harlot's scarf pattern but since I didn't have enough yardage to make

a full scarf I settled on a neckwarmer that could double as an ear warmer!

It turned out beautifully- the pattern really shows off the varied thickness and colour and texture of the wool. Now, I just need to find the perfect buttons to fasten it with!

A fixin'

Usually I am very careful to put my knitting up or away when I am leaving the room or doing something else. With a 4 year old and a 15 month old I know to be careful. It only takes 1 time. One second and all of those tiny little stitches are unravelled...

Of course I found this out the hard way.

I was working on my wrap when a knock came at the door. I put my knitting down, grabbed my 15 month old and headed for the door. I figured my knitting would be safe, after all, the main demolisher was in my arms! Well, I got talking and baby got squirmy, so, down went baby...then I noticed the silence and, sure enough, baby had pounced on my lace and pulled it out :(

Oh the horror.

I put it on the shelf, I couldn't even bare to look at it.

And there it stayed for a month.

But, finally I gently picked it up last night and assessed the damage. I tried my best to repair it and I did a fairly good job. It is still noticeable to me but I can live with it.

And, I learned a valuable lesson.... :)

Magical knitting

*Warning* This post contains mention of knitting related injury.

This story begins back when I was knitting these socks for myself and I was carrying them around the house in a little project bag clipped to my belt loop. I thought that this was a fantastic idea, having 2 small children I needed to be able to up and go from room to room with my knitting if I wanted to get any done! So, one day I was chasing them up the stairs and when we got to the top they wanted to play in the landing a bit. My youngest then dashed for the stairs so I plopped my self in front of her to keep her from tumbling down and when I did that...

One of my dpn size 1 came through the bag, through my pants and 2 inches into the side of my knee. Thankfully it went in on an angle so it wasn't straight in bu

t along the skin. So...I pulled it out and administered first aid to myself and put my knitting away for awhile!

Of course, I picked it up again eventually and finished my socks. When I went to start the next pair though I first bought these. The I merrily knit Mar's mini jaywalkers. When I began my next pair- the last pair I finished- I really wanted to do them in the round in order to eliminate as many sharp points as possible. So, I looked for some circulars but fount that the 12" size 1's were way to cumbersome to knit in the round with . Then I discovered the magic loop method...well...I shouldn't say I discovered it then, really, I had heard of it awhile ago, but never really looked into the specifics of it. Anyway, with the help of my LYS I picked up some nice long circs and came home to research magic loop.

These are pics of my new sock project- some grown up Jaywalkers for my friend Sarah using knit picks stroll multi sock yarn in Fruit Punch.

I will never use dpn's again :)

Summer of knit-love

So I am now back to work teaching and therefore I have way less time to work on my projects. During the last month I knew that this date was looming and I tried to finish as many of my projects as possible. Well...I really only ended up finishing 1. But, they are lovely and will make amy far away med student friend (hopefully) very happy as she will finally be the recipient of my handiwork after many requests on her part.

So, here they are- Kai-Mei's for Katie.

My first affair...

So I've done it...I now have *gasp* 2 projects on the needles! I've just started a great sock pattern that I love for many reasons. The first being that it is 6 inches of K3 P3 ribbing so I can mindlessly knit it in the presence of the "distractors" the second reason is I can use this easy stitch pattern to work on learning how to knit continental. Thirdly, I love love love the sock and know that my friend whom I am gifting it to will as well :)

I am still working away on the lace- I'm 75% done- maybe 1 more week- I can't wait to wear it! I keep wanting to by more yarn but I did get my knit picks order so I am face to face with my Xmas/Yule knitting...no more purchases until I've made a dent in that pile!!!

Still working away...

So, I've spent this week working away on my first lace project and I am proud to report that I am halfway through! I love this pattern and this yarn- it's turning out to be one of my favorite projects so far :) Since my knit picks order has not arrived yet I haven't cast on anything else. I figure that when my order arrives it will coincide perfectly with the beginning of August and the new monthly Cookie A. KAL. So, I will just keep faithfully knitting away at the lace.

Complete Understanding

I now know why knitters sometimes have many projects going on at once. As I said before I would consider myself to be a monogamous knitter...that was until I started my first lace project. Which, in the span of 2 days I have had to rip and restart 4 times!!! The lesson I have learned is this- one does not do lace, especially for the first time, in the presence of any distractions, including but not limited to- pets, children, talkative partners trying to engage you in any sort of discussion, engrossing movies or reality TV shows. Now, since I really do feel the need to knit in the presence of these distractors I guess I will have to find myself a distraction-able project and save the lace for after the kids go to bed!
I'm thinking that the grocery bag dispenser might fill the knitting-during-day-time-hours need. And my lace will become my "after dark" project ;)

I'm Done Jaywalking

I finished up Kid 1's socks this morning and they fit like a glove. This means in a few months time they will be put away for kid 2 :P I was very happy with the pattern and the yarn used. Kid 1 made a good choice there! I will probably attempt the adult version of this pattern when my new yarn arrives. I think the Essential Multi in princess would look nice.


I am very excited about my next project- my long anticipated foray into knitting lace. We'll see...

So, I put my knit picks order in today and now I sit back and excitedly wait for my package to arrive so I can begin my Xmas knitting.
My final selection included:
Crayon in Cashew and Imperial to make teddy bears for the girls.
Essentials Multi in Fruit Punch and Princess for some more socks.
Wool of the Andes in Amethyst Heather to make a hoodie for my sis.
Palette in Lipstick,
Risata Sock Yarn in Grass and
some yummy Gloss Sock Yarn in Woodland Sage. These 3 I have plans to use for a Cookie A. sock knit- along. I probably would have preferred to use one of the kettle dyed yarns but I had some specific colour requests to fill :)

So, now I am working away so that when the box arrives my needles will be empty and ready to go.

Xmas in July

So, today I have started thinking and selecting my knitting list for Xmas. My goal is to include in all of my gifts something that I knit. So far I have chosen the usual socks and mitts as well as some beautiful lace shawls and a sweater or two. I have a lot more to decide on, but that should keep me busy for now! Next I need to decide on yarn and then---YAY!!!--I get to go shopping :)

Knitting monogamy

I have recently discovered something about myself- I am a monogamous knitter. I cannot have more than one project on the needles at once...I just can't. I have a compelling need to finish one item before moving on to the next. This however, is not just manifested in my knitting life...:)
This is what I am working on now- a project for kid 1.
She chose this yarn- Classic Elite yarns- Summer Sox Varigated in Huckleberry.

Garlic Bag

My small box that I use to store garlic has been spilling its contents on the counter for months. So, I am using my new knitting passion to remedy this situation- much to my partners delight!

I couldn't find a pattern anywhere so I made my own- well, adapted it from another pattern- here it is!

DIRECTIONS

With size 1 needle, cast on 42 sts. Join and continue around as follows.

Row 1 - knit all sts
Row 2 - purl all sts

Row 3(eyelet row) - [k4, k2tog, YO] repeat to end of row
Row 4 - knit all sts
Row 5 - purl all sts

(Change to size 5 needle for netting portion)
I also changed colour here
Row 6- knit one row

Row a: [k2tog, YO] repeat to end of row
Row b: knit all sts
Repeat above two rows until netting section measures 4ish inches

(Change to size 1 needle for bottom of bag)

Row 1: knit
Row 2: k, ssk, k until 3 remaining st, k2tog, k1
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until 12 stitches remain.
Close bag

My first grown up socks!

So, as usual, I always put kids first and the same is true with knitting. I honed my sock skills knitting a couple of pairs of socks for kid 1 and 2 before trying my hand at socks for me. It was probably a really good thing because these socks came this close to being a disaster. I did have to rip and redo the foot of the first one, but other that that there were no problems.
The pattern was easy to commit to memory- which meant that I could watch TV and knit at the same time :) And the yarn was beautiful and great to work with.
I am very happy with how they turned out :) I am now very excited to try another pair of socks.