2008

This year has been the year of if I don't like it, don't finish it.

One ball of yarn (from the stash) was started 3 times until I settled on the baby hats for charity.

A baby blanket I started last year was thrown away as I hated the yarn so much. It had been given to me and sat in my stash for ages. The yarn was nice but the colour - mustard yellow - I should have passed it on ages ago.

Sock yarn that wasn't working in one pattern was unpicked and another pattern chosen.

A glove never did have a mate.

And this sweater.

I used the stash a little. All but one pair of socks were knitted from stash yarn. I added to stash yarn to make this baby blanket and used the left over yarn immediately.

I knitted one scarf for charity from stash yarn and frogged another one that I didn't like.

I've posted photos of the dishcloths I have knitted this year, still need to post photos of the other baby blanket I made, otherwise this year I have knitted a lot of holes.

But it doesn't matter how full of holes my life is: Happy Anniversary Husband.

I Must Stop Joining Groups

Somehow (the convoluted way we all find things on the web) I came across a Yahoo group for knitting dishcloths. Twice a month a new pattern is published a few rows at a time. So of course I joined.

The first pattern in the middle of November was this.



So from not having done any illusion knitting I know work two pieces in quick succession.

The pattern for the middle of December was this.



It is too big for washing dishes but seems too nice for cleaning.

A Complaint

Can you believe it someone has complained about my writing? This nameless person (my younger sister) objects to the term "fall colors as used in this post.

She feels that as I now live north of the border I should be using correct English. So in the interests of family unity, sisterly love, etc. here is the correct English.

"fall colours"

What? More Knitting

I haven't blogged about this item because I never even took a photo of it.

My aim is not to add to stash and, hopefully to use what I have. So when I finished the baby blanket, I immediately cast on with the left over yarn to make a small tablecloth.

The pattern is the Feather and Fan Shawl by Eugen Beugler from A Gathering of Lace.

I knitted until I ran out of yarn and it was just big enough to fit a small table I have.

When I was on a picture taking frenzy this week because my camera was cooperating I realised that I had never taken a photo. So here it is.

Photos of My Dishcloths

So I told you how my secret swap sent me yarn and patterns to make 2 dishcloths; well, I was finally able to take photos. The dishcloths have a Halloween theme.

First Candy Corn.



and


Pretty cool but really hard to photograph.


And here is the witch.


This actually looks better in the photograph than in the flesh as the photograph shows the witch clearly but you really have to look at the cloth to distinguish it.

It's a Mystery

Way back in 2006 I joined a Yahoo group based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi shawl. Her concept was simple, every time you double your stitches, you double the number of rows you knit before you double your stitches again.

For example: you cast on 4 stitches, knit one round, double stitches to 8, knit 2 rounds, double stitches to 16, knit 4 rounds and so on. (Or etcetera, etcetera, etcetera to quote Yul Brynner.)

The group has an awesome designer, who designs the mysteries. She thinks of a theme and each time the stitches are doubled she produces a set of patterns to fit the theme from which you choose one. I made a small round tablecloth the first time and then the shawl for my mother-in-law.

The mystery this time is different as she has created an oval. There is a centre rectangle with a semi-circle at each end. The stitches in the semi-circle are increased like a Pi but the rectangle part stays constant. So it feels like the knitting is proceeding faster. The one thing I hate about circular knitting is that it is so quick to start and then gets slower and slower so that when you have in excess of 600 stitches it can take all night to knit one round in lace.

A Surprise

I joined a Trick or Treat Secret Swap through one of the Yahoo Groups I belong to. This was what we were told to send to our partner. I thought it sounded fun.

1. A book with a Halloween theme (this doesn't have to be specifically
about Halloween - any scary theme will do. Witches, ghosts, monsters,
vampires, villains - you get the picture!
2. A skein of yarn, enough for a one skein project, in fall colors.
3. A pattern for something to make with the yarn. (this could be
tricky!)
4. A trick and a treat!

Today I received the parcel from my secret pal, who lives in Kansas; so I guess I can't make fun of Kansas any more.

First here is a photo of the stamps.



I have never seen this many stamps on a parcel.

I was eager to see what goodies my pal had sent but first the parcel had to be inspected by the parcel police.



And then I got to my goodies.



You can't see everything in the photo but there were 2 scary books, some Halloween decorations, a bag of candy canes, 4 balls of Peaches and Cream cotton yarn and 2 patterns.

The patterns were for dishcloths and I have made both of them but the camera is playing up so I can't take photos.

And, finally, don't you just love the gift that keeps on giving?

First Snow

No photos, just to record that it started snowing last night. Wet snow that stayed on the grass but not on the roads. Winter is on its way.

A Little Bit of Knitting

With Coffee on the Side

Last night I went out to knit. Through the wonders of modern science - ie the internet - a knitting group has been formed at my end of town. Off I trotted braving storms and pestilence (rain) and met up with 3 like minded people. Although one of them was crocheting which is very close to like minded and I am working on a crochet baby blanket at the moment although I didn't take it with me.

I wanted to take something fairly easy so that I didn't have to worry about the knitting so took the wrap I have been working on for ever and don't know when I last picked up. Not surprisingly I ended up unpicking the first 2 and half rows I knitted.

The night was not without drama. We met at a Starbucks which is close to a school and offices so doesn't get very busy in the evenings. A young couple came in and sat near us and her body language screamed unhappy. I didn't notice the guy leave but I did notice the girl on the phone quietly crying - which meant only one thing. After a while someone came and picked her up; so not only did her guy dump her but he left her to get home by herself - did I mention it was raining hard.

But I have been reliably informed by the boy child that you do not go to coffee shops as a couple as they are notorious dumping grounds (no pun intended). No wonder Starbucks is in difficulties.

Tale of Two Socks

Technically it should be the tale of four socks

I had two balls of sock yarn - different colours and manufacturers - let's call them a and b. And two different sock knitting patterns - 1 and 2.

I had decided to knit pattern 2 with yarn b which left pattern 1 to knit with yarn a. Which I did, way back in in February. Except I didn't like the way it looked. Yarn a was Trekking XXL and although self-striping it was a variegated type so blended into the stripes and just didn't look right for a pattern developed especially for self-striping yarns. So I frogged what I had done and decided to work pattern 2 with the yarn instead so then I worked pattern 1 with yarn b.

So two pairs of socks later, I decide I don't like pattern 1 mainly due to the yarn I had chosen.

It is rather dull and would have looked better in the original pattern.

Here they are, artistically posed no top of a scarf I had knitted - details to follow.

What Colour Green Are You?

So I followed a link from another blog and took the test.

You Are Olive Green

You are the most real of all the green shades. You're always true to yourself. For you, authenticity and honesty are very important... both in others and yourself. You are grounded and secure. It takes a lot to shake you. People see you as dependable, probably the most dependable person they know.

What Color Green Are You?

Sounds too good to be true but maybe a bit boring. I'll have to show you the results from what kind of weather are you to show my otherside.

Another Baby Blanket

A girl at work is pregnant so a chance to make another baby blanket. I had some yarn in my stash mostly purchased when a shop went out of business. The yarn was ideal to make another blanket from the same pattern as last time but I didn't want to make the same thing so soon. I had seen a pattern in one of the Vogue Knitting On The Go books that I really liked. The yarn I had was thinner than called for in the pattern but I thought that wouldn't matter as I would just knit more rows and cast on more stitches but what I was making was floppy and didn't look very good so I doubled the yarn and it looked fine. The pattern is a series of squares where you start off with one and then increase every so often and when you have half a blanket you start decreasing. I was aiming to stop increasing after using half the yarn but that wasn't so easy as I had an odd number of balls so I had to guess and I didn't quite use them all but the blanket is the right size for a baby.

Here it is.



Yarn: Sandnes Garn Mandarin Petit (Used double)
Needles 5.5 mm

Saturday Sky

Haven't posted a photo for a while, so thought you might like today's view.

This is 7.30 this morning.


And this is the same view at 11.30 this morning



Not much of a difference except there is a bit more sun in the second photo.

It started snowing around 9.00 yesterday morning and hasn't stopped.

All Change

Remember this?

Well it became



and then



Although that might be a bit misleading because I couldn't turn that yarn into a cat.

I realised that I was never going to wear the jacket and it seemed such a waste of yarn - which wasn't cheap. So back to balls and onto the needles pretty quickly so that I could wear it this winter. If I left it, I was in danger of finishing it in the summer and then forgetting I had it. I have learned a few things from the original project. One is to take better notes. I am very fond of writing "used size needles to get gauge". Hmm not much help when the pattern is from a library book and I have no idea what the gauge was.

The pattern I made up from measuring a (shop-bought) sweater that I really like and I stuck to the measurements apart from adding almost an inch to the length. The ribbing was worked on smaller needles but with the same number of stitches as the main part. The body and sleeves were worked in the round as far as the armhole shaping and then they were joined and worked in the round with raglan shaping until the neck shaping.

I am really pleased with how the sweater came out and as I finished it in time for a cold weekend it has been worn.

The other thing I learned from the original project - if I don't like something when I finish it, I am unlikely to change my mind later.

Saturday Sky

It's been a little while since I've posted a photo of Saturday's sky so today you get two.

One from this morning and the other from this afternoon.




Not much difference in the sky but a couple of degrees rise in temperature makes the snow disappear. And snow in the morning was a perfect excuse to finish the sweater and wear it.

Where Have I Been?

You may have noticed that I haven't said anything for a while. Not for lack of imagination nor trying. For some unexplained reason I could not access my blog. So after a while I stopped thinking about what I wanted to write but it seems that I have access again so I will leave you with some knitting.





The photos don't show the colour well but they are lime green. Knitted for the boy child who has very cleverly worked out that if he asks me to knit him socks I pay for the yarn so he doesn't have to spend his money on socks.

Yarn: Meilenweit Cotton by Lana Grossa
Needles: 2 mm
Pattern: Basic sock pattern

Coincidences

Sometimes I have two books on the go. Usually if I am reading a book that is too big/heavy to carry outside of the house. The two books I read recently are Leonard Woolf's biography and The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. I chose the biography as I had read Virginia Woolf's biography and thought it would be a good idea to read about her husband. I thought it was interesting that in his biography it was made clear how bad Virginia's mental illness was whereas when I read her biography I didn't get that impression.

I chose to read The Enchanted April as I was looking at the upcoming plays at the local theatre, one of them being The Enchanted April and it was said it was adapted from the novel; so having seen the movie a few years ago, I decided to get the book out of the library.

The first coincidence was that from reading the blurb at the front of the book about Elizabeth, it said that E M Forster had been a tutor to her children. E M Forster was a very good friend of Leonard Woolf.

Then I was eating my lunch in a cafe downtown when a guy came in and I could tell that he was looking at me and chose a seat near me before going to the counter to place his order. I thought it a bit strange but as I was about to leave I wasn't worried. Well, he stopped me on my way out and asked me if I was enjoying the book The Enchanted April. Turns out he was an actor in the production which was in rehearsals and he was pleased to see someone reading the book, so, of course, I had to tell him that seeing the play advertised had made me want to read the book. It wasn't until later that I realized that I hadn't asked him what part he was playing.

The Weather

I was going to write about a couple of books I am reading but it seems more appropriate to write about the weather. Here is a screen shot of the appropriate page form The Weather Network.



There are two important things to note: the temperature and the feels like. Feels like everybody should be indoors.

But did you note the sponsor Workopolis's tagline - "It's a great day to look for a new job in Calgary."? Who are they trying to kid?

ps if you click on the picture you'll get an enlarged, easier to read version.