April and May

Well it seems that not only am I knitting slowly but I am updating slowly too. So here is another post with two months worth of completed objects. April was very slow on the knitting front but I finished a pair of socks albeit a pair I started on 1 January and I knitted a dishcloth.

I started the socks on 1 January as part of the Ravelry SKA group animal theme for that month. The pattern is The Gardener by Leslie Comstock and I had favourited it a while ago so I took the chance to knit it. The yarn is Madeline Tosh Sock, colour Grapefruit, which I had bought on my trip to Denver and had saved for this pattern. I have now used all the yarn I bought on that trip.

As I like using knitted/crocheted dishcloths, I am using up all my ends of dishcloth cotton. In April I knitted another Hex. I divided the small amounts of dishcloth cotton into two piles – variegated and solid – and then alternated between the two when I ran out. As this was a dishcloth for my use I knotted the yarns at the changes and didn’t worry about which side the knot fell on. Not too bad a result.

May was more successful. I have shown photos of the mystery sock I started in May; I made three sections for WCOBBS blankets which I will post about separately; a scarf, which will also have its own post; a completed pair of socks started in April and I completely frogged a pair of socks that I started last December.

The designer in the SKA group for April was Rosehiver. Her designs are wonderful and still free which is amazing and really she should start selling them. May’s mystery was her design and she also designed these socks. So it was a no-brainer that I would knit one of her designs when April came around.

The yarn is Kypria from The Sanguine Gryphon before they split into two separate companies. I really like the finished article and they are my new favourites.

Stitch Markers With a Difference

In my last post I mentioned the gift from my friend Clair. She has now opened her ESTY shop Purple gecko Studio so I can go into more detail. Her gift to me was a beaded bracelet she had made herself but the unusual design feature was the stitch markers. Along the bracelet are lobster claw fasteners with beaded stitch markers attached. So if you are out with your knitting and need a stitch marker you have one on you. Or if you never know where to keep your stitch markers now there is no problem. And they are so pretty the knitting uninitiated will just see a bracelet. Clair has also made some necklace/pendants with detachable stitch markers.

So go on order some for gifts and don’t forget to get one for yourself too.

Friends

I really wanted a catchy title for this post so that it would turn up in search engines and the whole world would know what wonderful friends I have and generate some traffic for their blogs or ESTY stores. Instead there is the non-imaginative title but the sentiments of this post will be the same even if it was titled Harry.

I informed the spousal unit that I would be out every Thursday until we move so I could spend time with my knitting friends who I have said are a bunch of fun people brought together by a mutual enjoyment of fibreness. The first Starbucks gathering occurred on 25 September 2008. (I know because I blogged about it.) So that is nearly 4 years of knitting togetherness of people who met on the web. And despite the concerns of one daughter, we have not attacked, maimed or murdered anyone with our pointy sticks. People are still joining our group (yes we are that fun), babies have been born and people have moved away. And now it is my turn - to move, not have a baby. I really hope I find a similar group when I finally move into my new house.

But this past Thursday was amazing. They gave me a basket filled with goodies that were so special for me to remember each of them by. I was totally surprised, grateful and honoured. (In other words gobsmacked.)

As we, mostly, meet in Starbucks I shouldn't have been surprised to receive a couple of mugs, a Calgary one from Lacey who came out on Thursday even though she is very pregnant and an Edmonton one from Sharon who actually popped in for a visit last week, so it was great to see her before I moved. From Shannon the awesome crocheter I received some notecards but not just any old notecards, these were her photos of Alberta.

Becca made some stitch markers and although she is American, one of the markers is Canadian and they are so wonderful my husband knew immediately what they were. My pinky bff (I've started to use that expression because it makes me laugh) Clair made me a bracelet with a difference which I won't reveal here in case she decides to sell them. I'm still waiting for the present from her husband as my leaving will increase their disposable income. Clair is easily overcome by yarn fumes and it is not difficult to encourage her to spend money in a yarn store followed by coffee.

And now a plug for Cara's Esty shop Chasing Fire Ceramics. She made me some maple leaf buttons. Short of them being dipped maple syrup, how much more Canadian you can get? So support a new vendor and buy. And Susan knitted me a dishcloth. I am not going to use the dishcloth. One day Susan will be famous and I can sell the dishcloth for loads of money.

And then there was yarn. The ever talented Vanessa gave me some lovely soft baby alpaca. Vanessa joined our group when she worked in Starbucks and now has her own Esty shop - Mochanut. The other Claire gave me Wollmeise sock yarn. Claire is a Wollmeise fiend. She has nearly 3000 items in her queue and over 6000 items favorited on Ravelry, as well as having two small children she finds time to knit big shawls. Mary, another lace knitting and fibre buyer extraordinaire gave me some Juliespins. This is another dyer the group raves about but I have never used and this yarn has sparkles.

And there's more! I also received some handspun. Heather spun 70% dog and 30% merino. But not just any dog, her big, soppy malemute! And Myrna gave me some of FatCatKnits handspun and wrote that she would think of me every time she used her air conditioning. I wonder why?

I wanted the ethernet world to know what wonderful friends I have and that they will be missed. My husband's comment was all these goodies would need a moving box of their own.

No Longer Mysterious May

I managed to keep up with the clues each week and have a finished sock.

The third clue was the heel turn, picking up stitches at the side of the heel and the gusset decreases and the last clue was the continuation of the foot and the toe.

A picture of the gusset and a picture of the completed sock.

and the second sock has been started so maybe a completed project in June.

Snow

I have mentioned my knitting friends who I met through Ravelry and that we get together in Starbucks or other coffee houses to knit, chat, laugh and pass on tried and tested parenting tips. OK that last one is a gross exaggeration but we do have fun and laugh a lot.

Well it just so happens that there are three of us in this motley crew who moved to Calgary from Denver. None of us are originally from Denver or Calgary, one is American, one is Canadian and one is British but the three of us all knit socks.

So the point - you want more to this post than sock knitters move from Denver to Calgary? I was reading the blog of one of these people and she had written Ten Things She Wished She Liked and number three on that list is snow. Which is hilarious because it snows in Calgary and Denver, although Denver does a much better job of snow removal.

I also think it is funny as snow would probably be on my list too. Not that I really hate snow, I just hate dealing with snow. Wearing the right clothes and shoes, the correct tires for the car etc.

So living in Denver and Calgary does not make one a snow lover.

Mysterious May

The last time I participated in a mystery sock with the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry was September last year. Mysteries are published every odd number month and I had worked every one since March 2010 apart from July 2010. I must have got a bit fed up with the designs as I didn't feel like working on the unknown anymore. Until this month. I love her designs and have knitted one pair by her which can be seen here and I have another design of hers on the needles. So I had to knit her mystery design.

Here is a (not very good) photo of the sock after the first clue.

And here is a photo of the sock after the second clue.

The yarn is Bugga! by The Sanguine Gryphon purchased at the end of 2010. The colorway is Tomato Frog and I really can't get the true colour to show well in photos as it is bright but not too bright.

The pattern is not hard so I have kept up with the clues so far so maybe there will be a completed sock by the end of May.

I Voted!

I have lived overseas for a number of years which means it has been a long time since I cast my ballot. As the process to become a Canadian citizen took such a long time, I was not eligible to vote in last year's Federal election which made today's Alberta Provincial election my first chance to vote.

Although I was not on the voter's list, I was able to register today despite the people in charge sending me back and forth to different locations in the polling station. At last I was given my two ballots for marking with a cross. (The election was for your local MLA and potential Senators.)

No hanging chads or problems with electronic voting here. There were tables at one end of the room, with cardboard screens for privacy - one breath and they'd have fallen over - and pencils for making your mark. Marking a cross with a short yellow pencil did not have the same satisfaction as marking a big fat X with a chinagraph pencil attached to the polling booth by string. Just to see them hanging there waiting for you made your decision seem so much more important than 2 short yellow pencils thrown at the back of a desk.

But at least the Election Officer had her knitting.

February and March

Half-way through April and now just talking about the previous two months?

February and March were slow on the knitting front but busy in other ways including a trip to Southern California with hubby. This was a business trip for him and an orientation trip for both of us as we will be moving there. Which is rather surreal going from Calgary to Southern California. But someone has to do it.

So although things were slow on the knitting front, I completed two projects in February and two in March. The items in February were both for Western Canadian Oddball Blanket Society. One was a preemie sized blanket started in December which I crocheted and the other was the standard 6-inch knitted strip.

March's completed projects were also small - a dishcloth and a pair of mittens both started this year but at least I completed something.

On the needles as at 1 April:- two long term projects from last year, a sweater started in January, and the second sock of the pair started in January. So not too bad as long as I finish them; although now I should have more time for knitting. Anybody want to buy a house?

January

There have been other things going on in my life so that I have not had much time for knitting. In fact, although I cast on a sock on 1 January I have only just completed it so I am way off target for a pair a month. But I did knit a dishcloth using left overs as well as finish one I started last year. Also as far as old projects go, I finished a pair of gloves I started last year. I now have just two projects left over from last year, both long term projects and two projects started in January.

This is the dishcloth I started last year. It took a while for me to finish as I was trying to decide on colours. I started with the blue and brown and soon realized that I would not have enough of the brown to complete the cloth so I let it sit for a while. Rather than unpick what I had worked, on the basis that I would still have to mix the brown with other colours if I wanted to use it up, I decided to continue with two other contrast colours.

This is the dishcloth I started (and finished) in January. It is a great pattern for using leftovers. I found it on this website the writer has many dishcloth patterns, many of which seem suitable for using different colours and using up ends.

Finally, here are the gloves. The yarn is Berroco Sox Metallic. Although I liked the colour (obviously as I purchased the yarn) I wasn’t sure it was right for socks and chose a glove pattern by Julia Mueller. The original pattern has a much longer cuff but that is not really practical with my winter coats as any mittens or gloves need to go inside the sleeves.

Some yarn buying did occur in January as there was a yarn purchasing amnesty and I was given a ball of dishcloth cotton. So I really need to find some knitting time.

New Year, New Resolutions?

Same old, same old, really. Knit from the stash. Although as I knitted far more pairs of socks than I acquired sock yarn in 2011, the sock stash is going down, it just doesn't feel like it. The South Calgary Knitting Group is repeating the knit from the stash challenge so it will be fun to see how we each fare. Although as we have a yarn buying amnesty from 25 December to 9 January, few of us should be losing points for buying yarn in the first quarter. And I was one of those who purchased (non-sock) yarn in preparation.

I still have dishcloth cotton left although most of it is leftovers and will be a quick way to earn points in the challenge when I am falling behind. Hmm I wonder if I could end the year with no dishcloth cotton?

And what about the six unfinished projects I mentioned in the last post, you ask? Well, I finished one this morning, another lives in the car, another is a lace project where I need to find a better mix of yarn and needles, two I started in December. So that really only leaves one project that I should hurry and finish.

Another Year Over And What Have I Done

As the year draws to an end, Ravelry says I have 77 projects for 2011. Of these 3 have been unpicked, one should be, 6 are still in progress and 5 were started in 2010.

Of the finished projects; there were 9 squares and 6 sections for WCOBBS, 16 pairs of socks, 16 dishcloths, 5 hats, 7 scarves or other neckwear, 2 pairs of mittens, 1 other item of clothing, 2 baby blankets and a 6-inch strip for gift blanket. 7 items were gifts, plus 1 for hubby.

I am surprised by how much I have knitted especially socks. It seemed that a pair of socks was taking more than 1 month to knit but that can't be the case if I have made more pairs than there are months in the year.

So how did I fare for using my stash? All the yarn I purchased in Denver in 2010 has been used apart from one skein of sock yarn which I have saved specifically for the January challenge. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the yarn bought on the yarn crawl - 3 skeins left, yarn bought on sale last year (don't ask), yarn purchased this year (really?) plus yarn in my stash older than 2010.

I read 98 books this year, across the board except horror and little science fiction and fantasy. A recurring theme for new books especially for Young Adults was USA in the future with government controlling every aspect of your life. Each book was good in its own right but repetitive after a few.

On the personal front, boy child (although he is no longer a child) came back from Denver, and we both became Canadian Citizens as previously posted; the beautiful white cat is still on supplements although her last vet visit was in March; the beautiful black cat is losing weight and looking good now that I make their food. And thanks to my wonderful husband, who makes this all possible, for another year.

December's Finishers

I know that December is not over but it is unlikely I will complete another project before month's end. Well I did better than November and completed 5 items this month. 2 dishcloths, 1 pair of socks, a strip for a blanket and a complete blanket.

The blanket strip was shown in yesterday's post. Here are the two dishcloths. I found the pattern for the first one on Ravelry and used a new ball of yarn. I have had the pattern for the second one since November 2008 and it was what led me to the mystery dishcloth group. This cloth I made for our knitters group gift exchange but as I do love the illusions I will probably knit it again.




One of the challenges for November in the Ravelry group was designs by Jeannie Cartmel. Her pattern, Magic Mirror was the second pattern I queued in Ravelry way back in 2008 so it was about time to make them. The yarn is Ranco by Araucania and purchased in Denver last year. The pattern is worked from the toe up with a short row heel. The instructions were for wrap and turn but I worked a shadow stitch heel which is becoming my new favourite for short rows.



When I went to Texas last year, I decided I wanted something to work on on the plane. I also decided crochet was the best option as it involves less movement and I could take a plastic crochet hook. Less likely to raise questions. I also decided to work on my own blanket for WCOBBS. I started a simple pattern that had been made before for the society so I knew how many chains to start with and how big to make it. The pattern can be found on this blog. Note the crochet instructions use English terms. I didn't work on it when I came back from Texas and then it became my take to the vet project. After I finished all the squares I worked on it most days. I really am pleased with it plus the President of WCOBBS was taking blankets to the hospital just before Christmas so it went along too.

Blankets For Charity

As well as the squares for WCOBBS I worked a 6 inch section on 8 blankets this year.

The idea behind this group is to knit or crochet a blanket with six 6-inch sections and a border. Unless the blanket has a theme, each knitter chooses their own yarn, colour and pattern. As the blankets are given to the NICU at a local hospital the yarn has to be acrylic as each blanket is sterilized before entering the unit.

Squares for Charity

Last year I knitted three squares for the WCOBBS as one of the executive members put forward a suggestion to make squares that she would make into blankets.

She put out a call for more squares as although she had received a load she wanted to put them in groups that went together rather than a random collection. I ended up making nine. All crocheted with yarn from my stash. It was a good opportunity to try patterns from a couple of books I own. 99 Granny Squares to Crochet and 101 Crochet Squares
by Jean Leinhauser

Cats and Christmas

The cats have changed tactics this year. They know that tinsel and beads are out of reach on the tree but there's still other places to attack.



Yummy red tinsel.

November's Finishers

I'm almost embarrassed to detail what I completed in November. 4 items were finished, 2 of those were dishcloths and another was 6 inches of garter stitch for a charity blanket. If only I could say that the last item was a complicated shawl using thousands of metres but it was the obligatory pair of socks. If I don't get a move on December will not be any better.

Here are the two dishcloths. The first one I used an unused ball of cotton from my stash. I thought I should start all the dishcloth yarn I had before using up the leftovers. I found the pattern courtesy of Ravelry. The other one does use left overs. The green was initially used for the green one in this post and used in the cloth shown in this post. The white was left over from a dishcloth I made for a colleague. I found the pattern when I was looking at the 2010 patterns in the Yahoo group and decided it would work with left overs.



The socks were started towards the end of October and were the designer for October in the SKA group. So I did actually complete two pairs of socks for the October challenge. The designer is Very Busy Monkey on Ravelry and she designed these socks. When I saw this design I knew I just had to make them and hoped the pattern would work with variegated yarn.

This is more yarn that I bought in Denver last year. It is by Abstract Fiber who are based in Portland, Ore. I like the feel of the yarn and best of all the colours do not run. And I am very happy with my finished socks.

October's Other Socks

I promised these socks a post all of their own.



One of SKA's challenges for October was texture. I paired Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn with a Knitty.com pattern - rpm. A pattern that I had printed in March 2007. As Noro yarn is quite different from most other yarns, I wanted to use all the yarn so I converted the pattern to toe up. Once I'd made that decision I wanted to try something different with the toes and heels and not just work standard toes and heels.

I had recently borrowed from the library The Sock Knitter's Workshop by Ewa Jostes and Stephanie van der Linden. (Stephanie is the designer of these, these, these and these.

This book has instructions on many different ways to work toes, heels and other parts of a sock. The one that caught my eye was called Horizontal Toe Band. Basically you make a provisional cast on and knit a small strip of garter stitch, pick up a stitch in every other row down the side of the strip, pick up the cast on edge and then pick up stitches in the rows on the other side. You then increase inside the garter stitches until the toe is the right size and then continue in pattern.

As I wanted to use every centimetre of the yarn I worked these socks two-at-a-time toe-up. Rather than split the ball into two, I worked one sock from the outside of the ball and the other from the inside of the ball of yarn. I was rather surprised at the colours that came out of the centre of the ball but that is another feature of Noro yarns - many different colours in one ball.

To maintain the stripe pattern, I opted for an afterthought heel. I didn't work the standard afterthought heel which is worked the same as toe shaping as I didn't want the ridges either side of the heel. A search of the internet produced a star-type afterthought heel. Having completed it as written (mostly) next time I would work the decreases every 3rd row instead of every other row. The change I made was to the finishing row of the heel. The instructions said to gather the stitches but this thicker yarn would have produced a small hole at the heel, so I kitchenered instead.

When I was running short of yarn, I cut it where the colour change matched the start of the toes and started from that end to work each heel in the colours of the other socks heel. The yarn was still attached to the top of the sock so when I finished the heel, I continued in rib to finish the sock thus using all the yarn.

Waiting Patiently

October

As it is nearing the end of November, it is about time I showed evidence of items completed in October.

I completed 5 things and this post will have photos of 3 of them. Photos of one will be in a separate post and I didn't take any photos of another. It was a test knit of a hat and as I was testing the pattern for accuracy and not gauge or size the hat does not fit an adult. I'm not really sure if it would fit a child either so it is sitting quietly waiting for me to make a decision.

The other 4 items were 2 pairs of socks, a neck warmer and a dishcloth.

One pair of socks which will have their own post were for the SKA October challenge of texture. The other pair were the September mystery which I started on 2 September and did not finish until 24 October. The challenge for September was yarn in the colour Chartreuse. I did not have any yarn that colour but wanted to knit the mystery so used yarn in my stash that was purchased in Denver last year. The yarn is Panda Silk, a 52% bamboo, 43% merino, 5% combed silk blend. This was not the ideal yarn for this pattern as neither the yarn nor the pattern have much give. In fact I could not even get one sock on when it was finished. After I had wet blocked them on sock blockers I was just able to get both socks on over smooth tights for the second photo. I then wet blocked them again but I am too scared to try them on.

I worked these two-at-a-time on one circular needle, although the heels were worked separately. The advantage of this method is that you don't have to take any notes. The disadvantage is that progress seems slow.




Another pattern started in September, finished in October, using yarn purchased in Denver, was a neck warmer. When I was in Denver I wanted to buy local yarns. As well as some locally dyed yarn I purchased some yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch. 50% Yak and 50% Como in a natural colour. I should have learned from the alpaca I bought at Stampede - it is hard to make natural colours look good when worked on their own. I tried two different scarf patterns one from a book and one I made up but in each case the yarn looked grey and dull.

On Ravelry I found a pattern for a lacy scarflette which I thought I would see how it worked with the yarn. The combination of lace and stocking stitch made the yarn look creamy and not dull. I had to buy buttons as I did not have enough of one colour in my stash and opted for colour rather than metal. The neck warmer can be worn with the buttons at the front or the side. You could even have the buttons at the back but I don't know why you would want to go to that trouble.




I added an extra set of pattern rows to use up all the yarn. The pattern was free on a blog. It was not hard but full of mistakes so you had to be able to read your knitting to make sure you were working the correct stitches.

Finally in October I made a dishcloth. Although I have not been knitting the dishcloths from the Yahoo group I have been looking at the patterns for each month. I liked the patterns in October and as I have many small amounts of cotton decided to knit one of the patterns in two different colours. This particular pattern was worked from corner to corner so I worked in one colour until all the increases were complete and then worked in the second colour for all the decreases. When it came off the needles it was a definite diamond shape so I soaked it and shaped it into a square for photos. I won't be worrying about its shape when I use it.




I started November with one sock that I cast on towards the end of October plus all the long term projects.

September in Photos

In this post I said that I had finished six items in September. Today I am posting photos of three of them. I can't post photos of the others as two are gifts so photos will have to wait until after Christmas and one of the items is a sleeveless top that I knitted for myself and someone needs to take photos of me wearing it; which isn't likely to happen any time soon and not because I don't wear it!

So for your viewing pleasure, photos of finished objects. Firstly socks. These were the mystery sock pattern for July which I cast on 1 July. The yarn was shown in this post. The yellow yarn had obvious colour changes and I thought the pair would look nicer if they matched so I found the same starting point in the colour sequence. I'm glad I did as I came across a knot in the yarn. Next time I do this I am going to start the yarn at the beginning of a colour run so that it is easier to find the same place in the yarn for the second sock.



The pattern is stranded colourwork. For the first sock I held one colour in each hand but for the second sock I decided to hold both yarns in my right hand which is the hand I usually hold yarn in. I was worried that I was stranding too tightly and must have overcompensated as the second sock was bigger. I didn't check properly until I had completed the heel and this is what happened.



I had to unpick to almost the cuff and start the pattern again. Another lesson learned. The designer is Stephanie van der Linden and this is the fourth of her designs that I have made.

Although I don't have photos of the top, I have a photo of the hat made from the leftover yarn. It is another Brooklyn Tweed pattern and a quick knit.



At the beginning of the year I was repaid in yarn instead of cash. The yarn was Merisoft Hand Painted Aran by Punta yarns in the same colour as these socks I made in August. As it had taken time to find a suitable pattern for the sock yarn, I decided to use the same rib pattern for a scarf. I worked 10 rows of moss stitch at each end as well as two stitches at each edge. As you can see this was just as hard to photograph as the socks.



I started two new projects in September. The September mystery socks and a neck warmer and I still have the slow projects.