A bit of blue

After swatching a bit of lace (I love the look of giant lace, but perhaps not for this project) and a cable or two (tension issues, tweedy issues) I decided that what this yarn wants to be is plain.

Round and round, knit knit knit knit. I added a few purls in one round to stop the thing curling up too much!

The yarn is rather greyer than it appears here and the turquoise bits are more subtle. It's quite somber!

And at this stage -- ooh, I have 2 inches, or is it three, and I've used, maybe, half a ball, or a third -- I start the calculations. I'm not worried about running out of yarn, but I get to wondering if I could perhaps have sleeves, and then this would be a whole different ballgame, wouldn't it?

I thought I'd also note that I started the second mitt. It's a bit fiddly, especially the rather unusual ribbed thumb gusset, so I am doing this when I can pay attention, which is not right now, because going round and round on 8 mm needles is so much more fun!

But, it's started, at any rate.

I'm going away this weekend, and have two 2-hour train rides, so I'm being good and packing Arthur's second sock. I hope I'll have some thrilling stripes to show you on Monday!

January list

It seems it's time for a list.

What shall I knit next, and in the next 12 months?

Poor Arthur has but one Jaywalker sock.


The first one was interesting, but I have no real interest in making a second. Alas, I guess I'd better do it anyways.

The big ol' Lopi masterpiece has to be totally done soon. And it will be! It needs front fastenings (zipper or buttons?) and pockets dealt with and ends sewn in. No problemo, right?

I'm on the third hexagon of the Basalt tank. When I finish this one, I will move the 4 mm circular needle to the blanket border...

... because I've got all the squares knitted, mostly sewn together. I actually keep changing my mind about this border. I could pick up a huge number of stitches on each side and knit a border outwards; I could knit a sideways border and sew it on, or knit it on; I could crochet a border. Well, keep reading, coz sooner or later I'll decide. Maybe I won't need that circ after all.

I once told you I was going to frog the grey lacy glove, but I couldn't bring myself to do it!


I ripped out the wee bit of finger I had done and made a mitten. Number Two to follow.

I have a couple of baby blankets on the go for a charity knitting project. Hmm, must set up date to do that with the gang some weekend soon.

Right now I am toying with that blue Yorkshire Tweed Chunky. It'll be for me, and it'll be sleeveless, and it might have a cable up the front or it might not. Since I think this might just get preferential treatment, you should hear more about this soon.

And also this year, I mean to make a shawl or two, some birthday socks for a few people, and the Felted Tweed stash will be used for, I think, a cardigan. Oh, and I want to knit up that sock yarn stash, lickety-split.

Many of these things should be crossed off the list pretty soon. I must remember that the shotgun approach doesn't get things done very fast, and steady work on one project is really the way to go! Must... remember... that!

One more Christmassy post

I meant to blog this before now. I saw it out in the Beaches at a little antiques store, and hemmed and hawed about it, and then went back a couple of weeks later, being careful to take my friend who always buys more than me, just to make me feel better. (She did indeed buy more than me, yet again!) I gave it to Stephen for Christmas, but maybe it was really for me...


It's an eye chart, but all backwards and with big letters at the bottom! Why? Any ancient optometrists in the audience? A nice conversation piece for the front room, non?

More cooking excellence

For some reason, knitters like to share their other domestic triumphs on their blogs. This season we've had recipes, and cookies and buns and other miracles of the culinary arts. My turn, now. (Scary picture of dirty oven to follow!)

On Christmas I thought I would bake onions, following this recipe I found in my heap of recipes. But then, around 4:30 pm, I read the thing carefully and realised that I can't cook a chicken at 350 F and onions for an hour and 40 minutes at 400 F! So, heck, we'll have the onions another day.

Yesterday, I put them in the pyrex dish, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled artfully with salt and pepper, put the whole thing in a hot oven. Then, a while later came the time to add the broth. I was a tad nervous, and added it slowly, and it bubbled, and I put it back in the oven, and... it exploded.

I hope to bring you these delicious-sounding onions another day, in another pan, with perhaps another whole way of doing things. Sigh.

Big red machines and little cars

It was a kind of low-key affair here for Christmas. Relatives are far away and it was just the four of us and the tree.

My super gift was a vacuum cleaner! How romantic, I hear you say... But it was great! Our old one was bought in 1991 in Santa Barbara, California, and now its cord is fraying and it is no good on the stairs. The new one's box was so big, I had to decipher a coded message and go out to the back shed to find it!

Now, a new Lego set is one thing, but a vacuum cleaner is really much more thrilling! Arthur started on the stairs and before I knew it, he and Stephen had got everything up off the playroom floor, put stuff away, and even vacuumed shelves! Hoo-la! I presume I will get to play with it when they are all back at school.

The kids got a lot of Daddy's old stuff this year! Dinky toys! This is a Studebaker Golden Hawk, for your information. Stephen started Googling these things to see what they were worth, and really, with some old Dinkies, my Felted Tweed stash and some of our old records, we could.... not retire, perhaps, but we could buy ourselves a nice dinner out! We'll hang on to them for now!


Slushy mush is falling out of the sky.

I am warm and dry and sewing together some squares.

This is about half of it. Four-sevenths, as a matter of fact. Amazing how well it matches the chair, eh?

Still pondering the border situation. I think I have to free my 4 mm circ from another project, pick up stitches along the sides and knit a border on, edge by edge.

Will this be the first FO of 2008?

Stay tuned...

Happy holidays!

Not much time for blogging these days... I'll give you a picture of our little tree, and hope you are all well and not too stressed. See you after Christmas!

Everything old is new again

Those of you who've been following things since Knitting on the Cam was really on the Cam will recognise these!

Squares for a blanket! Nice little 6-inch squares of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino, for the most part.

Originally I wanted to make a blanket to fit a single bed, but now I am older and wiser and think a smaller square lap-blanket is just the thing. (Also, I can finish it with only a few more squares and a border; I don't have that much yarn left!)

Perhaps it was the square frenzy at Mason-Dixon Knitting that led me back to this project. You might know Emma and her son Oliver. Oliver needs a new car seat, which will be very expensive, and Michaela decided to make a blanket to raffle off to raise funds for it. So then, Kay offered to collect squares on this side of the pond and make another blanket! (You can see a picture of the Kaffe Fassett blanket that got her going here.)

And then.... I said, where's that bag of squares of mine? Just in case I don't win the big one, you know?
And, it snowed a lot yesterday!

Hit the road, Jack

See that list on the side, of Projects Completed? Hats, socks, scarves, hats and more hats. See many sweaters there? No, me neither! Not till today!


Ta da! My somewhat simplified version of a Rowan pattern called Jack. It's done in Mission Falls cotton, perhaps 12 balls? 13? Who knows... It went immediately into Arthur's drawer, but I'll force him to wear it for a modeled shot sometime soon.

Next up... uh, not sure! I wanted to make my charity baby blanket, but needed a certain set of needles, which were tied up in another attempt at a charity baby blanket, so I have spent some of this evening knitting with vintage Red Heart acrylic (it's so old, it was originally $3, but some lucky sod got it on sale for $2!) in a colourway called Grapevine, purples and greens. Arthur declares it to be "weird" so you know it's really weird! I suppose a bad flash picture on the couch is just about what this yarn deserves:


I'm putting some holes in for fun, but they are sort of obscured by the gigantic pools of colour. I only have the one ball, 4 ounces. So I shall knit till I run out and then see what happens. I have that grey that is along the bottom which is a bit denser, but I can fill in with it in a pinch. It might seem easier to yank the needles out of this and work on the nicer one, but there's a kind of odd pleasure working with these funny colours. I make no promises about this!

Wow, lace grows!

I finished the red scarf, and I mean finished, this time! Those ends are dangling no more.

This is it blocking. When I stopped knitting, I held it up to Elaine and it was just about as tall as she is. But, a quick soak and stretch (and it's not really stretched, just flattened) and it's a foot longer at least!

It's the centre pattern of a scarf from Victorian Lace Today, and a sawtooth edging from Jan Eaton's afghan squares book. I didn't do the edging on the long sides because a) time is of the essence, here, and b) it's wide enough as it is. The edges will curl in a bit, but since it'll be scrunched into a jacket anyways, I'm not fussed. It's perhaps a tad fancy schmancy for a 7-year-old, but with such excellent workmanship, it'll last her for ever! Heh.

Red Scarf on Chair

Here it is, with today's outfit of Pajamas for Miserable Girl. (A bit of a cold, a day or two off school....)

She wants a matching hat, with ear flaps. I'll get right on that, once I've (ahem) sewn Arthur's pullover together!

This pattern was just about right: not boring, but simple enough to do while watching a swimming lesson.

I am also eying (that looks wrong, but my spell checker likes it better than "eyeing.") other fine yarns, wanting more and more lovely lace! Kiri keeps calling me... Do people actually use shawls, though?

Plans for 2008!

I have learned a few things this year.

1. I have enough stash for the speed at which I knit!
2. I still like buying pretty things, get great ideas, don't manage to put them into action very often!
3. Really, a pair of socks a month is a lot of sock knitting for me.
4. I hope Project Spectrum is more of an inspiration for me, if it runs next year.
5. That Basalt Tank must be done by summer.
6. Elaine's scarf should be finished before Christmas.
7. I tend not to sew things together if I can help it.
8. If I wait till I have finished something before starting something new, that's very boring.
9. Two strands of Lett Lopi on 6 mm needles makes my arms hurt.
10. There really should be a tenth thing here.
    

New Knitty -- it must be winter

Oh, yay, a new Knitty is up.

I like the Jeanie shawl: reversible, cabled, lacy!

And the kilt hose! All I need now is a kilt...

And the Toasty topper!
But too bad I think my kids' heads are too big these days. Great idea, though.

Well, I like to look, even if I don't actually make any of these things!

And I have three very long leaves and no flower bud on my amaryllis.

Knitters in Paris and elsewhere

I have actual knitting of my own to report on sometime soon, but right now, I'll just direct all you funsters to Paris, where Knitta has made a statement. Loooove it!

And by now, many of you will have already seen the Barack-Obama-holds-the-knitting shots....

In our house, Elaine wants a new hat and the big sweater is making us sneeze.

This just makes me happy

You know, I've been a bit busy with You Tube lately. There are several reasons for this... none of which is very reasonable! But, I've been enjoying Morecambe and Wise immensely. (If you have limited time, I'd suggest the Grieg Piano Concerto, or perhaps Positive Thinking. No, the Breakfast Sketch is a must-see, and you don't want to miss the Secret to Long Life! Ooooh.... )

So, then, one becomes curious about the performers; one looks at other web pages; finally one finds the marvellous Eric Morecambe statue at the seaside in Morecambe! (One just links, rather than stealing the picture... ) Lots of famous people get statues, perhaps, but wouldn't it be lovely to be remembered for the excellence of one's skipping!?

And, I just can't blog without a picture, so I'll show you what I dug out of the closet this morning!

The red lace

Half-way done.

Monday report

The amaryllis is getting taller!

How many of these leaves do we get before the main action starts? There is a little green something in between these two leaves, but I wonder if it is just another leaf?

Only time will tell.

On the weekend I went out to the other side of Toronto, to the Beaches. KT wanted to find some certain bakery (so famous for its cinnamon buns that they'd sold out hours before we got there) and there are two yarn shops, and a shop that sells British candy and crisps.

We spent a bit of time at the Purple Purl, a new shop and soon-to-be cafe, and another brief moment in the Naked Sheep. I won't be making either of these my new favourite yarn shop, because they're not nearby, and they are small. There are three good small LYSs around here, and the mother of them all, Romni, so there is no need for me to travel for yarn! I like to look at books at small shops, but for yarn choice, I love the enormous Romni. However, the Purple Purl must be recommended because they have a big Mr Potato Head and a table and chairs. The boys were occupied for a reasonable length of time!

And of course, we went to the beach! There was a camera phone in attendance, but I don't know if/how/when the pictures will ever get off the phone... The boys climbed the lifeguard chairs on the mostly deserted and certainly snow-free beach, taking with them their "sticks," which were about 10 feet long! We left an art installation, Two Sticks and a Rock, on our final chair.

Meanwhile, Elaine went to our neighbourhood park and climbed a tree and read a book.

Yeah!

Am-I-Dumb.com - Intelligence Test

I saw this on Thomas's blog. Poor fellow is working very hard; lucky he's so smart, too!

Friday treats of all sorts

I thought I would take a picture of the amaryllis once a week, but I must rethink that since it is growing fast. Quite the spectator sport! Frequent updates to follow!


There's also been a bit of knitting. The red lace is sooooo nice. It's soft and pretty and easy to knit, and Elaine has been complaining that she needs a longer scarf, so though it will add yet more colour to her outdoor ensemble (hot pink snow pants, lilac coat, green hat) I think she'll get it. (That's not a cable down the middle, but the leaves make a nice wavy pattern. They'll block out flat if I yank on it.)


I redid the neck on Arthur's pullover, and I think it's an improvement. ("Before" picture here.) One sleeve more or less attached. We're getting there.

I might just have a report on a new knitting store after the weekend! KT and I are thinking of venturing out to the Purple Purl, and perhaps the snow-covered beach! (Plans subject to change since there are two 10-year-old boys involved.)

Knocking out some knitting

The other day, a friend -- let's call her Annie -- came over so I could get her started on a scarf she wanted to knit. My "helping" involved sitting on the other side of the room and knitting this grey baby-blanket-to-be for charity myself, while she murmured and muttered and remembered how to cast on and knit! She had a good couple of inches on a 12-inch-wide scarf by the time she left.

And now, she's hooked! Ha!

Then I got this e-mail from her:

I thought the problem with knitting is that I would never find the time to do it, and it would take me 2 years to finish a simple scarf. You could have warned me that the problem would be in the other direction - getting no housework done, putting off doing the groceries, etc., all in the name of getting 'just a couple more rows done'... Gasp - I'm addicted!!! You, you knitting pusher, you!

Bwa ha ha, I say. I saw her last night again, and she certainly has been neglecting her family. She's got maybe 8 inches done!

Perhaps she saw the latest Chatelaine magazine. I was reading it in a doctor's waiting room yesterday and found a charming piece about how one should take up knitting... This was tying in with the coming gift-giving season, and it said, "Knitting is a relaxing way to tackle your gift list." And, "The days are getting shorter, the nights are cold, and your relatives are calling to arrange their holiday visits. With knitting you'll stay busy, stay indoors, and even knock out a couple of gifts."

Oh, my, who the heck wrote that!? Making gifts can be relaxing if you start in June, and if you know what you are doing! Encouraging people in November to start "knocking out a couple of gifts" trivializes the huge amount of work people put in to their handknit gifts -- okay, last year's dishcloths were sort of simple -- but many knitters work like the dickens to make people socks or shawls or lovely things, and don't just knock them out! Grrrrr.

And by the way, if you are a friend or relation, I'm not knocking out any handmade Christmas knits this year. So there. Unless I get a good idea in the next few days....

My latest good knitting idea is to frog the grey gloves. The cuff is too short, the fingers are too fiddly, the thumb is too odd. I shall persevere in finding a better pattern, I hope! I might rip this out past the thumb gusset, make a longer cuff and turn it into a mitten. But not right now...

And if you think taking pictures of socks on one's own feet is challenging, try a photo of a glove on your right hand! Do they make left-handed cameras at all? Very awkward!

A new amaryllis season

Remember the amaryllis cams of last year? My baby ended up looking like this.

And then it sat around looking like a waste of space for many months, until I started seeing them for sale again in the shops, and decided to water mine.

And look!

A sprout! (I heartily apologize for the terrible fuzzy picture. The flash ones were worse, believe me.)

We're all watching with bated breath now!

Four million and what?

I just saw this yesterday for the first time, but since it's been viewed 4,108,874 times (and that's just this version), maybe you've seen it already! I can't wait for Monday when I can gallop into the kids' rooms and holler, "Get up now, get up now, get up out of bed!"