having disappeared

We have a bit of a strange arrangement, my husband and I. I could neglect housework if I had a blog post to show for it at the end of the day. But somehow, a week has gone by, and I still have a messy house and no blog post.

I have a swatch for a sweater, one almost finished mitten, five packages of tea, and the completed paperwork for the taxes. I’ve also been working at the garden centre, and figuring out my iPad the rest of the time.

I also have a funny story…so here’s the blog post.

Yesterday, I took Sonja to the YMCA for her fitness orientation. She wanted to be able to use the gym equipment at the “Y”, and an orientation is required if you are under the age of eighteen. So, while she was touring the gym and the equipment, I sat in the lobby and knit. On those mitts.

There I was, knitting along, five needles going, two colours of yarn (one carried in each hand), finished the Estonian braid and now following a straightforward but complicated chart for the colourwork. Busily concentrating, when a lady stops beside me to watch for a moment.

“Oh my,” she says, “I could never do that!”

She pauses for a moment, then finishes her thought, “It looks so boring!”

housekeeping

Warning:  slightly questionable photo coming up below.  I have discovered that it is impossible to take a good or even not gross picture of socks on my kid’s feet; largely due to  the fact that she hasn’t hardly taken them off since I’ve made them.  I do steal them during the night to put them in the washing machine, but it is also a matter of fact that as soon as socks hit the floor around here, they are covered (covered, I do mean totally) in dog hair.  So, in all their well-loved, dog-haired glory, I present “Child’s First Sock in Shell Pattern” from Knitting Vintage Socks. 

These were a challenge to knit.  I stayed up very late on a couple of evenings, trying to work out the math to remove a whole shell pattern, and still create a wearable heel.  (This book is wonderful for mods.)  I ended up creating a narrower gusset, and the toe decreases were manufactured while watching Fiddler on the Roof.  The shell pattern on the instep goes from 27 to 31 stitches and back again.  You wouldn’t think this matters, except that the pattern clearly states that row 10 should be completed before starting the toe.  Then it becomes very clear why…but she’s cool with the slightly pointier toe.

And not that I could wash them right now, even if I wanted too; my washer is full of water that won’t spin out or drain.  I’m mildly annoyed, but seeing as how I’ve been known to go days without doing laundry, and the machine was 14 years old…oh well.  It had a big load of socks and underwear in it right when it broke, and I was able to fill the drum to rinse the clothes, but had to wring them out by hand.  So, clean laundry will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.

More knitting and a happy accident with this yarn…back in November, I saw this skein in the shop, and loved it.  It’s the colour of a spring sunset, I swear; peaches and yellows and pinks and pale greens and rust and purpley-gray and cream.  I couldn’t justify $15 for the ball, because the rule is “No pattern, no purchase.”  I went home, procrastinated for a month, found a pattern, came back and…no yarn.  Sold out.  Small sob.  Fast forward to January, and we were just walking out of the yarn shop (with sock yarn, new needles and a pattern book) when my sister-in-law looks into the discount bin and says, “Isn’t this that yarn that you wanted?”  Hallelujah and half price!  And at this point, buy two!  (FYI: Infinitude Scarf on Ravelry, Araucania Liwen.)

And this finished result is the vintage McCall’s pattern that got conquered.  There is a lot of wonky knitting around the neckline, but it hasn’t fallen apart yet; and she loves it. 

In other domestic bliss, there has been the re-organizing of the kitchen cupboards, candle making, closet sifting and sorting, niecelet minding (which sounds so much better than babysitting) and recipe sorting. 

I discovered a few things, such as:  1) When making beeswax container candles, #3 or #5 wicks must be used, and it’s really hard to find wick clips in this city.  2)  My Grade 12 grad dress still fits.  3)  Sorting recipes by main item works much better when cooking using fresh, seasonal, garden produce.  All the zucchini recipes in one folder, all the tomato in another.  Cross-reference favourite recipes, and keep blank pages to make note when the recipe is in a cookbook.  4)  I really love my favourite recipes.  Sorting them makes me look forward to cooking more.  And it’s really great to cut all those pages out, and finally toss those “magazines that I can’t get rid of because they have all those great recipes in there!”  5)  My just-turned-three-years-old neice is a lot of fun, and I love being able to baby sit her.  I’m also glad that the two days a week is all my brother needed!

not a fail, exactly

Avert your eyes, my dear husband.  It’s a post about knitting.

What I really need right now is some answers.  Knitting answers, but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get any.  So here’s the sweater story.

 Mothed is a pattern on Ravelry.  I was looking for a simple, drapey pullover and decided to knit this one.  I thought I’d use a less expensive yarn to knit up a practice sweater to see if I’d like the fit.  Even though I had gauge, knit my size and tried it on a few times while knitting it; after weaving in the ends and washing it, it grew about 2 sizes.  It’s now large, quite large, and that’s exactly what it looks like…a really large sweater with a huge boat neck.  It’ll be fine (great, even) as a cozy sweater (over a t-shirt) for work.  But as a pre-knit to see if I would like the finished style/sizing/fit…all I can say is that all yarns are not created equal, and I have no idea how it will knit up with my expensive yarn.  No idea at all.

I’ve knit lots of other things that turned out how I had planned, though.  Socks and touques and cowls and even that sweater for Elena.  So…

There’s the thing about yarn, but there’s also that thing about pattern.  I’m currently battling a vintage sweater pattern that has a head-and-neck opening of 16 inches.  Just for reference, my head is approximately 22 inches.  The sweater will be OK, due to some rather un-fancy un-knitting on my part, but of course I’d much rather the sweater have been great.  I’m learning the hard way that, just like recipes, there are bad patterns out there. 

I admit to being frustrated at this point.  However, there is only one thing to do.  Knit.  Knit more.

i am a liar

No baking got done yesterday.  None.  No wrapping, either.  In fact, I have no idea what got done yesterday.  I have a vague recollection of doing some kit organizing, and some data entry for that sweet man of mine; and supper, I know I made supper.  (I did some knitting, too — I think I was rebelling!)  And I read more of our advent book “The Christmas Mystery” by Jostein Gaarder, because we are behind in our days, and need to catch up. 

And in the spirit of catching up, here are the latest and greatest knitting installments.  Completed in November.  I know.

It was a beautiful morning, and what could be better than teal wool socks and snow?  Shipping them off to Texas the next day! 

The toes and heels are knitted in a different yarn; purchased because I was so worried about having enough of the main.  It was fine, of course, with leftovers.  The pattern is Little Child’s Sock (Knitting Vintage Socks, Nancy Bush). 

Here is a touque that got plenty of modifications along the way, but managed to turn out alright.  Much too big for me, I sent it along to the silent auction at my mother-in-law’s UCW Christmas dinner.  My sister-in-law got it for a steal at $10. 

There is also a cosy sweater in the works, a pair of socks, and some Christmas tree ornaments on the needles.  I stayed up until 1:am a few weeks ago, trying to work out the mods for Child’s First Sock pattern.  (Same book, people; same book.)  The socks are for the smallest feet in our family, and although the pattern is written for a 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 foot, the accompanying ankle is only 6 1/2 inches around (compared to my beefy 8 1/2 inches).  Modifications make me extremely nervous.  Extremely.

However, unlike the socks, the wrapping and the gingerbread houses do have a deadline, so that’s where I’m headed now.  Really.

 

and the man it was meant for

The strangest part, after all the drama leading up to the creation of the touque, was when it was done.  He was impressed, I was impressed; but I was so disappointed that I was able to finish it so quickly! 

Does that make sense? 

I had had that project in mind for so long, that I was expecting it to be the perfect challenge.  It ended up being an easy two day project, mostly due to the fact that I had done the math and picked proper wool, had gauge and uh, yeah, I am a better knitter now. 

There are so many things I am interested in knitting, but now I’m worried that the next perfect challenge is going to be something along the lines of a Dale of Norway sweater….

corner view ~ the last thing I learnt

I learned how to carry one colour of yarn on my left hand and one colour on my right.  At the same time!

I astound me.

More Corner View Here.

the touque a.k.a. the odyssey

Oh, the harried life of a knitter! 

I’ve just started a project that’s been in the works for almost a year and a half now, a project that required excessive amounts of planning and care.  It’s a touque for my husband.

My husband was not an ardent supporter when I first started knitting; as a matter of fact, he asked me not to start because he was sure it would end in disaster.  But after many, many small, successful projects, he realized that I was pretty good at it, and he started to actively challenge me.  Make something really cool.  Something hard.  Something that scares you.  Something you’re sure you can’t do. 

Have any of you heard of Ravelry?  There was a touque on Ravelry, by the name of Inga.  Sweet.  And impossible.  But I tried anyway, justified by the fact that the yarn had been a Christmas present and was, therefore, free and not a waste of money if it ended up in a tangled mess in the garbage.  And success.  I love it, I wear it, I look forward to winter.  That sweet man of mine was also impressed.  Shocked, perhaps, but he liked it, a lot.  Now, he declared, now that I have shown sufficient talent and skill in the knitting department, now I must make him one, too.  (I know.)

Here comes the challenge.  First of all, the touque has to fit his head, so I have to find a pattern in a large enough size.  Second, the yarn has to be soft, not at all itchy, and wool.  (Isn’t that enough of a challenge right there?)  Third, it has to be interesting, with some manly colourwork.  Do you understand now why it has taken me over a year to get going on this thing?  The pattern has to match yarn has to match the gauge has to be perfect.   

No pressure, at all.

But I think I’ve got it.  Ravelry to the rescue, once again, but only after months of searching (and a few close calls with viruses when looking elsewhere on the ‘net.)  The Norwegian Star Earflap Hat with modifications, of course, but this designer is brilliant in the fact that she writes up the pattern with multiple gauge, and matches gauge with finished size, which means you can pick any yarn as long as you match your needle to end up with a size you think will fit!!!  Brilliant, I tell you.

Did I mention that it comes in a manly Norwegian Star colourwork pattern, too?  Being knit in black and off-white.  Ooooooooohh!  Ahhhhhh!!

(Pictures soon…)