Progress However Slow

This is a sock that was started up at the cottage in the middle of the summer. To avoid losing these precious Addis when I finished the sock that was on the needles on the way up to the cottage, I quickly cast on another pair with some Lana Grossa Meilenweit in a marbley green colourway. They're just plain ribbing, and they've become my travel knitting - always in my bag ready to knit a round or two while waiting for one thing or another. It's still only half a sock, but I managed to turn the heel a new way to me, and it was fun and easy. I have no idea what it is called or how to describe it, so I will leave you in suspense, but once it's finished, I will model it, and perhaps you can see what I have done differently. At this pace, it could be some time from now. I am thinking that they will be a Christmas stocking gift for El. Her feet are easily a size larger than mine. Eek!
Here's a quick shot of the progress on the Woodland Shawl. I am nearly finished skein #2! I've gotten a bit cheeky and over-confident, and some errors were made, but there's no way that I would be able to fix them properly, so I stayed calm and carried on. Maybe me and a few knitters might spot the gaps in the pattern, but I can live with that. Trust me. I prefer imperfections in a lot of things when I think about it. I am very weary of 'perfect'. It's too slick and shiny. Or maybe this thinking is a defence mechanism, and I unconsciously know I am unable to achieve perfection. Nah, that's not it. I like scruffy, chipped, tousled, faded, and worn in my life. I truly do, but I like my coffee crisp.

N

Love's Labour's Lost

I have a friend, Emily, who knows how to knit, but lacks the passion for knitting - she is quite happy to knit a project or two each year. I think she knits just to amuse me. She can travel without yarn and sticks, she can wait in a line without yarn and sticks, and when she goes into one of the most famous yarn stores in the world, she only thinks to pick ME up a token of this visit. I LOVE this small project bag - it's absolutely perfect! But she tells me that even the lady behind the counter looked at her as if she was insane. She also took pictures of the yarn-y goodness for me. She is a very good friend.
Did you think I had forgotten about the Woodland Shawl??? Or perhaps it was YOU who forgot it by the wayside. Yis, I shall blame all of you out there! I'm on my second skein of Louet Gems fingering-weight wool. Must concentrate on finishing this project. I want to get on with knitting sweaters and socks and hats and mittens, but this shawl radiates guilt every time I catch a glimpse of it in my knitting basket - I even went so far to hide it behind the wicker chair in the darkest corner of my bedroom. No such luck.

Look! Tartar Charlie posed for me today. I didn't think I would ever get such a good shot of this frisky guy! Now I have something to remember him long after he is gone, but I am told that betta fish last a long time, and I take pretty good care of him if I do say so myself. He's a lifer.
Ooh, I baked blueberry muffins from scratch, and that in itself is blog-worthy. Look at these beauts! There's none left - they were gobbled up by many muffin monsters. I will never make blueberry muffins without a wee bit of grated lemon rind ever again. It's like magic!
And I forgot to tell you about our little antiquing roadtrip to Aberfoyle last weekend. I scooped up this birdy from a dollar table filled with junk. I love you, china, chipped, cheesy chick!

Happy Labour Day, everyone! I think we'll head up to the beach tomorrow, and I plan on meeting up with my local knitting peeps in the evening. I look forward to all of it!

N

Sunday's Agenda

Woodland Shawl - coming along nicely if I do say so myself. See the needles? What the heck was I thinking???
Listening and giggling softly to this while I knit in the living room. Seems odd to me that everyone is retreating to the basement.
Watering the tulips from J's dad - he plants them and gives them to the girls so they can watch them grow each year. I think it's sweet.
Plodding through this children's book. The projects are really pretty, but my crochet hook is so small - most of the patterns call for bulky wool which isn't conducive to a 3.25 mm crochet hook. Will continue to gaze adoringly at pictures instead.
Planning to curl up with this movie later this evening. When I say later, I mean like 6 -ish. I have been a wee bit in love with Dave Foley since Kids in the Hall. When I was in highschool, my bestest friend and I watched and recorded every single episode, and she could act out every single skit word for word. My contribution was to laugh hysterically, and encourage her to continue. Even now, over a decade later, I beg her to recite the monologues she remembers. I am told that The Wrong Guy is hilarious and not to be missed. Well how could it not be?

And as it is Sunday, I will be heading up to the Market this afternoon to chill with my knitting peeps in the balcony and sip on some fantastic tea! Only wish you could be here, T!

N

Good Will Hunting

No one around here wanted to do anything today, so I left them all to loaf, and I drove to my local Goodwill store to thrift away the afternoon. There's nothing like the thrill of a good find! It was packed! I lost out on a cart, so I looked in the bag section for something to carry all my goods. I lucked out and found a big Disney Princess knapsack which turned out to be gold because the zipper in B's knapsack had busted just before Christmas, and I can't begin to tell you hard it is to find a knapsack during the school year! I filled the knapsack with 9 balls of green Canadiana Chunky and 1 ball of blue Lopi - each ball was 79 cents each!! I browsed for 2 and a half hours. I nearly jumped for joy when I spotted a book with ZIMMERMAN on the spine, but it turned out to be an Adam, not our beloved Elizabeth. It's unbelievable the amount of handknit sweaters on the racks. There was the cutest little Baby Surprise Jacket, but it was knit in very bright acrylics, so I did not pick it up, but I stood there for a long time soaking in the clever construction. I tried on the most beautiful heathered green-y, cable-y turtleneck sweater, and it was FITTED, but I noticed a small ravelling spot, and I was too chicken to take it home and repair the darn hole. I have to confess -all the handknits lovingly stitched and cast off to the Goodwill made me a little sad.

I came home and unloaded my treasures; then I finished this quick, simple baby-sized boat-neck sweater. I knit the pieces over the span of two afternoons! Now to seam it. Do I block the pieces first? I want to do it right.


Pattern: Boat Neck Sweater from Debbie Bliss's Baby Knits for Beginners
Size: 3 to 6 months
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers 100% wool, Lavendar - just a tad over 1 skein
Started: February 7, 2008
Finished: February 10, 2008 (still need to seam - does it count?)
Made For: Heck, I don't know. It was an impulse knit. I was also avoiding my sock.


I am now 3 inches into my Woodland Shawl, and it occurred to me that it would be much more enjoyable if my needles weren't the same colour as my mother-flippin' wool. I can't see my stitches!! I then peeked into my jar of needles, and I was elated when I found 2 more sets of needles in the same size. However, upon closer inspection, the other 2 sets appeared a tad bigger. Weird. So I pulled out my needle thingee with all the holes and tested all 3 sets. It seems that the blue Susan Bates aluminum 4 mm needles are really 3.75 mm needles, and the other two are truly 4 mm. That sucks. I assumed that because the needles said 4 mm, they would be 4 mm. Arghh!!

And we survived a gaggle of 12-year olds on Friday night. I think everyone had a good time. I missed the opening of presents as I was out picking up loot for the loot bags - a prime example of how organized I really am. It looks like J had everything under control as shown below.

Happy Weekend, everybody!

N

Cast On!

Forget my long-winding queue! On your mark, get set, GO!

N