Off to England

My flight is at 8pm tonight, I haven't finished packing and I'm a quandry as to whether I can take knitting needles on my flight. The TSA on the American side says I can, but unfortunately I have a domestic connecting flight in the UK where I can't for the life of me figure out if I can take my dpns, even the plastic ones. Argh! It might just be better to pack it all in the checked baggage and take a good book with me instead. Life is unfair.

What's also unfair is that I ran out of time to get to a yarn store to stock up on every conceivable dpn size around 4mm so that I could spend my Christmas break knitting the arms and yoke for my latest project. Since the debacle with the Alice sleeves (where even after three attempts I couldn't get gauge with the correct size dpns), I'm a bit paranoid about doing sleeves in the round. Unfortunately they can't be dodged for the refined raglan pattern from Interweave Winter '06 so I wanted to have every size on hand in order to somehow fudge my way into gauge. I think I'll have to leave this project behind, so sad...

I will, however be taking the fishtail lace socks back with me (they're second transatlantic flight since I started them way back in August when I was last in the UK), and goddamit, I will finish them. Since I've actually been wearing the other socks I made our of Regia yarn, I've been dying to get these things off the needle and onto my feet. I love this yarn!!

I'm a loser, baby.

So lame.

The end of year activities have swallowed my knitting life. I have a rotation project to wrap up and present to the lab on Monday. I have Holiday parties to go to. I have masses of lab work still to do. My head may well explode.

No knitting. No Odessa for the handmade gift swap. I tried and failed several times to initiate a new handmade gift, but these futile attempts were usually begun at midnight and ripped out by quarter past. I am terrible.

But, I am/was prolific at one point. Remember these guys? Oh and this! I still have it somewhere..... Heh, they'll do! Now if I can only remember where I stashed them....

Evil-Eyed Odessa

The Sit N' Knit New York Christmas Party is fast approaching, and as part of the festivities we're having a handmade gift swap. The rules are that we have to make something handmade (duh!) and that it has to cost us nothing. As luck would have it, I had a couple of balls of left over Knit Picks Merino style from Alice in the Storm colourway that I thought would make a lovely Odessa Hat.

I'm watching you watching me.....

Unfortunately I think my gauge was a little bit bigger than called for and even on my enormous noggin that hat is a little bit big. Oh dear, looks like I accidentaly made myself a hat (did I mention that it's a bit brass monkeys around here?) and have the oh so tedious task of knitting this neat pattern again for the party.

*sigh*

How will I cope?

It's all gone a bit wrong...

I started knitting the Marseilles pullover. I swatched, oh yes I did, but once I figured in all those cables my gauge went to hell in a handcart. Plus I forgot to start garter stitch inside the big diamond and I'm convinced this yarn is too fuzzy for cables. I think there will be some frogging before too long.

So I thought I might just swatch up the purple yarn for the supernova pullover. Awesome, drop the needles size down to 4.5mm instead of 5mm and Bob's your uncle! Until of course you try knitting those circular motifs and all sense of fairness in the world disappears. Why are my circles 5 1/2" inches in diameter and not 4 1/2"? Why mommy, why? I think the designer has measuring problems because this isn't the first pattern I've heard of with motif-sizing issues. I'll try dropping down to a 4mm needle before I take drastic measures and start skipping rows. ETA: While blogger was crapping around with pictures, I tired on the 4mms, still over 5" in diameter. Norah, you're smokin' crack m'dear.

And finally, I've contracted some kind of vile stomach bug which has left me dying in a pool of you don't want to know what. My insides are all twisted in a bunch and I can barely stand let alone walk about. I'm on my third day of pain and poop. If it carries on much longer I'll be going to the doctors, that is if I can stay away from the bathroom long enough to walk the 8 blocks there. Ugh. Anyway, when I e-mailed one of my classmates to tell him I was still sick, this was the response I got :

yea get better please please please. if you need anything at all, dont hesitate to call yo. should you not make it, a monument will be erected at the street gate... like the colossus of rhodes but the Misplaced of Pom. the materials have not been finalized yet, but the committee is leaning towards that yarn stuff. we'll use photos from the halloween party as models, when you were most yarn-like. you will be immortal-- or as long as yarn will weather the elements. feel better.

Great. My monument is going to be made out of acyrlic.

Here's something that did go right this weekend, my finally finished Red Scarf project Scarf. Can you believe I knitted an entire sweater inbetween starting and finishing this? OH well, it's completed and it's neat. CABLES!!!

Smiley's :)

Last year I completely forgot about the Smiley's Yarn Manhattan Yarn Sale. But then again, last year I might have been wooed by nasty acrylicy crap so it's probably better that my more refined fibre self decided to wait a whole year before venturing forth.

On the left we have Filatura Lanarota Chaco, 10 balls, 200 yards each, 100% Virgin wool in a lovely heathered merlot colour. On the right is the same yarn, only this time 90% wool, 10% polyester in a tweedy purple with flecks of primary colours. This lovely yarn is destined to become either the Marseilles Pullover by Kathy Zimmerman, or the Supernova Pullover by Norah Gaughan. On top is a cute cotton blend, 85% cotton 15% acrylic (I can tollerate this little bit of plastic in my cottons, I feel like it'll make them wear better), that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with, but I have enough (1600yds) to make a sweater or cardigan with yardage to spare.

I budgeted a $100 and I spent $93. Yowtch! But hey, that's enough nice yarn to make three sweaters! A bargain!

Red Scarf Project: A Modern Day Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a young knitter was duped by a lovely looking pillow case in Vogue Knitting into buying some fuzzy Lion Suede yarn. The young knitter tried knitting it on her old, inherited needles only to find that the yarn squeaked like a little mouse. The yarn got thrown in a corner where it languished for well over a year.

Then one day, a handsome, young charity project rode into town. "Give me your red yarn!", he cried and the fair maiden was unable to resist. So out came the long discarded squeaky stuff, the knitting needles left to gather dust in favour of a pink metallic size 5.5mm crochet hook. The land was soon covered with be-scarfed (premature) Christmas trees. The charity project and the now not-so novice knitter lived happily ever after.

THE END.

Oh Alice!

She's finished!! I'm so proud of myself.

Who's a pretty girl then?

Fun with the self-timer....

Yes, I'm standing on my sofa, what of it?

Pattern: Alice from magknits.com

Needles: Knit Picks Options circulars size 4mm used throughout because the 3.75mm needles wont screw into the cable. Aaargh!!!

Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style, 8 balls Storm and 2-3 balls Frost. This is more than the pattern called for but I added over two inches to the body length.

Modifications: Ribbed edges on body and sleeves replaced the original garter stitch. Two inches were added to the length by knitting ten more rows before waist shaping and by increasing the spacing of the shaping by an additional row. I changed the colourwork on the sleeves to be the negative of those on the body because I thought it looked better than having a block of the turquiose colour after the dark ribbing. Plus the turquiose was a little brighter than I had aticipated so I wanted to tone the sweater down slightly. And finally, I knit the sleeves flat (adding a stitch either side for seaming) because I couldn't get gauge using DPNs. Phew, that was involved!!

Knitting Alice: a lesson in perseverance

I love it.

I've had to make a few changes to the pattern as written over at magknits.com, adding the essential 2 plus some inches to the length to account for my overly high waist (such a chore, I know), replacing the garter stitch hem with ribbing and doing the colour work on the sleeve in negative. Also after three failed attempts at knitting the sleeves in the round on some 4mm DPNs without successfully getting gauge once (need I remind you of the 8 hours required for the initial colour stranding on the body?!), I decided to knit them flat and seam. Seaming is good. I know it needs a little blocking TLC, plus the rest of that second sleeve, oh and a collar too, and it may end up being a little bigger than envisioned, but I LOVE IT!!!

Hiatus Schmiatus

My sister is currently over here visiting from the UK. This means no knitting time, severe withdrawal symptoms and compulsive stalking of knitting blogs/yarn store sites/interweave knits previews. I don't think I've ever stalked a store quite as much as I did Elann.com this week, especially since I knew this would be going on sale at 50%!!!! at 12pm eastern yesterday.

Oh dear, it would appear that 15 balls in the black raspberry colourway are on their merry way so that I can indulge myself when the new Interweave knits comes sliding through my door. Have you seen the previews? Oh my... A cardigan for arwen will soon be mine, oh yes, she will be mine.

Of course, I will be continuing with Alice before casting on for Arwen. Monogamy is a wonderful thing, but I can't say I'm not just a little bit tempted to start this cadigan as soon as humanly possible. I see joyous Christmas-time kntting in the future :)

Resurrecting Alice (Happy Birthday to ME!)

So little girl, what would you like for your birthday?
Firstly, I'd like the library not to be over-run with school kids so that I could get on with reading my paper about prions for class this afternoon. And secondly, what I really, really want is a pretty sweater of perfection...

OK, so you don't really ask Santa for Birthday presents (unless you're the baby Jesus), and maybe the little kids aren't that obtrusive (I mean I'm blogging here, not reading my paper), but the sweater I can handle myself (with the caveat that it isn't finished in time for my birthday, which is today.)

But just look at it!!! I'm so proud of myself that in all my (now) 26 years that I have learnt to make something as cool as this. We shan't mention that it took me three hours to do 8 rows of colourwork (I'm a newbie), or that I have a sneaking suspicion I may be allergic to merino, this sweater is freakin' awesome! The tension of my stranding is great, they lay in flat lines on the back, and just, yay! OK back to prions and dreams of Birthday cake....

Lights! Camera! Knit-tion!

The Sit n' Knit New York knitting group will be making it's National television debut on Good Morning America this November 15th. And I will (hopefully) be making my debut with them! Our group was selected for a segment on "how the internet works to bring people together", in our case to talk fiber and stitches and how dog sweaters shouldn't touch the dog's thing. I'm hoping the dog penis part will be edited out. It probably will, 'tis Good Morning America an' all.

Anyways, the filming part although fun, wasn't the highlight of this weekend's meetup, the people who attended definitely were. I had so much fun the ladies talking knitting and socks and dog bits... I'm so happy I decided to go along to the Knit in Public event in August because otherwise I wouldn't have these great people to sit and ruminate with on a regular basis. See, the internet works!

In knitting news, a little blue cotton baby sweater fell of my needles and onto it's intended recipient so fast that I didn't have a chance to take a picture. And I finally cast on for my second mermaid sock (remember them? I barely do.)

Oh and did I mention that Halloween kind of happened early this year? Um hmm, and what else could I be except the world's largest sock monkey?

Sock Monkey drinking red wine in her natural habitat, the campus bar.

In which my face gets mysteriously replaced by a camera

Pattern: Ballet Camisole from Magknits (36"bust), tweaked just a little.
Needles: Knit Picks Options size 7 (ribbing) and 8 (stockinette).
Yarn: 3+-ish balls of Patons Katrina colour 10305, Lilac
Modifications: There were plenty, not because I didn't like the original shape of the camisole, but more because my yarn choice dictated it. This yarn is very stretchy, splitty and dense. Hence I converted the camisole into a sweater vest using all the basic shaping and sizing but omitting the gathered neckline and shaped straps. Alternatively I added five (neck) or four (arms) rows of twisted ribbing to finish the edges. This time the twisting was intentional, for some reason regular ribbing seems to flare horribly in this yarn and since I wanted a nice, tight edge the twisting was necessary.
Gripes: This is probably all of my own doing (not the best yarn substitution ever), but there is a bit of pooching where I stepped up a needle size from the ribbing to the body of the sweater. Now if I had bigger hips, or say, gave this to someone with slightly larger hips, I think the flaring would be hidden in the stretch of the fabric.

Dilemma: This sweater more or less fits me, and lets face it, it goes awesomely with my pyjammas. The problem? As I described below I was intending to give this to my mother for Christmas. It's a huge step up in technique and finishing from the handknit I gave her last year, the yarn choice is better, the pattern is more appropriate, it's just so much more advanced. It's amazing what a year of pursuing a "frivolous hobby" can do for both your skills and your confidence. But now I don't know what to do. I feel like my effort in producing something that is as perfect as I can get a handknit, something that is wearable and durable has been prematurely thrown back in my face. But then, maybe she'll be so wowed by the sweater she'll rethink her opinion.

The more I interact with my classmates and other scientists, the postdocs and the technicians, the more I'm beginning to understand the strong link between scientific endeavour and creativity. So many of these people play musical instruments, knit, sew, paint... the list goes on and on. I know personally that I need this creative outlet to stay sane, to keep my hands busy. There is so much satisfaction in producing something from a bunch of raw materials that is a thing of beauty, of purpose. It just so happens that for the past year and a half my creative outlet has been knitting, before than it was sock monkeys and way before that the fabric based artwork I produced by the boatload for my extra-curricular art classes in high school. I think I've always had this need to create and I always will. It'd be nice to have some positive affirmation from my mother.

Hell, she'll probably get the sweater anyway. Maybe I should take a leaf out of her book and give what I want to, to hell with the recipients wants or feelings. I just have to steel myself against the disappointment and disapproval.

Supportless, like a saggy bra

I was just talking with my mother, always a slightly precarious task, when the subject of my impending birthday came up. I mentioned that I needed to update my amazon wishlist and blah blah blah, and if she really coudn't think of a gift, I'd always appreciate a gift certificate to a yarn store.

She did not like this idea.

"I think you're going a bit overboard on this knitting lark."

She then went on to espouse the virtues of "getting my nails done" or "buying myself a bunch of flowers". It's clear this woman does not have a clue who I am. I did explain to her that I'd prefer to have a gift that I'd use and enjoy, rather than have her waste money on one that I'd throw in a corner and ignore, but again she wasn't buying it. I think my mom just likes giving the gifts that she wants to give rather than those I would like to receive. Maybe I should totally blow her mind and ask for a pig, or some chickens. I know I'd end up with something highly useful instead. like a denim jellaba or a fluffy bright pink heart pillow. I think I preferred it when all I ever got were pyjammas...

And to think, I was going to give the lilac ballet shirt to her for Christmas. Ha!

Ballet-Schmallet

So here it is, the great "I'm so over it" item of 2006....

Isn't it mahvelous, dahling!

Actually, after blocking I'm beginning to fall back in like with this top. OK so it's not cotton like the pattern suggests, it's Paton's Katrina which is a gazillion percent plastic, (but yet very stretchy and soft) that somehow has the density of lead. I swear there's only three or four hundred grams of yarn there but this thing weighs a metric ton. And a half. I'm also not doing the cute little gather at the neckline due to saidstodgy properties of the yarn. Instead I'm making a ribbed boatneck edging, which incidentally I hate and will be ripping out in the near future. Sigh, I'm not having much luck with the knitting god's these past couple of weeks :(

Matchy Matchy

There has been knitting, oh so much knitting in the past week. My icky, feel like Ker-Rap headcold has meant much Quality Time in front of the TV this weekend. I made this (not out of the correct yarn, not completely finished and I'm so completely over it that I can't even be bothered to post a picture), and these (out of left over Patons yarn from this) which I am very pleased with.

I wore both the wrist warmers and the sweater to the latest Sit n' Knit New York event today (Mission: wear as many handknits as possible). Want to see? How tiny does my waist look in that picture? Trick photography, I swear..... Oh and if anyone can tell me where I'm supposed to store my cable needle other than my mouth while knitting, um, cables, please tell me, because right now I look like I have an oral fixation.

I'l post pictures when I don't feel quite so much like I'm dying....

Twisted Sister

This is no more. It sucks.
Who knew the way I knit would cause twisted stitches in the round? Oh well, a little heartache now will save a lot later on...

Enough is E-freakin-nough

SO ANNOYED.

I tried casting on for a sweater last night using my knit picks Options set only to find that the 3.75mm needles wont screw into the cable. Am I alone in thinking that when you fork out $60 for a knitting needle set it should a) work and b) not fall apart when you take it out of the bag? Maybe I'm the unlucky one who got the joke set, but seriously, I'm beyond pissed. And the replacement needles are on back order. Even if the broken stuff is being replaced for free it just isn't good enough. Knit Picks, PICK UP YOUR QUALITY CONTROL.

And don't get me started on Yves Rocher who have been unable to process my order for a MONTH, have been unable to contact me at all during this process, not followed my wishes and just been so completely INCOMPETENT that I may never use their broken-ass website again. GAH!

Rant so not over....

Much Better

Both the red scarf in this incarnation, and the promise of two new cables in the mail :)

They arrived....

... and they disappointed :( Both the 24" cables from my new knitpicks options set are broken. I'll be calling them up tomorrow to ask for replacements to be sent asap. Fortunately I can use the larger ones for my next planned projects (Alice and the Ballet Camisole, both from Magknits) but still, I'm just more than a little bit bummed.

But I have started knitting again. On Sunday I went to a Sit 'n' Knit event for Project Sunshine and made an adorable but frighteningly small preemie hat. There I found out about the next charity knitting event, the Red Scarf Project. I'm fast turning a bad crochet experiment into cabley red goodness, I'll do pictures when I get out of my Knit-Picks induced funk :(

Problems

I've been suffering :( Not only did I have two impacted wisdom teeth dug out of my head a week ago, I have since developed dry socket leaving me with a gaping hole in the back of my mouth, my molar root exposed to the outside world, unable to eat or drink properly and in pretty much constant pain.

But worse than all that, I've found myself in the position where I have yarn and I have projects galore in mind, but I am sorely lacking in circular needles and as such AM NOT KNITTING ANYTHING!!!

So I bought these.

Almost as good as vicodin, but not quite.

The Hamptons, baby, the Hamptons

Ahh the life of a Grad Student. For the past three days I've been here, the Montauk Yacht Club for those of you disinclined to follow the link. It was so beautiful, with a private beach, marina and two outdoor pools. Bliss. There was of course some paltry mention of science during the three days of retreat, but mostly the time was to be spent bonding (via alcohol and frisbee) with our new peers, which of course I participated in with much vigour (the alcohol part anyways).
The beach trip also coincided with the completion of my (modified) hourglass sweater (Interweave Knits Spring 06), and allowed for some sundrenched, Hampton's inspired photography. I even wore the sweater in public, a first, which worried the heck out of my friends because they thought in my drunken stupor that I might forget it somewhere, like say the pool when we went for a 4am swim. But lo, I am a knitter. I might forget my name after 6 glasses of red and two large vodkas, but I'll always collect my handknits before the stagger home.

My modifications included:

• Removing all the integral design features
• Being scared of grafting
• Loving the folded hem

I made the front to match the back all in one piece, omitting the twisty-peephole because, if my sock knitting has taught me anything, it's that kitchener stitch is the spawn of the devil. When I started the sweater I had high hopes of having mastered grafting by the time the twisties were required, but three fudged pairs of socks put the kibosh on that. I also altered the sleeves by introducing a 4 stitch cable with a five row repeat, and a teeny three stitch folded hem to match the body of the sweater instead of the 360 twist in the pattern. Once again I wish I'd made it an inch longer, but it does fall at a much more acceptable length than most of my handguns attempts and so will actually go into the pile of sweaters to be worn, rather than the sweaters to be hidden in the back of the wardrobe until such time I can bear to throw them away.

Hurrah, victory is mine!

Mermaid Feet

My second attempt at designing my own sock has reached astronomical proportions! My little purple voodoo doll jelly baby could hardly believe my progress by Sunday, and by last night I'd finished up my third attempt at a toe and had created a fully functioning sock. (Whose yarn is Regia 4-Fach Haltbar and whose colour is more accurate in the first picture.)
Can you see the little fish tails? I've learned a whole heap making this sock, like, I'm not good enough to be designing a sock that doesn't require a whole bunch of fudging in the math department. And, I should really read and follow the toe instructions from Nancy Bush instead of trying to wing it, because she actually knows what she's talking about and I do not. But anyways, it works and I think my notes are comprehensive enough to knit the second one. Hurrah!

Yesterday

In the past few days I've moved house and dropped more cash in the process than I'd like to admit. I've thrown a brand new pair of AK shoes in the trash because I thought the box was empty. I've had sore muscles and moments of crushing self-doubt as I inch ever closer to starting this Grad School adventure. It's been stressful. I'm not sure how I'm going to fit in both physically and emotionally with my new housemates so I've been fighting the urge to hide in my room all day. I've relied more heavily on my established friends and they've pulled through amazingly without me even having to ask.
Yesterday my room developed it's own environment as the howling gale and pouring rain came streaming in through the airconditioner. Yesterday my friend gave birth to a baby. A large part of my belief that I will never have children stems from my belief that I will never find anyone who will want to have children with me. I thought I had once but I was very, very wrong. And now this baby is here sooner than anticipated and without the usual fanfare and excitement that a new, precious life brings. This baby is priceless and I am sure he will be loved immeasurably by his new parents, but my heart is broken for the one's who have chosen not to watch him grow. I want to sob for my friend, to wash away the pain but this is not my burden to bear as much as it was not my decision to make. She has been so strong and selfless throughout and I hope I can be the same for her if she wants me to be.

Moving to Mad-hattan

Who knew the excess yarn in my stash, the skeins that don't fit into the bursting underbed storage box, they have a purpose in this life aside from looking pretty. Packing materials. Afraid your pyrex is going to knock together and smash in transit? An extra skein of Paton's wool will sort that out! Want to pack the inside of a vase? Well what did you think you bought all that sock yarn for exactly?!

I'm going crazy.

I keep thinking this move will be easy, but then I think back over all the things I've accumulated in the past year (yarn, sewing machine, desk, chair etc etc) I have no idea how I'm going to get it all packed by Monday! And I've finally decided to say goodbye to my lovely futon, the one that's provided a great backdrop for photographic highlights (snort) such as the socks below. I'm going to miss it, which is entirely a silly idea, but that futon has been with me through a lot. It's seen a lot of action (ahem) for want of a better expression. But my futon, ever faithful to the last, is granting me one last favour. It's going to pay for the removal man.

Things will probably be a bit quiet around here while I pack, move and acclimatise to being an Island dweller. Oh and there's that whole starting Grad School thing.... Who am I kidding? I'm bound to procrastiknit my way through it all!

Goldilocks and the three socks

I have returned! I'm back here in NYC, the plane didn't explode and all is well with the world. Well, maybe not quite everything since I did come home to discover a fine layer of sand covering my bedspread prompting the realisation that someone had slept in my room while I was away, evoking memories of a time I discovered that someone else had slept in my bed (with my boyfriend) while I was away in England. But anyway, that's enough of that.

Look what I did while sitting on my bum doing nothing on vacation! Yes I know I've already shown the two blue pairs, but this is my trio! All finished off, cast on or conceived in Manchester. The purple heather socks are the Hedera pattern from the Knitty archives. So cute! We shan't talk about the yarn because it is cheap and nasty and quite possibly 80% acrylic, but what can a girl do when she wants to support her one and only LYS and it only sells granny yarn?? The socks on the other hand are quite lovely. See?

The only alterations I did were to add five rows of plain stockinette before decreasing at the toe, and doing more decreases than called for because I'm chicken shit and scared of the kitchener stitch. I may well be tempted to knit these again with a little more quality because they just flew off the needles in all of about two days! Yes, I was just slightly bored at home and also was the person who had to sit and wait for the roofer/linoleum fitter/washing machine delivery guy after a string of disasters in my parents' house.

And finally, just to show you that I'm completely daft and shouldn't be allowed, this is my rather disastrous attempt at designing my own lace socks.

If only I'd just learnt from the first time that 64 stitches is just not enough to pass over my ginormously huge heel. I'd got all big for my boots, picked out a simple lace pattern from my newly acquired thrift store knitting books and went to town. Unfortunately this fishtail lace will soon be headed for the frog pond. Ha, fish.... ponds.... I'm so gosh darn funny after no sleep and a transatlantic flight... Next time I'll cast on with 68 stitches a resign myself to my cankles.

Slightly fuzzy model

My poor dog. Not only do I disappear for months on end breaking his poor little doggy heart, but when I eventually return, I force him into slave labour. He has no interest what so ever in handknit socks and hates being in front of the camera. Mention the word biscuit, though, and Connor is all yours.

Here he is looking plaintive and unimpressed by my Gentleman's Fancy Socks, wishing that I'd never come home and that I'd just leave him the hell alone. Ha, no such luck, he's far too cute for that. These were knit in Regia 4 fadig on 2mm needles, and have traveled to three countries, one capital city and two continents. Not bad.

Here Connor is wondering what he did to deserve this torture.

Here is where I mentioned biscuits.

By the end of the photshoot, I think he was beginning to enjoy himself (such an attention whore, my little puppy). Then I took out the vacuum cleaner and he went bonkers. Oh well. In the picture above he's modeling the madder ribbed socks from Knitting Vintage Socks, made from Lana Grossa Mega Boots Stretch purchased in Ottawa and knitted up in record speed in both New York and Manchester, UK. My socks are nothing if not international. I like the toe on these socks, no need for the befuddling kitchener, just spiral your way down to four stitches and way-hey! Pull the tread through and your done. Much easier :) Of course these socks are fraternal, I couldn't get them to match without throwing a bunch of yarn away before casting on for the second, although now I've finished I do have a whole bunch left that I'm not sure what to do with. Little booties for the Connor-boy perhaps? Oh and there was a knot in the yarn. Boo, hiss, gah. Apart from that though, the yarn itself is really nice and for someone like me with, ahem, slightly larger calves/cankles, the stretch can only be a good thing.

Slow slow, quick quick, slow

Finally! The Child's French Socks are done, finito, on the feet and ready to go (except for the slight inconvenience of the 100F heat). I love these socks, the colour is beautiful and the pattern is so pretty. However, I'm hoping that someone will take pity on me in the near future and teach me the correct way to kitchener because these babies are just plain ugly. I should have just kept on decreasing until I could decrease no more.

purplesock2
Originally uploaded by misplacedpom.

Ah well, there'd be no point carrying on with this knitting lark if you didn't see an improvement each time you cast off. To whit I cast on the fastest socks in the west. This puppy was started only this morning and look how big it got! Dude, that's never happened before...

sockbot
Originally uploaded by misplacedpom.

Fabrique au Canada!

Here are my completed socks posing in the Ottawa Jail Hostel. Yes, jail. I spent my nights in Canada's capital sleeping in a prison cell, how cool is that? However, it came as quite a shock to my fellow travelers that I was knitting! In a hostel! But the knitting needles proved to be a conduit to several interesting conversations and a couple of brief but pleasant friendships so all the funny looks were worth it.

I didn't get a chance to find any yarn stores in Montreal as they were all too far away from the Hostel and I was busy climbing mountains and other things completely foreign to my nature. I did manage to check out two stores in Ottawa and was slightly disappointed by the selection available. I was expecting luscious Canadian yarns at nice prices but all I found was the standard array of names at not so nice prices (damn exchange rate, grrr). However I did have a nice chat with a lady at one of the stores so it was all well in the end. And yes, those completed socks up there are resting on two new balls of sock yarn, because if there's anything I need right now, it's totally more sock yarn. Hahahaha!

Decisions, decisions....

I can quite honestly say I've never had this problem before. I started knitting again in about March of 2005 when a friend was having a baby, however, it had never occurred to me until now that I should take my knitting with me on vacation. Deciding what to bring to Canada, and then to England after that is proving very taxing indeed.

First up we have the Looking Glass Sweater from Interweave Knits Summer 06, of which I have only completed the back. I'm thinking this one will be coming with me to England since it's big and bulky (the yarn is recycled and wound into enormous balls), see:

Since my camera is refusing to take true-colour photographs if this thing, here's a close up. The yarn is actually made up of about three different shades of blue, one strand of green, and one each of black and grey. For some reason grey seems to be coming out dominant in photos, whereas in real life, this thing looks predominantly royal blue.

And then there are the faithful and much ignored Child's French Socks which I started about a gazillion years ago. The problem with this project is that it's nearly complete! There's only about 15 more rounds until the toe and then what will I do with my hands? Arrgh! Of course, the Gentleman's Fancy Socks have also been stalled for the best part of two weeks so they could be my saving grace. I think these are headed to Ottawa with me tomorrow.

And then there's the magnificently wonderful, highly addictive in it's absolute lusciousness, silk. Ahhhh, the silk! It's so beautiful I decided to try my hand with lace work so that the yarn can be shown at it's best, hence Branching Out from Knitty. It's nigh on impossible to put this yarn down, it feels so wonderful streaming through the needles. Heaven. I think I might just secrete this on my person and never let it go.

So what to take? Socks or silk? Silk or socks?

Both, you say?! I like the way you think ;)

Yarn Feast

How could I resist this e-mail?

Suss Design Relocation Sale
What: Beautiful handmade knitwear plus gorgeous alpaca, cotton, wool,
cashmere, and novelty yarns are 50-70 percent off.
Why: You'd be a knit-wit to miss it.
When: Thurs. & Fri., 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
Where: 281 Lafayette St., b/t Houston & Prince Sts. (212-226-1848).

What was I supposed to do when faced with an entire yarn store on sale, huh? How was I supposed to stick to any kind of yarn diet/pre-holiday savings plan? Just look my little nest of pretties!

I was mightily restrained if I do say so myself. The light blue yarn is 100% cotton and very similar in construction to Mission Falls. The best bit? FIVE SKEINS for $11! That should be plenty of yardage to allow me to jump on the Grumperina band wagon and finally make myself a Picovoli.

And the sage green. Ooooh, the green is my new pet. I was walking down the oh-so-fashionable streets of SoHo fondling this stuff like a teenager copping they're first feel of boobies. I'm in love. Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, will you marry me? Three skeins for $21, I should have bought the entire stock then just laid down and rolled in it.

Now where was I? Ah yes, they were also selling all their notions and books at discounted rates so I picked up three pairs of lovely, silky-smooth wooden needles to replace my squeaky plasticy ones. OK, so they wont replace them exactly, they'll just keep them company in my nasty red plastic needle case.

The sale carries on today, but due to ME LEAVING WORK AND NEVER COMING BACK AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I wont be able to go back tonight which is probably a good thing (see comment about inappropriate silk behaviour above). But at least I told y'all about the sale so you can go pick over the yarn-carcass yourselves if you're in the neighbourhood :)

As for me, I'm going to get drunk. There will be much consumption of alcohol because for the next five or six years I never, ever have to say again, damn it, I have to go to work tomorrow. The trade off is I'll probably spend the next five or six years sequestered inside my laboratory, never seeing daylight until someone kicks me out with a diploma in my hand telling me to bugger the hell off. I bet I'll still be petting that silk when they do.

Unnecessarily Pink

Why do my sock monkeys always have rickets?

I'm famous!

Yes, really! I am. Click, scroll, scroll and then, whoops THAT's ME in all my purple wonder. Man, I'd of brushed my hair or something if I'd know I'd end up in Knitty.

Today has been a good day, not that it started out that way (wet feet and annoying people), but then I decided to finalise my plans for summer and, oops, out plopped a two week vacation to Canada! One week will be spent in Ottawa and the other in Montreal. Anyone know anyone up there because, um, I don't. It'll be fun either way, eh? When I got home after the sockmonkey workshop, my refunded $400 security deposit from Verizon was waiting for me in the mail box so for all intents and purposes the Canada trip was free. I don't count money I spent a long time ago as real money when it's refunded. It's found money, free money, money that's already been spent and so can be spent again on fun things, like, well did I mention a trip to Canada?! I'm leaving in 11 days :)

Oh yes, craft content:
When I gave away the free/basement yarn to the lady on Freecycle, I told her I couldn't use the yarn because I was too tied up with my own projects. I'm sure she wasn't being rude or overly pious when she responded that she makes the time, but she did make me think a little. So while there was no way I could ever have used all the yarn I gave to her, when a second bag turned up I decided to at least make a dent in it before I offered it up for adoption. Five crochet squares, a star afghan and a log cabin throw later I'm still going strong. Well, I lie. Just a little lie, mind. It turns out the person who disposed of their acrylic saw fit to store their yarn and theirs cats in the same place. Unfortunately I only discovered this after my right eye swelled to twice it's size and I tore a few holes in my arms scratching at the welts. Me no likey cats (in the physiological sense). And so the crochet is on hold until I weed out all the hair-infested yarn. And yes, I will be washing all this stuff before I send it off, there's no way I'd inflict cat hair on anyone let alone a sick kid.

YAY! Go me!

We have a sweater! Wooot!!!!

I did not pee on my sweater.

Pattern: V-Neck Vest from Paton's Next Steps Two (ISBN 1-897272-21-9).
Needles: Aero 4mm and 4.5mm straights, Susan Bates 4.5mm 29" circular.
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino , 100% wool, 2.5 balls Evergreen Mix.
Gauge & Size: 20st and 26r 4" on 4.5mm needles, size small.
Comments: I've been marginally obsessed with the idea of knitting a sleeveless v-neck sweater for quite some time, and with this one I have satisfied that desire. The pattern is easy peasy lemon squeasy, just plain stockinette and ribbing with a few increases and decreases to keep track of, but since the booklet is for beginners your hand is held during the whole process. In an ideal world I would have added a scant inch to the length (when will I learn that no matter what the consensus of pattern writers, 20" from the shoulder just isn't long enough?) but since I'm planning on wearing this over shirts in the fall I don't think the length will be an issue.

Me likey :)