Blast from the Past

This weekend at home has been great so far, even though the weather has been disgusting. I’ve had lots of knitting time, and we may have stopped at another yarn store on the way home… It’s official. I’m addicted.

But since I’ve been home, I took a little break from the knitting to look through some old photos. I found some great ones so I thought I would share.

Fall is beautiful every year, including in 2004

This is where I come from

Me & my old dog Oden in the bush on a walk

Winter is also pretty

That’s probably not w you guys were hoping or expecting to see today, but I’ll have a post up tomorrow about these crazy mittens I’m making… The lady in the yarn store was right to call me brave!

Adventuring 2.0

I thought I was going adventuring a few weeks ago… That day has nothing on today.

After my midterm (which went very well, thanks for asking. I know the dairy cow life cycle inside and out), I hopped on a downtown bus and crossed something off the 101 Things list that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I visited my local yarn store.

To say I was overwhelmed and delighted is an understatement. I have never seen so much high quality yarn in my life! Unfortunately, most of it cost more than my weekly grocery budget, but it was amazing.

I’ve never seen alpaca before, and I can’t believe what I was missing out on all these years! I wanted to go and buy all of it… The only problem I have with it (other than expense of course) is that it isn’t washable. What I would give for washable alpaca. Probably my first born child.

The lady working was wonderfully helpful and nice. She said that lots of young people come to their knit nights. My roommate crochets, so she said she would love to come with me sometime. I’m feeling a new ritual coming on…

I showed the lady the pattern I wanted to knit in order to feed my mitten obsession… She blanched and said “Wow, you’re brave”. That doesn’t sound too promising for my first go round with the stranded mitten patterns, but we’ll see how it goes.

Yes, that means I caved, and got mitten yarn. My hands have been cold all week, and it’s not cold enough yet to dig out my real mittens.

The yarn is Naturally Baby Haven, made in New Zealand. It’s 100% superwash merino. I’ve got colours #314 and #315. The pattern I’m planning on making is Chrysanthemum. That’s the plan anyway… We’ll see how long it takes me to get frustrated with all of the colourwork.

Yarn and pumpkins!

I also got some cute yarn ball stitch markers. I’m going to do a row of the sweater just so I can use them!

After my trip to the yarn store, I hopped on a bus and headed to the mall. I really needed a new travel mug, since mine was getting worn out. I picked one up from my favourite tea store – David’s Tea. They sell the greatest loose leaf teas, and that’s where my old travel mug came from. I invested in a sleek glass traveller… Great for someone who loves tea as much as I do! I also couldn’t resist buying their newest kind of tea, called “Stormy Night”, which includes vanilla, chocolate, coconut, and cinnamon. It sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try it!

My haul from David’s Tea!

It was quite the adventure. I’m going home tomorrow, and as usual, my biggest conundrum is what knitting to bring! Will it be the mittens, which require gauge and focus; the socks, which are great mindless knitting; or the big sweater, which hasn’t been getting any love lately?

Only time will tell. Either way, I’ll be going home with tea and yarn… Some of my favourite things.

These Socks Are Killing Me

I swear. This is the fourth time that I’ve ripped them out. This time, it was because I didn’t have the right size. Apparently, my father has extra-large, extra-wide feet… According to this pattern anyway.

I am beyond frustration, but these socks will be finished. They are coming with me this weekend, and I’ll finally get them going properly. No more ripping out, no more re-casting on.

I don’t know if I’ve ever done this much frogging on something so small and simple. I guess there’s a first time for everything! I’ll be glad when they are finished and I can start something else.

Now, back to packing. I thought I had everything in the two bags I brought, but it turns out that I forgot to throw in the knitting. I don’t know where I’m going to put it, but I’ll find a place. I’m sure of it.

I probably won’t be able to post until Tuesday, so until then, enjoy the weekend. For all of my Canadian readers, happy Thanksgiving!

Without Yarn

So the weekend adventure with my boyfriend is about to come to a close, and I have no knitting to show for it. Why, may you ask?

Because I committed the unthinkable, and I didn’t bring any knitting with me.

One of the first things out of my boyfriend’s mouth was, “Where’s your yarn?” I could barely believe my own stupidity. Somehow, I had rationalized it before leaving… It won’t fit. I won’t have time to work on it. I need some time away from knitting. I have homework to do and I don’t want that to distract me.

Somehow, that made sense at the time. I’m not sure how I’ve survived the past three days, but I have. I haven’t had any contact with yarn (except for watching a commercial for a yarn store on television). I know I won’t be making this mistake again any time soon. Watching movies without it just isn’t the same.

Now excuse me while I go and recover from the lack of yarn.

Adventuring

I’m not sure if I’m going to have time to blog in the next few days, because I’m going on an adventure! It’s not a huge adventure… But an adventure none the less. I’m heading to my boyfriend’s house by bus tomorrow afternoon. It’s only about a 40 minute ride, so it won’t be too bad. Last year the bus ride was 3 hours when I went to visit him (he moved cities).

Still, I can’t help feeling as if this is an adventure. I’m off to a different city, and I’ll be doing who knows what. I’m excited, but I don’t know how much I’ll be blogging. Or knitting for that matter. I haven’t decided if the sticks & string are coming with me yet. I guess it depends on how much room I’ve got in my bag.

Speaking of the sticks and string… There will be no photos today because I have no progress to show for myself. Last night wasn’t conducive to knitting; I kept getting distracted. I also had to rip out the Earl Grey socks and start over, since I noticed a mistake in the ribbing. Tonight I hope to finish the ribbing and move on to the main part of the leg. This involves cables, so we’ll see how I do. I haven’t done anything with cables except a pair of mittens once about 2 years ago.

Wish me luck… These socks may turn out to be an adventure in their own right.

The Beginning

I’m back from my weekend at home, which was relaxing and fun. I got to see the family, the dog, and of course, the horses. I was definitely a happy girl!

I also got a lot done on the Hat-Heel Socks (sock #2). I’m going to try to knit this sock in a week – something that’s on the 101 things list. I’m almost done the foot… Just the toe decreases, then its on to the leg part!

I’ve titled this post “The Beginning” because it’s the beginning of the next 5 days, when I will post only one photo per day on the blog. That means no more words, except the title. It will be up to you to guess what these photos mean… I’m sure I’ll have a lot to fill you in on when I’m back to using words.

For now though, I must go and do some physics. I may have done a lot of knitting this weekend, but you can’t knit and study at the same time (well, I can’t… I’m working on that).

 

Wellingtons

Today is a cold and rainy day, in which I have already done a number of things wrong. It was spitting when I left my house, so I didn’t think to put on my rubber boots (aka wellingtons, hence the title). Instead, I wore my moccasins, which are now thoroughly soaked through. I also grabbed one of my rain jackets out of the closet before running out the door, and it didn’t occur to me until I was standing at the bus stop that none of my rain jackets have hoods. Who makes a rain jacket without a hood?

Of course, it started to pour as I walked to the bus stop.

In other news, I love my Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I have the best classes.

I have done a number of good things regarding the knitting as of late, however. The sweater continues to progress, though it’s monotonous and boring. I can’t wait to start a sleeve, because I think that means that I get to use straight needles instead of those pesky circulars. The things that I get excited about…

But I digress. The entire point of this post was to talk about the Fuzzballs. They have taken a bit of a back seat lately, and it’s not because I don’t love them (though I can’t post a photo, since I’m at the library at the moment). I’m merely just concerned about the amount of yarn I have left versus the length that they need to be. My brain is convinced that if I don’t work on them, the amount of yarn will increase. It’s magic.

So, last night, after a few too many beers and a lot of dancing at the local country bar, an idea came to me. I’ve actually been thinking about it for a while, but hadn’t come to a concrete decision. I’m going to be frogging them. I’ll rip them back, then start over with larger needles. This means I’ll have to do gauge again, which is unfortunate, but it’s worth it. The knitted fabric is also a little too dense for what I was envisioning anyway, so it will work out perfectly.

I don’t know why I had to be intoxicated to come to a decision about this, but I did. My only worry is that the yarn won’t frog well, since it has a lot of fibres/fuzzies coming off of it that tend to stick to one another. If worst comes to worst and I can’t frog it, those socks are going to turn into something else.

I’m heading back home to the farm for the weekend, so hopefully I’ll be able to get some knitting done there (as well as some amino acid memorizing!). It doesn’t feel like I’ve been gone for very long, but in reality its been 2 weeks! I feel as if this semester is going to fly by and I won’t have a chance to finish all of that knitting I’ve got planned…

Busy as a Bee

I can’t believe how busy it’s been the past few days! Yesterday I worked both of the horses in my last riding lesson of the summer. I also packed some stuff… There was lots.

This describes my Saturday quite well:

Ignore me on the side there, I couldn’t crop it out….

Packing, driving, unpacking, putting together furniture, driving, then home. That’s only half of my stuff, too! Still, my room is looking good, and I’ll post a photo of it when I finally get it all set up tomorrow afternoon. I’m starting to get really excited to go back to school, though I’m loathe to leave my horses.

All that driving time has given me lots of time to get working on some knitting… The Hat-Heel Socks have been my weapon of choice lately.

The hat-heel socks!

They are so much bigger! The foot is done and I’m onto the leg. I’m loving this pattern. I’m going to have to make some for myself soon… These ones are for my mom for Christmas (she doesn’t read the blog, so I can say that). The pattern is back to boring stockinette stitch again, but they are progressing quickly and are quite addicting!

The needle rolls are completely planned for, and will be made today, and I’ve got all of the yarn that I’m bringing to school in a tupperware bin, ready to go.

Here’s to a great second year!

 

The Countdown

It’s true… The countdown is on. I’ll be done my last shift in about three hours, then it’s off to town to pick up some stuff I need for school. It’s going to be a busy few days.

Good thing I’ve got one WIP out of the way and photographed, though I’ve decided that it’s going to my mom, since I’m not really into wearing ruffled scarves.

The finished product!

There it is! I actually loved making it, I just wouldn’t wear it. It looks good tucked into a coat and all, but I am just not a ruffle person! Still, I loved making it and will definitely be making more.

A closeup

I can’t resist taking pictures of it either… The yarn is just so cool! It even has some metallic threads running through it.

With all of my running around, I’ll be throwing one of my little socks into the bag with me, in hopes that I can get one done before I move. I’ve got about 4 hours in the car tomorrow… I think I can get something done.

The sweater is on to row 14 and looking stunning so far. I can’t wait for it to all be done (although button holes and sewing things together scares me)!

Without further ado, let me introduce to you, Paton’s Shetland Chunky in “Soft Teal”…

Ta-da!

I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to post this weekend, so I’ll have to leave you with this: next time, I promise that I will have noticeable progress on one of the WIPs to report!

 

#54

Today’s post is about #54. On my list of 101 things, #54 reads: Knit a really scary pattern.

This is what I’m working on right now. I started the Hat Heel Socks on Saturday afternoon. It’s the strangest construction of a sock that you’ve ever seen… You knit a little hat for the heel, then two gussets (like ear flaps for the hat) then the foot, then the cuff. Go look. You’ll be shocked.

Anyway. I had to learn how to do the magic toe up cast on for these socks. I did it! I was so excited. I did the heel “hat” and the two gussets by Sunday night. I then proceeded to try it on, and…. It was too small. I was so upset. So, I ripped it out and started over, this time a size up.

These socks are going to be a gift for someone, so I want them to look perfect. I feel as if I will be ripping them out again. Regardless, I haven’t made much progress with this new size yet. You’ll see:

Some blurry progress of #54, knit a scary pattern.

It’s just a tiny little nub, so far.

The blurry Nub that is the Hat-Heel Socks.

My camera didn’t focus in for this picture very well, but you can see that the socks are just a nub so far. After more Olympic viewing this evening, they will be much larger!

That wasn’t all that happened this weekend. I’ll show you what happens when you have two days off and non-stop Olympics.

This is what my coffee table looks like after a weekend with two days off and non-stop Olympics.

It isn’t a pretty sight, but it means that knitting was accomplished. Even needle rolls have moved on from the planning stage… I now have fabric!

Those pink blobs that you see there? Those are what I have dubbed “The Fuzzballs”. Remember those tube socks I was going to make for my sister, out of that crazy soft yarn? Well, I’ve started. Just a little ribbed cuff at the top and then straight stockinette from there on out. They are quick and easy, if I can just get over the bits of fuzz that end up everywhere.

A closeup of the Fuzzballs.

These are going to be super quick, but I’m glad I decided to go for tube socks. I don’t think I would even be capable of seeing the stitches to pick up.

The Fuzzballs.

They’re also a little strange… The fuzz tends to come out more on the purl sides. So the ribbing is just a mess of fuzz, but then the inside is fuzzier than the outside when you get to the stockinette part. I guess this is a good thing… It means the warmer, fuzzier side is the inside.

I also spent a little quality time with the weaving in box. The products? Hat: finished. Sampler Texture Socks: Finished. My sister’s socks from the beginning of the year: not quite finished.

This is what happens when you spend some time with the weaving-in basket.

There they are! I just have a wee bit more to do with my sister’s socks… I think there’s literally 3 more ends to weave in and then the box will be empty! For the time being, anyway.

I also realized that I have yet to show you the hat, officially finished.

The hat!

Don’t you just love when I’ve had the day off? I come back with photos!

Gosh, that photo of the hat turned out really well. It’s a little small, so I’ve decided that it will be for my sister. She’s going to have a pile of knitting for Christmas this year!

PS. 101 things list: I’m up to 17/101, with many in progress!