Wadda Ya Know...I've Actually Made Some Stuff!

Despite being here there and everywhere I have been finding time and opportunities to finish things...

...This infant tomten/hat set and accompanying receiving blanket was done in time for gifting to an Australian friend we saw in Nantes France for her new grandson back home in Melbourne...

This "Jessamin" linen cardi saw completion over several hours of train travel through France in early July and its seen a lot of wear ever since...

Hudson prefers if knitting and the knitter just stay home!

Here at the cottage we spend hours every day in the ski boat dragging Number One Son around the lake. Its windy and bumpy but it can yield a good amount of knitting time for mindless stockinette so while watching stuff like this...

He isn't attached to that wake skate board - its just grip tape and running shoes and somehow he makes it do all kinds of things.

And this...

By contrast - this happens at 32 miles an hour with both feet strapped into that ski.

And while spending time in the car and on the road I got this "Daelyn" pullover done in a couple of weeks...

Meanwhile the "Gift for the Girls Blanket" grew too big to move from the cottage but it is done and ready for the wedding in the woods ten days from now...

Ditto Darling Daughter's Bride's Maid dress The shot below shows it in progress at the cottage where it saw the bulk of its post-toile construction...

There have also been a number of these "Tawashi Knots" produced...

A great little project with a fun new yarn...more on that and details of the other pieces to come of course but for now at least I'm up and blogging!

Onward!

Me Made May

On the last day of May I kind of dipped my toe into the thing.

I went to The Workroom (conveniently down the street from Romni) and for the first time in decades, bought myself a couple of sewing patterns.

"Me Made May 2016" blog posts wherein the bloggers/instagrammers put up photos of themselves every day in May wearing their own hand made clothes is prompting me to work up casual basics like tops, tanks, pj's, maybe even the odd simple skirt or dress.

I'm likely late in discovering the world of indie sewing pattern drafting. It seems an echo of the explosion in knitting patterns early in the 2000's but now pairing hand knits and home sewn pieces.

For a while, and for all the fair trade/ethical/shop local reasons, I've also been weaning myself from mass produced/marketed clothing and department/chain store shopping. Its been more of a challenge than I imagined and I hope sewing some stuff will help make it easier.

This is what I've now assembled so far...

The amazing hand dyed indigo from London, I think is going to become a swingy tank...

...possibly lined so as to keep indigo from rubbing off on me and my clothes.

Gauzy plaid cotton will be a lightweight, sun blocking scarf edged with embroidery using the French floss Number One Son gave me from Loop last Christmas...

...This fabric/yarn combo I've already shown you now has a sewing pattern for the top portion of my own top/cardi set.

Then in a fit of optimism I picked up a roll of sewable tracing paper-type stuff from Sweden with which to duplicate patterns for re-use or even to make up some of my own from existing pieces I need to replace but the fit/function of which I love.

I want to sew up at least a couple of these things to "warm up" my technique before tackling Darling Daughter's Bride's maid dress.

Fun and exciting, colourful things to ponder as I take a break from afghan knitting. Another baby has been born into our social orbit so my trip to Romni yesterday yielded yarn for Tom Ten Jacket IV.

Not a lot of colour here either but the yarn's 50% cotton content is novel in my hands, the prospect of a sweatshirt vibe in the FO is engaging and the creamy cotton wool planned for a little hat is lifting my knitting spirits even more.

And so onward!

Post Op Post

On the flip side of the little surgery yesterday that I'd been dreading for the longest time, today I'm back at home with mindless knitting...

Quite comfortable, thanks to My Beloved working from home today keeping an eye on me/wearing his nursing "hat", the marvels of modern pharmaceuticals, the wonders of icing and deep breathing/coughing exercises to clear my lungs of residual anaesthesia.

I've even got a yummy selection of Post Op Food I prepared earlier in the week.

Now we're just back from a little toddle down the street I took on My Beloved's arm.

After getting that cold fresh air into my lungs we're now a comfy threesome in front of the fire as Hudson naps, My Beloved works on his laptop and I knit and doze.

'Hard to remember what I was so worried about.

Have a great weekend...if this keeps up I sure will!

What's Next?

As every knitter knows, nothing like finishing one thing up to start us thinking about what's next.

This morning I got up early to finish casting off the neck band for Slade. 50,  200-stitch rows in 2x2 rib!

The sweater is now receiving a stern blocking to pull that ribbing out to its full 5.5' length. A bit of seaming and sewing on three buttons will have it wearable.

A hair over 3 weeks to knit this up. Far and away my fastest finish ever on a sweater for my 6'1" , Size 42 tall Beloved and I owe the quick finish, not to knitting but to exercise.

Yup, last spring I met with a personal trainer we use from time to time to see about addressing the knitting-related pain I've been living with and knitting in for the better part of 2 years. I had to. It was getting worse with every project.

(Funny, when I was younger, of course fitness was about looking good, then with the arrival of kids I needed energy to keep up. Now I want to be able to knit for long periods of time - my goodness how motivation changes over time!)

Of course its brutal undertaking any new exercise program and the effort I put into just getting started over the summer was significant but now I'm on my way, feeling better and as long as I keep it up and don't push too hard knitting I am doing so quite comfortably for the first time in a long while.

Hence I really am ready for sorting out what to work on next!

So I've spent a bit of time on Ravelry tidying up my queue and looking at my project page to sort out what to swatch for (BT's "Truss" is currently in the lead) and what could stand finishing among my little pile of WIP's.

Then my mind started shifting naturally to shopping. A few years ago I made a point of doing the rounds of Toronto's LYS's. I hit Passionknit, Knit O Matic, The Purple Purl, Americo, Romni Wools (the now defunct) Naked Sheep, and the newest kid on the block Eweknit. That's not all of the shops in the city nor is it taking into consideration the shops in the outer suburbs and the nearby countryside. When you factor in the Guild's Frolic on top of it all its no wonder I haven't any wanderlust about looking for yarn.

So its time to do another tour round the local shops to see what's on offer.

Two Toronto yarn stores moved to bigger premises in recent weeks and I think I'll start my survey with them. Knit-O-Matic and Eweknit are not too far from one another so I think I'll undertake a single trip to check both of them out.

To my eye these shops boast the best websites of the yarn stores in the city - 'such an advantage to see what they have before making the trek to check them out in person.

(Btw if I was shopping online with American Dollars I'd be visiting their sites and prices after the exchange rate has been factored in - there might be some deals to be had!)

I'm also quite excited about all the breed-specific yarns on offer in the UK. While I won't be visiting any shops over there in the immediate future, Darling Daughter is prepping for another trip there next month and of course Number One Son is still resident there and will be looking for Christmas gift suggestions before he comes home briefly at Christmas.

So I'm not sure exactly what's next but I feel pretty confident its going to be good!

What I did on My Summer Vacation

The several hundred photos I took over the summer bear out my impression we had a really great time! I'll go on about some of our adventures eventually, but today, I'll stick to knitting!

The end of June saw the conclusion of 6 months of knitting monogamy. "Elmont" and I needed some time apart. I needed some knitting fun and I managed to find quite a bit of it.

Hands down, most fun, is the project pictured below - the start of a BT "Slade" cardigan designed by Michelle Wang that I am making for My Beloved. I ordered some untreated Blue Faced Leicester from Georgian Bay Fibre in this inky colourway "Grondine Swell". 

'Much, much more to say about this later. I couldn't be happier with this one.

These are Briggs and Little "Tuffy" intended for dog walking mittens for me this coming winter. In high contrast to the purchase of the sweater yarn above, 'minimal in expense and consideration. 'Bought on a whim! Current plan - make a pair of these.

The skeins are sitting on my new mini blocking board. I can't imagine why it took me so long to put one of these together for blocking swatches without pulling a huge blocking board out for a 6" square!

The handsome fella pictured below is hemp and many hours over the summer saw me knitting then ripping then reknitting this stuff (and a slew of other lightweight cotton remnants often held triple just to keep up) on 15 mm wooden needles. I wanted the whole works to become a bag of some description and slowly but surely I am getting there.

While the summer yarn remnants sat about the cottage awaiting inclusion in the Big Bag project I was inspired one day to stitch a couple of hostess gifts to accompany locally made soap.
 

First a little wash cloth in soft, summery, bleached green garter stripes.

Then a rough and tough, monogrammed loofah envelope in garter stitched jute twine.

And I also knit up an FO! Another spontaneous undertaking, its "Quick Sand" by Heidi Kirrmaier in Berocco Maya's "Aqua" colourway. (Despite the reflected rosy glow in the photo below, its a cool watery blue chainette cotton with 15% alpaca.)

This became a real go-to piece to keep the sun off bare arms in the heat or the chill away on cool evenings. Several great modelled shots of it are currently "trapped" in a tablet and zipped in an email to myself from said tablet so more on this one later for sure.

I hope you had a great summer too and I hope you are as keen about the Autumn knitting season ahead as I am!

Happy September!

Reno's Always Take Longer Than You Think

I know this to be true of home reno's and now, also about renovating knits.

I thought Bottle Green would take no more than a couple of hours. Instead, with more than a couple into it over the weekend the seaming has only just begun while the new and improved collar is still very much in progress. Apparently taking care takes time.

'Case in point with the collar facing done and ready to sew down , 'seems I prefer the yarn in the ball above over the yarn already knit into the collar.

Bottle Green had so many knots standing in the way of it's dismantling though, I thought a seamless (hence knotless) top-down piece would take no more than an hour to dismantle. 'Didn't take into account shaping maneuvers throughout the yoke/shoulder sections where "north/south" knitting of the body interlocks (and I do mean locks) with east/west kitting of the sleeves.

That left me with an unravelled body stretched between and "one" with the unable-to-be-unravelled sleeves until the connection between the two was disengaged. Still not sure how that worked but it did both hold the sweater together and release the yarn from it.

So that yarn only made it into skeins after dinner last night and only with the invaluable help of my custom made skeining "machine" (The thing really works!) and that was only after working on it all day Sunday and several hours Saturday.

'Good chance these dripping-dry skeins won't be dry before tomorrow...

Bottom line though I'm happy with the results even if they're slow to come. Thanks for dropping by!

I Feel A Yoke Coming On

Renovating Bottle Green had me casting about with a fresh eye on under-loved knits lurking in the shadows around here.

But when I noted the sweater quantities of yarn in the house were already knit up into sweaters I forgot tweeking and started hunting something to totally frog.

This piece saw a lot of wear  a few years ago despite the fact I was always bothered by the wavy front edges.

 And the too-wide neckline after the garter stretched out...

 

Eventually I stabilized the wavy edge by adding a contrasting line of crochet/matching button loops and attached matching grey buttons to make the whole look more neutral.

 An inverted dart at the centre back took up some of the slack and improved the fit.

So I wore it a few more times after that but I think I'm done with it now.

Yet I still I love the yarn and I've a couple of unused balls I can swatch up before I'd have to rip. As for what I've in mind to swatch for, I've been feeling a yoke coming on for a while. It started when I saw "Trillium" by Michelle Wang, based on EZ's seamless yoke formula from Knitting Without Tears.

"Gable" by Hannah Fettig - a seamless yoke pullover also caught my eye.

My yarn is Aran weight - heavier than what's used in either of those designs but I could start by seeing what a swatch of it has to "say" knit up in stockinette at a loose-ish gauge while aiming, with EZ's guidance, to work up my own idea.

The Baker Street hat is blocking and I couldn't be more pleased with how that turned out so I'm feeling smug or to put a finer point on it, ready for a proper project to smack me back into my place.

My recent trip down the (knitting) Rabbit Hole or what I was doing while I wasn't blogging last week.

Early last week, memories of the Eaton Centre Pingouin Store came flooding back, fuelled by the comments of local knitters who also frequented the place in the 80's.

It got me wondering how many of the knitters I know today were in that shop all those years ago when I was in there too... Maybe I once chatted with Lorraine...bumped into Sandra... noted how cute Lisa was tagging along with her mom Cheri to the yarn store as they chose some fabulous turquoise yarn with faux-silk slubs?

Its entirely possible my then brunette self saw Trish choosing yarn and wished back then as I do now for a statuesque figure on which to show off my hand knits!

That all got me thinking of my earliest days knitting when I struggled to sort out or even recognize dropped stitches. When I'd just change direction mid row or forgot to purl on wrong side rows. That was then the reality of my knitting but in my mind I was greedily optimistic in a rich, vicarious knitting "life" where I effortlessly (and without errors or even looking at my needles) cranked out one fantastic, perfectly fitting piece after another...those Pingouin images brought it all back like it was yesterday.

All that remembering prompted a re dedication of what should have been blogging time to instead digging up photos of the FO's I did manage to knit back then. Then, in an effort to reconnect physically with those Acrylic-filled evenings and weekends, I began madly dismantling my Bottle Green Pullover from those first days with my needles. (The two pairs that I owned at the time!)

By mid week that exercise had spun off into a frenzy of filing, purging patterns and remnants, sorting needles, receipts and taking pictures/cross referencing knitting notebooks, paper files and Ravelry pages. Hence a walk down memory lane joins up with today prompting thoughts of another Rabbit Hole adventure entering pre-blogging-knits onto my Ravelry project page.

(The infant hat exercise also underway last week had me wishing I could easily reference the details related to some of those long ago gifted baby pieces.)

Of course digging stuff up and filing is a far cry from entering 20+ projects onto Ravelry but I am seriously considering taking that plunge, especially since I've no big knitting targets at the moment. I haven't an idea for a sweater or a long-neglected one needing completion.

I'm down to the final crown decreases for the hat I cast on Sunday night and the only "place" there's a sweater's worth of yarn in this house is in previously knit sweaters.

Fond memories, intriguing possibilities and a wide open knitting horizon! (My Knitting) Nature abhors a vacuum. This can't last for long and you can be sure I'll keep you posted!

Everything Old is New Again

This is the first sweater I ever knit...

                                       ...30 years ago this month.

Its the only sweater from that first venture into knitting still in my possession.

Last month I saw a cropped, bulky sweater just like this one, in this same bottle green colour, in the window of a trendy shop. Now the sweater still fits and when I sought their counsel both kids gave the "look" their blessing for someone of my vintage. So why not wear it again here at home this winter instead of only "anonymously" at the cottage early spring and late fall? Its not a bad knitting job for the first time out of the gate and on an improvised pattern and its been around such a long time it feels like an old friend......in need of a bit of sprucing up.

Not knowing any better I did a terrible job putting the thing together.

It has a way-too-tight cast off atop the collar. (Actually hurts a bit to pull it past my face!)

I've already spent about an hour shaving off pills and lightly brushing it to minimize its Acrylic "vibe". I did, after all, get the yarn for this in the 80's. (Pingouin Knit Shops anybody?!)

What's really required though is to take it apart and reassemble it properly.

I'll also remove, then rework, the collar to make it into that "mock neck" from the shop window and one that fits better without a tightly bound off edge.

First though - I've a pretty good feeling about finishing Hawser this weekend! Its blocked, I've picked up for the collar ready for knitting and sorted a new rate of increase for the sleeves. I've also got some pay-per-view plans given the Academy Award Nominations that will be just perfect for the simple knitting that remains and NO OTHER COMMITMENTS before next week! I'm kind of giddy at the prospect!

Have a great weekend! Thanks for dropping by!

New Years. New Projects. New Yarn!

'Scrambling to get all caught up here and can't believe I've yet to get through Christmas or touch on New Years, both of which featured knitting-related stuff! 

Over the course of Christmas morning my knitting library expanded to include a much coveted copy of "Ultimate Mittens" by Robin Hansen...

And two balls of Scottish Angora/Merino DK from the Orkney Islands in a tote bag from Loop of London!

While I looked forward to diving into both those treasures in 2015 the days between Christmas and New Years were full of comings and goings, fun outings in our fabulous city and fantastic eating thanks to 2 new cook books from Darling Daughter. January days lay ahead that would perfectly suit hunkering down to enjoy my knitting to the fullest.

New Years Eve itself was a grand example. I made a big, delicious dinner that the four of us sat and enjoyed with a gorgeous bottle of wine then the kids set off to celebrate while My Beloved and I retired to the fire and a movie and I hauled out my mending basket full of hand knits! That's right, As 2014 came to a close I was darning! I fixed more than a dozen pairs of socks, a pair of hand knit gloves and a cardigan with a small moth hole in one sleeve.

By the time of our gourmet brunch on the morning of January 1st the darning was done and my rather depleted sock drawer looked positively crammed. 

Nice to have a full complement of socks again but also nice to get them without dedicating knitting time to making more. I've a list of other things I'm keen to get onto my needles in the coming weeks so it was great to have the decks almost cleared as the New Year began.

"Almost" because Hawser's status is still "in progress".

This past week I was happy to get back to working on it because its pleasant knitting but also because I want to be wearing it on these chilly January days!

As January days go, yesterday was a fantastically "chilly" one. Bright sunshine with cold temperatures and a biting wind it was ripe with need to layer on the knits. Which is what I did as I headed downtown bright and early for a hair cut followed by 2 fantastic hours wandering around Romni Wools. I was through the doors moments after they opened with a list of projects to shop for and no need to rush or worry about anyone else but this knitter. Ahhhhhh!

Still I was home in time for lunch with new hair and yarn. With My Beloved away I spent the afternoon and evening alone (with a poodle) playing with my new treasures, filing patterns and needles and knitting-related stuff pulled out over the holidays and assembling project bags for the first of my 2015 knitting.

Back in my "bad old" pre-poodle days that would have been the totality of my activity. With my "personal trainer" Hudson, however, the yarn play was necessarily punctuated by a very brisk hour's walk down into a nearby ravine (warmer down there out of the wind but we won't speak about walking back up the hill towards home into the gusts!) That exercise then demands eating a proper dinner even if I am on my own but then all of it together means I have more energy to work longer into the evening to a degree that more than makes up for the time they demanded away from tinkering with yarn and patterns in the first place.

I'd love to post about my new yarn but I'm determined to do my 2014 Roundup before indulging in writing on plans for 2015. I never got a summary organized for 2013 and I miss not having that kind of a reference point.

Fingers crossed I nail that one tomorrow! Meanwhile happy Sunday everybody!

Right on the Money

A typically jam crammed time chez Sel and Poivre has been the nature of our December but I'm hitting my marks and staying "Chill". It feels great.

Christmas knitting is going pretty well - hit a bit of a snag working decreases on the fly on a pattern that hasn't any while simultaneously watching a gripping BBC thriller PVR'd last summer. 'Serves me right. Fourth time was "the charm" for sorting it out! Now I'm awaiting some sizing information - being collected on the sly for me before I'll finish that project off.

Another Christmas knit for a certain picky recipient has been knit to a point where I've stopped, ready to package it up. Once opened by said recipient I'll get the final go ahead for size before finishing it off. (Using a new to me yarn for this - very interesting - can't wait to blog about it.)

The last of my gift projects almost sprang from my needles last night to the point of being half done in shorter time than I'd anticipated.

Cast on during my subway ride down to the Toronto Knitter's Guild (DKC has a new name) meeting. The presentation was largely a straight up information session answering questions Guild members had submitted ahead of time. Responses were prepared and quite exhaustive with the new Executive all sitting on stage. Not exactly exciting but nonetheless thrilling to have clarity and a commitment to future transparency. We are very lucky to have a new President who will bring her legal background to organizing the Guild for future growth and stability. But that's not all!

There's a bubbly new Program Coordinator who will be managing Show and Tell from now on and she put together a fantastic spread for the Holiday gathering that followed the business part of the meeting. There's a new newsletter team, a new webmaster and yet another member newly committed to overseeing/managing the Guild's social media presence.

I saw lots of new faces in the crowd and would describe the mood in the room during Show and Tell as "giddy". Lots of energy there and a sense of genuine interest in the new initiatives going forward. It was also a nice surprise to meet one of my Ravelry friends in person and make another to boot!

While some familiar faces were absent once back in our usual "home" next month I hope they'll return to be as inspired by the positive "vibe"  as I was.

I came home all ready to finish off the Christmas knits and finish up Hawser too. ('Got a bit carried away a few nights ago and went 4" beyond where I should have stopped on sleeve one. Again, have to blame the BBC!) I'd like to wear Christmassy red on the 26th at My Beloved's family Christmas celebration.

I can't fail to also mention how much I'm enjoying reading about Brenda's exploits with knitted gift giving in recent days and Stephen's triumphant completion of an EZ pullover he's packed up to wear abroad over the holidays and some fantastic hats he's taking along as gifts as well. Needles also sounds like she is enjoying working up Alpaca scarves for the "Bobs".

While I don't always read the Yarn Harlot I've also been scanning her pre-Christmas posts and finding inspiration there too.

Our snow cover has melted over the last few warm rainy days and nights. The rain's kept us from our annual family trek to get a tree. Just what the four of us are doing/eating on the 25th - our first ever Christmas without extended family - is TBD but I credit the knitting (and the reading about it) and last night's festivities for feeling the spirit of the season this morning.

I hope you're feeling it too - whatever your "season" entails. Thanks for dropping by!

Finally Underway

At last Hawser is underway. The 13, simple, post-ribbing set up rows are complete, a correct stitch count of 252 is on the circ. and the knitting is relaxed (and relaxing!) Amazing what happens by just paying a wee bit of attention!

My many stupid errors made for delays, but they allowed me (by necessitating so many repetitions) to appreciate the BT attention to detail in these important establishing rounds.

By this I don't mean knitting tricks and expansive displays of technique. I mean the inclusion, within
those 13 rows, of thoughtful little details making the design shine without having the elements dominate the garment and ultimately the wearer thereof (aka Me!).

Among these some of my favourites...

• Single rounds/stitches of stockinette providing breathing room around design elements.
• Yarn overs, dropped on the following round to ease bunching and so, bulk, of the wide cables.
• Clever increases to build the cables gracefully out from the ribbing.
• And looking ahead to giving this pullover its A-line shape, narrow ribbed sections running up each side to hide decreases/minimize odd looking breaks in the rhythmic moss stitch pattern.

This is what I'm looking for in patterns now. I'm still entertained by the ideas behind expansive knitting techniques and garments built to support them but I'm inclined to keep them in my vicarious knitting queue and out of my actual knitting basket. Truth be told, a few years ago things were the other way around!

So things are feeling pretty great knitting-wise this morning. The wind chill for our walk may be -18C this morning and the first snow shovelling of the season happened yesterday but I've got a basket full of rich, vibrant blue-red yarn to knit up and high hopes of a cozy wardrobe staple to wear in the fast approaching holiday season ahead.

Beyond that I just noticed the newest BT lookbook is up! Will I be able to hold off looking until after the walk? Hard to say! Thanks for dropping by!

A Week's Worth of Knitting

After being out two evenings this week my knitting time was limited but then so was my "to do" list - just get the tubular cast on done for Hawser's 218 stitch bottom edge.

I'd worked out my approach while knitting my flat swatch using Eunny Jang's recommended technique but I didn't like the way it transitioned to knitting in the round when I actually started on the sweater.

 So I went instead with the recommended technique included with the pattern. The first try I was careful not to twist stitches when joining for working in the round but then stupidly did twist on the second round, only noticing the error after knitting a couple of inches up the band.

Attempts #2 and 3 I got a bottom edge wasn't gaping or looking loose - as tubular edges are inclined to be but also didn't yield sufficient circumference.

This swingy A-line pullover will be completely ruined if everything pulls in at the bottom edge.

So I tried one more time with a 4mm rather than 3.5 or 3.75mm and moved up to a 4.5 on the round in which straight 1x1 rib begins.

4th time's a charm!

Looking forward to establishing the set up round tonight so I can knit without too much to think about over the weekend. (Hudson and I are in another Obedience Trial - this one an hour and a half from here and My Beloved has offered to come along. That will leave me free to knit en route and back.)

In the end I guess its worth the effort to get it right although it is a bitter pill to swallow that it took so long to get here. Serves me right I guess for swatching flat when the knit is in the round!

Have a great weekend everybody! Thanks for dropping by today!

A Big Day

• Darling Daughter returns from her "UK Vaykay"...She will have, with her, My Camera!!!

• I'm currently soaking Devlan in preparation for blocking this morning...With the help of the yarn harvest from Shearer I squeeked it out!!

• With Devlan/Shearer off the needles I'm putting a push on to finish Hudson's Double Knit Dog Mat and indulging in queuing up some Stuffed Dog Knitting Projects from this fantastic book I found at the Libary.

• Having voted Number One Son's Proxy Vote during the advance polls, the rest of us will cast our municipal votes together tonight. 'Looking so forward to having the "Circus move out of town"!!!

A Big Day Indeed!

Something I need to Fix

'Haven't posted about any of these FO's mostly for want of modeled shots but truth be told I haven't written the posts either.

But now that Autumn is officially upon us the use of these pieces will become more relevant every day while these languish in a kind of suspended animation where I don't want to put them away or wear them. It feels like until they're posted they aren't really "finished" somehow.

Like I said,that's something I need to fix!

This Morning...

...After a cozy weekend up north beside the fire with my knitting I'm back in the city taking stock...

I've read through the pattern for Hawser and tried out a new-to-me Tubular Cast on I'd seen on You Tube by Eunny Jang. I like the resulting less-fussy-to execute, gorgeous tubular edge that resulted. I'm ready for swatching!

'Resolved the Glen Checked Socks issues to suit My Beloved's feet. I'll close up those toes today with my favourite inside out three needle bind off closure. With three balls remaining in what seems the perfect colourway for a casual men's sock I may just indulge in planning a second pair right away.

Devlan, that I'm hoping to sneak out of my remnant Shepherd/Shearer yarn, is knitted bottom up in the round. Currently I'm at the bottom of the sweater where there's nigh on 300 stitches per round to generate the 8 1/2 inches of positive ease around the hips. I'm a few decreases/dozens of rounds south of dividing at the underarms. These long mindless rounds with that gorgeous creamy, wool yarn are the kind of soothing, warm, delightful work that non-knitters could never understand or imagine. ( I know you can though!)

The Double Knitted Dog Bed project I started in the spring will require four more skeins of Briggs and Little "Atlantic" that have yet to come in at Romni but I've one more ball to work before I'm completely out of yarn. In contrast to the Devlan experience, this piece is a workout. The big scale of both needles and yarn means moving my arms not just fingers and/or hands for every throw and the double knitting requires paying attention to avoid a pesky "joining" of the front and back. (Its invisible when it happens and for this project is of no consequence - its the principal of the thing for the sides to be separate and independent of each other. (Again. non knitters would never "get" that fine point on it - in fact they'd ask"why make a dog bed when you can so easily buy one?"

There are, of course, other projects that shall remain "ignored" for the moment. This morning I'm finding these and these alone entertaining to think about and arrange project baskets/bags for following their arrival back here city-side.

I hope you find your knitting "entertaining" today too!

Fast, Easy, Portable and Cheap?

I dropped by Americo recently after a friend new to knitting went there on my recommendation and came away with her first sweater's worth of charcoal thick and thin yarn and gushing good things about the shop. I've been before but don't visit often - I just haven't been into Americo's singular style.

Anyway on this trip the very engaging owner showed me yarn/pattern combinations saying things like

 "this would be a really portable project - you could just tuck it in your purse and go!"

 "this is an easy one"

"only one skein and you're done"

I said I was okay with something tricky and was happy to undertake difficult/expansive projects. 

Her sales pitch remained unchanged - Fast, Easy, Portable and Cheap.

I found this to be so interesting.

First because "Cheap" of course was only in the "pitch" via single-skein projects. For anything demanding more yarn,  I bet most projects from there would come in on the pricey side.

Second in that Americo has been savvy side stepping the challenge of getting good fit without defaulting to socks and shawls. Instead their sweaters feature drop shoulders and boxy shapes, their cardigans are flowing and button-free, arm warmers outnumber mitts and cowls are ribbed, seed or moss stitched in bulky yarns. Fast, easy rectangles all.

So it dawned on me Americo does offer the avid knitter luxurious and on-trend neutral yarns but the shop isn't so much about the knitting, or how beautiful the yarn is in the skein or how lovely it will feel to slip through your hands as you work with it (all thoughts I generally have when cruising through an LYS) but rather how great it will be to soon wear something you're proud of and be able to tell people you made it! For the new or occasional knitter those are compelling prospects are they not? 

How clever you are Americo! I'm glad I went by there to look around. How fun to consider things from a fresh perspective!

I should maybe also add, "considering" aside, I didn't buy anything!

Flip Side

We arrived back in town from the cottage last night. Son gone (sniff). Replacement vehicle here (phew) and an extra long weekend at the cottage under our belts.

Sunday was a gorgeous day on the dock working on my double knit mat to the point of exhausting the 4 skeins of yarn I bought as a start for the project. Tomorrow I'm back in the neighbourhood of Romni for a hair cut so I'll be picking up another 4 to yield a mat about 26" x 41" (maybe 5 skeins just to be sure).

Having taken that project as far as I could I picked up Deco again after a year's hiatus. As of this morning the first short row shoulder is done and I'm moving down the sleeve. Maybe.

Its a bit wrinkly where the short rows join the shoulder.  Steam blocking will tell me if I'll be able to get it to lay flat. Oh my goodness I hope I can get it to lay flat!!! I do not want to rip and re-do it again!

I must say I am in love with this yarn - "Tove" by Sandnesgarn sport weight wool. When I bought it at Romni the girl at the cash said Tove was her favourite yarn.

Given the massive selection she sees every day that is saying something. I now know what she meant...nice and sticky with a bit of a halo, a gorgeous fabric knit up but relatively easy to break a single strand..working with it again had me cruising Ravelry and the Brooklyn Tweed website last night for projects calling for "Loft" because it seems like they share similar qualities but the price for "Tove" is vastly better and there's no where in Canada to buy Brooklyn Tweed Yarns.

All this knitting fun over the weekend but the best part was cool nights and chilly mornings saw me keeping warm WEARING TINDER!!!

A scant three years since falling in love with the pattern, taking a while to find a yarn I liked, working Deco (a couple of times) and doing two big knits for My Beloved, now after only about 3 week's dedicated knitting, its just 7 buttons short of an FO post!

A bit ironic, I wanted this long, cozy cardi for cold mornings and evenings taking Number One Son water skiing and we won't be doing any of that this summer. I'm not worried though - skiing will no doubt re-commence once he's back next summer and this sweater will be a wardrobe staple for years to come.

It fits perfectly!!! I wasn't sure I would ever say that about a cardigan for myself but it really does. I have to get Darling Daughter to help with some modeled FO shots.

So tomorrow, after hitting Romni for more Briggs and Little "Super" I'll see about buttons for Tinder and also Deco from one of the many button/textile shops on Queen Street West.

My Beloved's idea for me to have my hair cut next to Romni was brilliant. Two birds with one stone! Without the need to do both I'd likely get around to neither this very short week!

Btw a special thank you to those who left comments on my last post!. I wasn't sure anyone would even see it!

Thanks for dropping by today!