Knitting Musclemom

Twisted Square socks

What happens when you combine a simple, yet beautiful pattern with an exquisite yarn? You get this:

The pattern is So Square Sock from knitspot. The fact I knit the pair in one week instead of my usual 10 days attests to the simplicity of the pattern and the satisfaction of knitting it. The yarn is from my favourite indie dyer, Meg from Twister Fiber Art. The colourway is Orbit and the yarn is Shiny (50% superwash merino, 50% tencel). The skein was 106 grams, and I have 32 grams left over (the skein is 400 yards).

I knit these socks on 2.5 mm needles instead of the 2.25 mm recommended, because I am a tight knitter and I had to go up one needle size to get gauge (yes, I do knit a swatch -- I hate to swatch, but I hate even more having to frog because I find out half-way through the sock that it's too small or too big). I used a knitted cast-on which gave me a very elastic cuff and the only modifications are a regular heel flap instead of the short-row heel just because I prefer them. I used the Magic Loop on Knitpick Harmony needles and I did a three-needle bind-off at the end because I hate kitchener-ing. They are on my feet right now and they are really beautiful.

Here's a detail of the heel flap and the yummy, subtle colours:

Here's a last photo -- can't get enough of them:

And now, it's back to the Henley Pefected sweater, which I have been neglecting to knit these socks.

But before I leave, some photos of the ice sculptures taken at the Icefest in Yorkville:

And my 15-year old daughter (she's on the left), about to go to her semi-formal on Friday night:

She only smiles with her mouth closed because of the braces.

Yes, she had a great time. Yes, she was totally exhausted and in a crummy mood the next day. Yes, she hated her parents. But that's the way 15-year olds tend to be, no?

Madrona

So I went to Madrona and had a fabulous time. The least favourite part was the 5 1/2 hour flight from Toronto, but I was happy to escape the cold, the snow, the ice, and the general crappiness that this winter is.

I really like the hotel, loved my room:

It was really quiet, at the end of the hallway. There was still work going on in the hotel, including the front which is inaccessible, and they were one restaurant short, but in general the staff was really nice and relaxed. I found out most of the people in Tacoma are really nice and relaxed, a very different feeling from stressed-out and weary Toronto. I'm sure it's something to do with the weather. It was +10 (celsius) and there was green grass, a really nice sight, not having seen a blade of grass in Toronto for a while.

The lobby is beautiful and I particularly enjoyed these huge glass boat-birds hanging from the ceiling:

and this chandelier:

But my favourite was the life-size horse wearing a lamp as a hat:

   

And then there were the classes. Jam-packed classes (I was taking four, all full days). First there was Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks! class on Thursday:

It was so great I rushed to the market to get her two Sock Techniques DVDs (she was using them to demonstrate techniques on a big screen, so much easier than gathering around an instructor -- plus the DVD doesn't get tired of showing the same technique over and over again). Loved her class, learnt a lot.

On Friday, I took Evelyn Clark's Designing Lace Triangles class, that really explained her book, Knitting Lace Triangles. Another great class taught by a very talented designer who has also a great sense of humour.

On Friday evening, I had a great dinner in the hotel restaurant with Cindy, who had also travelled from Ontario to attend Madrona; food was excellent, company even better, we had great laughs and a fantastic time.

On Saturday, it was Jean Wong's class, Fine Finishing Techniques the Japanese Way. Wow! I had complained when I received the homework list, because we had to knit 11 (!) samples for the class, but the hours of knitting the samples were well worth it. If you're a type A who is really obsessed with the perfect finishing, this class is for you. I loved it and it kept me going the whole day. If I come back to Madrona next year, I would like to take her two-day class, Tailored Knitting the Japanese Way.

On Saturday evening, we attended the Banquet (the only social event I went to, I was too tired in the evenings to socialize). It was packed with knitters and an enjoyable evening, although I did find the question period at the end a tad too long -- but then, I was still on Toronto time the entire five days I spent in Tacoma, so I was ready to drop every evening around 8 p.m. There was much knitting going on and some of this too:

On Sunday morning (at least I think it was Sunday morning...), I found a Foolish Virgin:

Those who are familiar with Kaffe Fassett's designs will recognize a Foolish Virgins sweater (Ravelry link). What a wonderful job! and here's the back:

I have been wanting to knit this sweater for ever and it has given me the drive to tackle this in the not too distant future!

Finally, on Sunday, I took Nancy Bush's class, Making a True Haapsalu Rätik: A Traditonal Shawl from Estonia. This was new class she was teaching for the first time, and it was certainly challenging time-wise. Here is the sample not one of us had time to finish that day:

This was my second Nancy Bush class (I have attended one of her classes at Stitches Midwest last summer) and it was as informative as the last one. I really enjoy her respect of the techniques true to the Estonians and the extensive history she gives with her classes. And we listened to Estonian music while we knitted!

This post is already too long, but I have to finish with the market. Oh, the market! Spent too much without buying a lot. Couldn't resist walking around it during lunch break and after class. Had a great time, loved the yarns, what more can I say?

This was the Blue Moon Fiber Arts stand, which looked rather depleted by Sunday afternoon. Scored some Geisha (3 hanks - ahem) and some STR, semi-solids (only 3 skeins, so there).

Anyway, better end this with a lovely sunrise over Tacoma:

Henley Perfected

Do you cheat when it comes to your UFOs, stash, and WIPs? Do you show on Ravelry only a part of your dormant, abandoned, forgotten, sulking projects? Do you voluntarily omit some of your closet projects, the ones you sneaked in, worked on for a few evenings, then promptly put aside in the "to do one day" pile? That day being in some other lifetime?

I know I do. Every once in a while, I will start on a project I am not really sure about. I will secretly work on it, then either hate it, grow bored with it or start disliking it before I can even call it a WIP. Come on, 10 rows on a project does not count qualify it as a WIP, does it? Even if the 10 rows took two entire evenings, because there were a gazillion colours involved, the needles were 2.25 mm and the whole project has about 15 colour changes per row. And now you know why it is now sitting in a corner thinking about its own stupid complexity -- who am I kidding? The project uses actually 10 different colours, but there are about 25 colour changes per row. And I am working with 2.25 mm needles. It's a Rowan magazine project, and if some of you are saying: Kaffe Fassett, you're not far off. It's actually Brandon Mably and his "Scales" jacket, a beautiful, but incredibly frustrating pattern to knit from Rowan Magazine 38. Yes, I have knit exactly 10 rows of it and it took me about 6 hours of knitting. The back is just over 240 rows in the smallest size and that's JUST the BACK. Here's a bad picture of it:

Told you it was bad. The real thing is gorgeous, but you have to be a true masochist to knit the bloody thing up. I was going to start Autumn Rose, but no, I took my good KP Harmony needles (that I actually need for Autumn Rose) to start this really frustrating project. Rather than continue punishing myself knitting this monster, I put it aside, never added it as a new project on Ravelry and started this instead:

Now that's better. Despite some frogging due to bad calculations on the lace placement once I started the underarms decreases (I am zonked from painkillers and sinus medication I have been taking for the last few days), I am two rows away from finishing the back. Here's a photo taken before I got to that stage:

 

And here's the detail of the lace:

The yarn is Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. I bought it at least four years ago, to knit up a VK cardigan thingie with ruffled edges that I was obviously high when I decided it was a perfect garment for me. Like totally not my style -- anyway, I bought the yarn because I am way too impulsive when it comes to buying yarn and I secretly know there might at any time be a yarn shortage in the world, and it has been sitting in my stash every since. I was looking at the Henley sweater when I knitted up the Refined Aran jacket and looked up on Ravelry what other knitters were doing with it. Well, there were six projects using this very yarn; the recommended yarn is actually Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk, but 1) I was sick and did not/would not go out to a yarn store, 2) there was a snow storm at the week-end, so it was a bit difficult to move around, and 3) I am really trying to reduce my stash, which is gigantic. I have 10 balls of the DB baby cashmerino, which should be plenty. I am enjoying this knit and don't feel like killing myself like I did for the Brandon Mably knitting project from hell -- so far so good. And the gauge is right on, because yes, I am one of those crazy ones who actually knits a swatch, even if swatches lie. I really knit a swatch to see if I like the feel of the yarn, if it is calling to me, if its softness wants me to lie down with it and do all kinds of X-rated stuff with it. The swatch is really a by-product of this first date approach (and I'm talking just a drink, not a dinner or a movie). And yes, this project has been added to Ravelry.

I finished the Persian Poppy UFO:

No, I haven't blocked it. I had a problem with the edges, because I didn't have enough of one colour to do all of them, and I got bored with the two-colour ribbed edging I used at the bottom. I guess the result is OK; my daughter says it looks like I was on LSD when I knitted it up. No, I have never tried this particular drug and neither has my daughter, as far as I know. I think it's to do with the profusion of colours. But isn't that the whole point? Anyway, she has warned me she will not be seen outside with me wearing it. Since she's not going to Madrona, I guess I'm safe. I'll see if the knitters feel the same way. Maybe it's a knitter's thing, but I happen to like the craziness of the colours:

 

I still want to start the Autumn Rose, but I will have to retrieve first my needles from the Scales project. And I can't commit either way. Some days, I get very discouraged with my own inability to face the truth of knitting. I procrastinate at facing the inevitable: this is not going to happen. Anyway...

One week to Madrona, and I haven't knitted my swatches. I have looked at the list, and decided to wait until I feel better before I start. Maybe they will knit themselves up while I am not looking.

Friday, there was a snowstorm that brought 20 cm of snow to the city. No photos -- I had no voice and no will to live, so I didn't go outside. Today, there is another storm -- that will be the fourth one for Toronto this year. We usually get at most a couple of snowstorms per winter. Please don't talk to me about global warming, where is the warming part of the equation? This has to be one of the worst winters I have ever seen in this part of the country. Yes, I have lived in Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec city, and winters were longer / harsher / colder / snowy-ier. But that's why I don't live there anymore. That's why I came to live here. And yes, I will complain. No, I don't like winter sports, not since I was 7 years old.

OK, I think I have rambled on enough. As for my stash, only a minuscule fraction of it is on Ravelry. Mostly sock yarn -- the regular yarn would take forever to photograph and compile, and I am not going to bother. I add the yarn I purchase as I go along since I joined Ravelry, so the last 10 years' accumulation is not there. It's just as well; I can remain delusional about how much I really have.