Knitting Musclemom

I'm back (do I always say that?)

No, I have not disappeared off the surface of the earth. I've been really busy.

First, I went to Camp Stitches White Eagle in June, where I attended three days of classes with Cat Bordhi. I learnt so much, it was absolutely great! For the first time, my husband came with me to a knitting retreat; it was held at White Eagle in Hamilton, New York (a mere 5.5 hour drive from Toronto):

These were the cabins; a bit rustic for my DH's taste (he's a bit of a snob when it comes to hotels), but it was in a really nice area on a lake, and the food was surprisingly and consistently good.

And of course, the highlight was Cat Bordhi's classes. Here's when she showed up how to measure the circumference of the foot -- I found out I have been measuring my foot in the wrong place all these years:

Here's the whole group, minus Christine and me, who were taking photos:

 

and here's Christine (Ravelry link, I don't think she has a blog) in a blurry picture. She attended with her mother (second from the right on the group photo) and fed us all delicious treats during the morning and afternoon breaks (ok, she mostly fed me -- ok, I was stealing all her food, I admit it!):

Cat Bordhi is not only a great teacher, but she is also a lovely person. We often sat at the same table for meals and when Colin and I mentioned that we were planning to leave Toronto in 2 years when our daughter graduates from high school, she encouraged us to visit Vancouver and see if we would like to live there. I think it's a great idea!

Here's what we got to knit -- all the techniques explained and the socks we knitted come from her book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters:

   

This is a miniature bowl that we knitted to practice her way of doing short rows. Then I knit this:

This is a baby sock knit with the upstream arch expansion. And then I knit this:

This is another baby sock knit with the Coriolis arch expansion. And finally, the pièce de résistance:

An adult sock, knit with the Riverbed architecture and incorporating a little stitch design to make it more interesting (otherwise, it's knit all around, but I would have died of boredom). I really, really learnt so much and I now understand her book and how to follow my own measurements and incorporate my own stitch designs into the sock architecture chosen. A very worthwhile workshop; you get so much more out of three days (actually, a.m. and p.m. on Friday and Sunday, a half day on Saturday) with one instructor, especially when it's someone of Cat Bordhi's caliber!

I was a bit worried Colin would be very bored, since there is not much to do around the area; it's a rural area, and it's very pretty, but let's face it, there wasn't a whole lot to see. Well, he actually had a wonderful time; he took the canoe out on the lake, he went for drives (in his Porsche, obviously!) and he just relaxed with his book. He actually didn't know how much he needed the break until we got there, and he just did nothing for the whole time we spent there. By 10 p.m., we were exhausted -- all this oxygen and pollution-free air is too much for our city-polluted bodies -- and we slept really well. See, doesn't he look happy (please ignore my totally out-of-control hair, it was, to say the least, quite humid)?

 

We came back to Toronto, rested and relaxed. And the next day, on Canada day, my brother called me to say my stepfather had passed away. He was 91 and survived my mother by 3 years, even though he was 17 years older than she was. It was sad, but he had been in poor health for the last six months, and he died peacefully at home, without pain or prolonged agony. This is one of the last photos I have of my mother and my stepfather together, taken at Christmas 2004, when my mother was already very ill:

 

It was the last family gathering we had before she passed away in May 2005. His passing away, of course, brought back an absence I have been trying to get used to for the last three years.

Anyway, on to more cheerful things. I got myself a new car, a VW GTI. I picked it up on Thursday and I absolutely love it! It has the premium package with leather seats and summer performance tires, satellite radio, and of course, it's manual. Yes, I hate driving automatics, I guess it's my European origins that come back to the surface when it comes to driving cars.

And since I saw Cat Bordhi with this shawl:

I liked it so much I have started knitting one. It's Sivia Harding's Norwegian Woods Scarf; I happened to have the pattern already and I am knitting the shawl version of it, which uses 900 yds of yarn instead of 470 yds. Here is the blob so far:

 

I am knitting it with an 8 oz skein of Brooklyn Handspun Signature yarn. And this is my exclusive work-in-progress at the moment, because I know from personal experience that if I don't stick with a lace project until it's finished, I will lose interest and let it languish forever after. As with the Mystery Stole 3, half finished since last year. No, I'm not unravelling this one, I worked too much of the whole project. I will finish it.... one day.... (yeaaaah, right). Here's a close-up which shows the semi-solid subtle quality of the colour:

 

This is a really lovely yarn, nice to look at, nice to knit with. I have almost 400 stitches per row now, so I guess I will be knitting it for a while more. As long as I finish it before I get sick of it, I should be okay.

Here's a last shot of the canine beasts; admire the really modest sleeping pose of the boy dog!

Socks and Summer

As I mentioned in my last post, I finished the Etrusca Sleeveless Top, but didn't block it. However, I did take photos. It is being modelled here by my daughter, who is a size smaller than I am, so it looks just a tad large on her at the waist and hips. But it's a lot easier to take photos this way, than to have her take a dozen photos which will not show what I want them to show. So you'll just have to imagine this top fits me snugly, which is what I wanted. It's knit in Berroco Touché (colour 7906) on 4.5 mm needles, and I used 6 skeins for the small size. No modifications. All in all, a fast knit for a really pretty summer top:

And here's the back:

Here are the promised photos of the finished pair of Chain Lightning Socks, knit in Fearless Fibers Superwash merino, Coral pink colourway:

The past week-end was busy -- on Saturday morning, Colin and I went to Woofstock, the largest outdoor festival for dogs in all of North America (or so the Website says). It was held downtown, near the St. Lawrence Market, and a large part of Front street was closed the whole week-end to accommodate dog products exhibitors, as well as the over 100,000 dogs and owners that were expected to visit the Festival this week-end. It was extremely hot (approaching 40 degrees with the humidex) and we only stayed 1 hour and a half, because I was worried the dogs would get too dehydrated. I didn't take photos, as it was difficult to manoeuver dogs, bags, treats, and the crowds, without on top of that having to handle a camera. However, Colin did take photos of the two dogs enjoying a doggie frozen yoghurt:

They both had a great time; Tigger got a lot of attention in his puppy cuteness and we met several other dachshunds, some even from the same breeder.

On Saturday evening, we went to see Leonard Cohen in concert; he started a world tour here in Toronto, and we went to the second evening of four sold-out evenings. It was wonderful. I love his songs and his voice was still the same, still strong, a bit deeper than in the past; he is 73 years old and has embarked on a four-month tour. His musicians and singers are absolutely amazing and he is one of the rare few singers whose words you can still hear (and understand!) when he sings. It was a magical evening; no special effects, no dancing, no glamour, just great songs, great singing and great music. And yes, I forgot my camera. All I have is a blurry picture taken with my phone:

He's the one wearing the Borsalino hat. Even Colin, who usually comes with me to those events because he's being nice and wants to keep me company, thoroughly enjoyed seeing this show. Once Leonard Cohen gives his last concert tonight, he's off to Dublin, Ireland, and then to Manchester, U.K. He comes back to Montreal, and then he returns to Europe. I don't see any stops in the U.S., but perhaps they haven't been put up on his schedule yet. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys his songs -- you won't be disappointed!

Going back to knitting, I test-knit another pattern for Anne of knitspot, which she has named Luxor:

I used Zen Yarn Garden 50% tencel, 50% merino yarn, in the Cotton Candy colourway. It's actually quite shiny:

Fast knit, easy to memorize -- top-down sock with a short-row heel. And I surprised myself by actually knitting a short-row heel without actually screwing it up, which is a first. It was due to the very clear explanations given by Anne in her pattern. I will usually do everything possible to avoid a short-row heel, but I could not really skip this one, since I was test-knitting it. It was great and I have started on the second sock, although it is, as usual, getting competition from other projects. But I will finish it in the near future. Before next year, I promise!

And for something totally random, here is a photo of his cuteness:

The two dogs are getting along well, even though Tigger tends to be rough with Moka, who endures the torture, all the time looking at me with eyes that say "Save me, please!":

Later this month, I'm going to White Eagle to attend Camp Stitches and 3 days of classes with Cat Bordhi. I am really looking forward to this. Colin and I will be driving down -- I found out it's actually closer than I thought in the State of New York, shorter than driving from Toronto to Montreal. While I take classes, he'll visit the places around and relax.

That's it for now -- time to walk the dogs in the searing heat!

knitspot and puppy dogs

So I have been kind of quiet lately, but I've had my hands full with the newest addition to the family:

He has been named Tigger (because of his stripes) by my daughter and he was 2 months old yesterday. I have never seen a pet adapt as quickly and as easily as he did to his new home. He didn't cry once looking for his mother and sisters (although he tried to suckle a couple of times on Moka, our other miniature dachshund, who was a bit horrified) and he quickly found out that a human's lap was the best place to be. He has been sleeping with Mélanie and she has been very good at getting up twice every night for his nocturnal pees in the garden. He has indeed peed on the carpets a few times the first couple of days, but taking him out in the garden a million times a day during the first 3 days has really helped to drive the whole "not peeing inside" point home. He has a solid appetite and a really friendly, happy temperament. He walked on the leash without a problem from day one; it does make a huge difference to have an older dog already there, showing him what to do. He is a sweetheart, and a bundle of energy when he's awake. And nothing wakes him up once he falls asleep:

On the knitting front, I finished the Oh! Canada wrap from knitspot -- here it is blocking:

And here it is modelled by my daughter:

I made the tall wrap and it came out exactly as the finished size in the pattern, 19 inches wide by 82 inches long. The yarn is Ball and Skein Artisan Merino & Silk, The Blues colourway. This yarn is simply gorgeous and sooo soft. It is actually a semi-solid and it shows on the finished product very nicely:

Knitting it up was fast and the project was finished before I had a chance to get bored. I used 4 1/2 skeins and I have enough to knit a scarf with the 2 1/2 skeins left over. The pattern illustrates flying geese (see the V formations?) and was originally knit in an autumnal colourway, but I decided to make it blue and spring-like to celebrate the return of the Canadian geese, rather than their departure from Canada (Fall not being my favourite season of the year, as it announces the cold winter to come). Anyway, it has now gone to France, as a birthday gift to my godfather's wife whose birthday is on the 29th May. I do hope she likes it!

And still on the knitspot theme, I finished a sock I am test-knitting for Anne; it's the Shifty Sock pattern (scroll down to the second photo) and this one is knit with Twisted's Angst colourway, Arial yarn. It is knit in the large size for my husband and yes, he chose that colourway for himself; he wanted something a bit less conservative this time:

It was a fast and enjoyable knit, that doesn't require a whole lot of concentration; I love the way the stitches move along the leg:

Anne really knows how to maximize the effect of a self-striping yarn!

 

Colin is delighted with his sock and wants me to get started right now with the second one. I hope he gets to wear them before the weather turns hot, but considering the dismal temperatures we have been experiencing, he might have a few wears before summer starts!

Victoria Day week-end was cold, grey and windy; masses of Torontonians were leaving the city to open their cottage, but I don't think they enjoyed themselves too much. Since we don't "do" the cottage thing, we get to stay in the city when it's quiet and there is less traffic. I don't particularly enjoy the Canadian cottage scene, but then that's just me. I hate black flies and swarms of mosquitoes, and I find lakewater dead and cold (I prefer the ocean). My sister goes to the family cottage every week-end; I haven't set foot there for at least 10 years. It's a 3-hour drive from Toronto (and that's without traffic; it's more like 5 hours on a Friday night), it's mosquito-infested most of the summer and the black flies take chunks of flesh out of us poor humans as soon as we are wet or hot. My sciatic nerve flares up as soon as I swim in water that is less than 20 degrees and frankly, I don't see the point in being stuck on an island. You can't go anywhere unless it's by boat, and I'd rather go biking or walking on terra firma. Yes, I've made my point, and I shall move on, thank you.

I have almost finished the Etrusca sleeveless top (I'm past the neckband divide on the second half of the back)and I shall be posting photos next time. I do have to keep something for next time, yes? And I still must post photos of the Chain Lightning socks, which I did end up finding when I was looking for something else, tucked away in an unlikely place.

And further to my last post, no moths in the last 10 days. I still make a frantic search every few days through the stash in the living room, but so far, nothing. And nothing in the hand-knitted sweaters upstairs, or the cashmere coat downstairs, or the wool tapestry hanging on the wall of the living room. Hopefully, this house is de-contaminated; I do sincerely wish these are not famous last words...

 

Wee Tiny Sock and wee tiny dogs

Look what I got in the post yesterday afternoon:

My Wee Tiny Sock, sent by blogless (as far as I know) Lynne from Ohio. Isn't it cute? And I love the chihuahua on the card! It's pretty and the colours are lovely and she knitted the sock with a great deal of care. Thank you Lynne!

And talking of wee tiny things, here's another one:

I am a 2-week old brindle miniature dachshund. Despite my tine size (I fit in a human hand), I am already able to bark indignantly to be returned to my rightful place, with my 3 sisters:

 

On Monday, I totally conquered my parents-to-be, and especially, my adoptive father's, who had only agreed reluctantly to add another pet to the household. I will stay with my real mother until mid-May, and then I shall move in with three humans, two Siamese cats, and a 4 1/2 year old sister of my own kind. Fully grown, I will become a huge 8 pound dog. So my adoptive father has found a very fitting name for the mass of muscle I will become: my name is Goliath. 

What does Moka think of it?

She's cool with it, as long as somebody rubs her tummy.

Finally, have you seen the Ravelry group started by Fricknits? It's Ravelraiser -- your donations to Ravelry not only help a Website that all knitters love and spend way too many hours surfing, but every $10 donation enters your name in a draw with an ever-increasing list of prizes!

So if you enjoy Ravelry, why not consider giving a bit back?

No, no knitting today. I spent a good part of the day yesterday going to the dachshund breeder where we got Moka several years ago and selecting a companion for her. I wanted to get a pup now, when we have many months of warm weather ahead. House-breaking a dachshund is a challenge and I shall never repeat having to convince a two-month old pup to pee outside at midnight when it's minus 10. We got Moka in December 2003; she must have used all the carpets in the house at one point or another and when she finally got the message that dogs leave their crap and pee outside (that took its sweet old time -- yes, many, many months), we had all the rugs cleaned. The silk rug got it, the Chinese rug, the Persian rugs. My husband doesn't know half of the times she relieved herself on the best rug in the house (I became very good at hiding the evidence and a super-fast cleaner-upper), but he did know the time he walked in dog poo left in the entrance hallway and dragged it over part of the house before realizing the rather obnoxious smell was coming from his slippers. I never heard the end of that one. Now, he is so attached to this dog he never wanted in the first place (it took me five years to convince him) that he finally agreed to get a second one. Moka loves the company of other dachshunds and I think she will be very happy to have one who lives at home with her. 

Henley Perfected

I finished, in a month to the day, Henley Perfected. It would have looked better if I had bothered to wear a bra when I tried it on, but at least I made an effort to wear non-clashing colours this time:

Yes, it's all done, except that I haven't blocked it, and it is lacking buttons, which I have to look for. The finishing took 3 days (assembling, re-doing the button bands twice each, no less -- my fault entirely, turning all the hems and stitching them in place, and finally knitting the collar and stitching it), which is way more than I like to spend on finishing an item. When I finish knitting, I would like 99% of the work done. Not so in this case. But the result is nice and even my 15-year old daughter agreed (that's a first). Here's the back:

 

I used 9 balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and knit the second size (35" bust circumference). I also modified the button bands to follow Connie's second Henley sweater, i.e. doubling the button and buttonhole bands to match the doubled collar and hems. It's way nicer than the Interweave Knits version, but that's my opinion -- some people prefer the looser and curlier buttonbands of the original pattern. I really like the detail of the lace pattern:

I wonder if it gives me footballer shoulders? Anyway, I will block it and I will sew buttons on (I will, I promise); the hardest part, which in my case is the slow, tedious and boring finishing is done (the two completed sweaters waiting for over a year in a corner of the room to be finished attest to my lack of finishing will power). I enjoyed the knitting part; fast on the stocking stitch parts, but interesting on the lace part. Having a bit of both is good; I am not sure I would have enjoyed knitting the entire sweater in lace, but just doing the upper parts in lace was perfect.

I'm getting my knitting organized for going away on Saturday -- two weeks in St. Martin, the French part of the island, where we go every winter for March break. This is what it looks like:

   

I know you all hate me now, but this is what keeps me going this winter; the thought of leaving all this cold, endless winter behind for two weeks and enjoy this view. Just the three of us (unfortunately, my son will be deprived for the second year in a row, since he's at university) for the first week, and a friend of my daughter's coming to stay for the second week. Otherwise, she gets bored and obnoxious. The first week, she doesn't care, she's so tired that she sleeps and reads all day long.

So I'm taking sock yarn and sock patterns (Fratello and la Digitessa -- a bit ambitious, I know), and I'm taking my Fifi project with me in the hope that I will somehow finish it while I sit by the pool, sipping something cold and alcoholic. I always end up knitting a lot less while I'm there than I normally do -- I wonder why?

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.

   

Finishing stuff

I finished the Teosinte socks for Colin:

He is happy with them and likes the colour, which is actually in-between the colours showing on these photos. I think the bottom one is the closest in terms of colour. The yarn used was Zen Yarn Garden's Harmony Semi-Solid Sock Yarn club's Huron colourway. It's a really soft yarn with a very subtle change of colours, which really shows the stitch pattern nicely. I knit the foot with 2.75 mm needles (Knitpicks Harmony needles) and the cuff with 2.5 mm needles to accommodate his slim ankles. They came out perfectly and I used most of the yarn, thanks to the toe-up construction.

I finished Clue 1 of the SOTS ii KAL -- so far, so good, although I am falling behind already on clue 2, because I have been busy with other projects. The pattern is not that difficult to follow, I just find the yarn very slippery (Habu bamboo yarn). Here is clue 1 finished:

I was going to start the Fischer sin Fru KAL until I saw I needed a gazillion metres of yarn (actually, about 2,850 metres). I have two problems with this: I would have to buy some lace yarn, as I don't have anywhere near this quantity in any colourway in my stash, and I don't really want to buy more yarn until Madrona. Second, I don't think I will ever get to the end of a shawl pattern that requires that quantity of yarn, as I will probably kill myself from boredom before that. My attention span is not that great. So I will continue collecting the clues and see if I can find anything at Madrona that might suit. Then again, I might forget about it altogether.

I have not started Autumn Rose, because I have finished a UFO lying around since last year: a second pair of Fetching. I had knitted a first pair for my daughter really quickly, then when it came to my pair, I started it, then got fed up with the cable needle and put it aside. More than a year passed, during which I taught myself to cable without a cable needle. So, the other night, I picked them up again and finished them in two evenings:

The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, knit with 4 mm circular needles with the Magic Loop. I used just over a ball, partly because I added an extra set of cables on the hand -- they were too short otherwise. I omitted the picot edge and did a straight bind off. I would like to knit these again, by adding more length to the base, probably two extra sets of cables. These are a quick knit and a popular pattern (over 4,500 projects on Ravelry!)

I went digging further into my UFOs and came up with this:

This is a vest based on the Persian Poppy pattern from Kaffe Fassett's Pattern Library, the pattern of the vest itself is my own. Here is a close-up:

I started this project at least two years ago. The yarns are various types of cotton and mixed fibers, that I pulled from a pile of left-over yarns from various projects, taking several metres, and attaching end to end to create a variegated effect. The shiny yarns were actually left-overs from several cardigans knitted for my mother (in Rowan No Smoking); I started to knit this vest after she passed away in May 2005. I thought of her as I knitted it up and I think it was making me even sadder, so I put it aside. For a long time. I have finally decided to finish it (the front shoulder and all the finishing edges need to be done) for Madrona, so it gives me a goal. With time passing, I am now able to knit it without starting to cry, which is a big improvement.

On a happier finishing note, look at what Sockaholic Katie from Lovesticks sock yarn very generously sent me after I test-knit a sock pattern for her:

Lovesticks sock yarn, in the Briny Deep colourway. Isn't it beautiful?

   

Hyacinth Lace Shawl finished and blocked

On Sunday, I finished my second knitting project of 2008. That was Evelyn Clark's Hyacinth Lace Shawl, knit with Dream in Color Smooshy, Ruby River colourway -- the same exactly as the one she used to knit up the sample appearing in the photos of her pattern. I blocked it yesterday and took out the pins today. Here it is, not showing its colours in all their glory, due to the permanent lack of sunshine that has plagued Toronto; I had to use flash:

Here is the detail of the points -- I used the 3 beads per scallop option:

And here is a detail of the middle of the shawl:

And another of the edge:

Unblocked, it was 33 inches wide by 17 inches high. After blocking, 56 inches long by 26 inches high. Blocking sure added a lot of wingspan to this bird!

It was a very enjoyable knit -- not difficult, had enough variety to prevent boredom and didn't take long to knit. I was wondering if I was going to run short of yarn, as Evelyn Clark says she only had 15 yards left over from her skein, but I was fine. I don't know what yardage I had left over, but I weighed it at 23 grams. Not a lot, but I hate having yarn left over, so that was great.

I have started a new pair of socks for my husband. It's the Teosinte socks from Knitspot, that I am knitting with Zen Yarn Garden's Harmony Semi-Solid Sock Yarn club's Huron colourway:

I am using 2.75 mm, a size larger than recommended because the foot looked a bit tight on 2.5 mm for a man's foot. The pattern is easy to follow and the yarn really soft, in a nicely shaded colour that my husband doesn't recoil from. He wears his hand-knit socks all the time, and since he only has two pairs, I thought it was time to knit him a new one.

And look what I got today in the post!

The Old Mill Knitting Company holds a monthly contest and I won this month's! It's the Sheep Afghan kit that was featured in Knit Simple Holiday 2007. That's what it looks like knitted up:

Isn't it great? There are 22 balls of Naturelle 14-ply and Tussock 14-ply in 6 shades of natural colours. It's really pretty, I can't wait to knit it up! The contest is only open to Canadian residents and being on Ravelry is a bonus, so Canadian knitters should go to the site and sign up for it. And it was even better when my husband said: "Ha! more yarn you ordered!" and I responded: "Actually, I won it, so there!"

Since my New Year resolution was to knit up UFOs, the next UFO I am going to tackle is Fifi, abandoned months ago. After I finish the socks, that is.

Photos of the IK Refined Aran Jacket

It's a grey and ugly day, so the lighting is terrible, but here are photos of the finished product, with real buttons this time:

Details of the saddle shoulder:

And the back:

I promise not to wear a clashing top underneath next time I am modelling a knitted item.

I am progressing well on the Hyacinth shawl, one more repeat of the Hyacinth lace, and I am onto the Ripple Lace Border Beginning. Nothing worth taking a photo of, though. It's just a bigger blob than it was before.

Oh -- and I got some nice yarn today:

Duet Sock Yarns, Skinny, Sweet Amber

Same, in Plié. I bought them on line at A Swell Yarn Shop and I have also subscribed to the Lucky Lurkers Sock of the Month Club. The yarn is really lovely, despite the fact I need more sock yarn like I need a hole in the head. But it was for Christmas and I only ordered two skeins... so I did restrain myself.

New Year and first finished project of 2008

The New Year brought with it a snowstorm to Toronto:

Once the shovelling was done, I sat down to do the finishing on the Aran cardigan, which I finished knitting just a few minutes before 2008 rang in. I knew that if I didn't force myself to do it there and then, it would end up in the pile of the three other "knitting finished but in need of assembly" projects that have been sitting in a corner for... over a year. It took me many hours (which is why I hate finishing), but it was all done last night, except for the buttons, that will be sewn on today.

So here are the specs:

Refined Aran Jacket from Interweave Knits, Winter 2007.

Yarn: Filatura Zara, 11 balls in colour 1466, a bright red colour. It took 1367 metres, a bit more than the 1233 metres it was calling for in the Classic Elite 150. On the other hand, I used smaller needles (3.5 mm and 3.75 mm) to get gauge (the pattern called for 3.75 mm and 4.0 mm needles). I knit it, from start to finish, in 15 days exactly, finishing took me another day. I made the length one inch longer than the pattern in the size I chose (size 34). Here is a detail of the cables running up the front:

What you see next to the stitchholders are the buttons I chose for it. I bought them at the Knitter's Frolic last spring.

I ended up using two different dye lots; I had seven balls of one dye lot, bought months ago, but needed more -- the balls I found were not of the same dye lot. So I used one dye lot for the fronts and back, and the other dye lot for the sleeves (4 balls for the back, 1.5 balls for each front, 2 balls for each sleeve). There is a change in colour, but it's not glaring and I can live with it.

The pattern was clear and well-written. The knit was interesting and went quickly, I love the saddle shoulders. The collar was a bit fiddly on the finishing (the three needle bind-off needs to show on the outside since it was going to be turned over, and the grafting to the back needs to be done from the inside -- of course, I did the opposite until I noticed my mistake as I was turning the collar), but other than that, it was a great knit. Very satisfying and it was over just before I got bored.

Not only that, but when I tried it on, it fit perfectly. It is definitely a first!

Here it is on me, with very sophisticated buttons -- yes, stitch holders do come in handy as buttons.

   

I promise to take better pictures, once I sew the buttons on and when I have better light.

I have two knitting resolutions for the New Year: finish UFOs -- one per month, and knit more from my stash. That is, if I find a pattern I like, I must check all my stash to make sure I don't have a good substitute yarn before I rush to the store and buy more yarn.

No other resolutions, knitting-wise or not. I think two are enough and they're easier to stick to.

And now, I am going back to the Hyacinth shawl, which I abandoned when I started knitting the cardigan. That's my UFO for January!