Knitting Musclemom

Progress on the renovations front

Well, the office is still a mess, but it's a better mess. The bookcases were ripped out, drywall replaced, crown moulding put in and the floor put in where the bookcases were. Tomorrow, baseboard along one wall, quarter round, one last coat of paint on one wall.

 

This is the wall where the old bookcases were:

The room looks twice as big as it used to be. Do you like my new desk (with drawers!)?

 

I'm knitting to keep my sanity amidst the chaos. Just finished this:

 

Alexis (Ravelry link), from Rowan Colourscape Folk. Started and finished in two weeks. And this:

Oliver socks for my husband, knit with Tanis Fiber Arts, in the Chestnut colourway. Love the yarn, pattern advancing well so far.

And here's a random photo just because:

  

Domestic chaos (my house is a mess)

 
For the three people who are still checking on my blog every once in a while, your patience is finally rewarded. I had actually planned to post yesterday, but the project I have started on interfered with my plans, so it's today instead. Not that you care, you've been waiting so long that 24 hours wouldn't have made a difference.

Rather than try to cover the last four months (five, you say? you checked the date of the last post? You didn't believe me? you were so right...), I am starting from now and pretend that nothing happened during that time.

Having spent the last couple of years looking for a slightly better home than the one we live in, one with a garage, a fantastic kitchen, with a south-facing garden, and no neighbours within five feet from us, we have finally come to the following conclusion:

- the houses we like are too expensive

- the houses we can afford are worse than the one we are living in

- house-hunting is a depressing exercise in Toronto

- people go through a lot of purging of personal stuff before they put their house up for sale

- sellers renovate their kitchen BEFORE they sell their house

- people don't use their garage to park their car, they amass all their junk in it and run out of room to put anything at all in it. Might as well have storage and no garage.

Soooo... we have decided to stay where we are, the house we have been living in for the last 20 years (yes, we are a bit afraid of moving and we would rather procrastinate). But we procrastinate no more. We are renovating our kitchen, which will happen either on this side of Christmas or next Spring, depending on when the kitchen designer calls us back with final quotes, and we recover from the heart attack.

The other room that is a problem is the office -- here's one side:

 

and here's the other:

 

These are very dark and large built-in bookcases that were there when we bought the house. 20 years later, I find them, well... large and dark, and I would like to reclaim the room as more of a sitting/office than a big mess of books, papers and other junk.

So, a few hours after these photos were taken, this is what we had:

  

Which means they are now ready to be ripped out of the wall tomorrow. This is great. A minor inconvenience -- have a look at my dining room:

 
Well I had to put all the crap somewhere, didn't I? Anyway, as I said, tomorrow, bookcases ripped out, large filing cabinet going into the basement, and then, eventually, putting dry wall, inserting floor where the cabinets were, re-painting. Later even, fitting nice Ikea bookcases (the tall slim ones, with nice glass doors), installing a window seat where the window is (only full south window on this floor), removing the large desk in the corner and replacing it with a much smaller table, creating an oasis of peace in this room where the dogs can sleep during the day and I can have a smaller workspace. That's the theory, anyway. The three hours spent at IKEA yesterday really gave me some great ideas.

Wish me luck tomorrow and hope I will still be married by the end of this renovation project. My spouse doesn't do too well with chaos and upsetting the natural balance of things. On the other hand, I told him moving would be a lot more traumatic and a ton more expensive. So he has to deal with his angst.

As for the dining room, let's just say I won't be entertaining anytime soon...

Moka, throughout the lugging of books, files, and more books and magazines and crap, only had one thing in mind:

 
Throw me the ball! Throw me the ball! Throw me the ball!

As for Tigger, he decided it was too much for him and he slept through it all.

May update

Yup, it's me, back from the land of the silent and the procrastinators.

The holiday was great and I came back with renewed energy and enthusiasm. In the meantime, Spring arrived, which always cheers me up. The long winter is finally over, the dogs agree to go out again without complaining and they spend time in the backyard chasing squirrels.

With arrival of Spring came the dreadful income tax preparation week of hell, where I proceed to do 12 months of bookkeeping, followed by the preparation of 4 income tax returns: my own, my husband's, my son (because of transfer of tuition fees credits to us) and my daughter (same reason). This year, I actually finished more than 24 hours before the deadline and we are both waiting for a refund (our quarterly instalments were quite hefty based on the previous year's returns and we were hit hard in 2008 by the stock market downturn -- as were so many other people).

I took a workshop with Amy Swenson at the Purple Purl on Photography for Knitters. It was a great class and I learnt how to improve my photography skills when it comes to finished objects (and just plain yarn, for that matter). Here are a couple of photos I took of a cardigan I finished some time ago (the Amelia cardigan from Knitty) that I was happy with:

 

 

I learnt that it's not always necessary to have a model around to take a good photo of your knitted item. It does help, though.

I knit every day and have little to show for it. Too many projects on the go, some frogging, general inability to complete anything. This is the one project I pull out most often at the moment, determined to finish it before next February:

Yes, this is a February Lady Sweater (Ravelry link), started at the beginning of February. I'm not enjoying it, and it has nothing to do with the pattern, which is fine. It's the yarn -- I bought it at Romni Wools, where the light is bad at the best of times. In the store, it looked like a subtle variation of lovely greys. In the actual daylight, it's a boring shade of grey. And the yarn is not the softest, for a merino. It's Cascade Yarns, The Heathers 220. It was my first time buying Cascade and frankly, I was disappointed, but it really was the colour more than anything. Anyway, I should know better: I have never met a cheap yarn that I have enjoyed knitting with -- go ahead, call me a yarn snob, I don't care. I will finish this sweater one of these days, but I have not enjoyed the experience.

 

I went to the Knitter's Frolic last week-end and had a great time. Bought lots of Tanis Fiber Arts, she has really lovely yarn in vivid colours. She has the yarn weights cleverly organized by band colour : the yellow labels are DK weight, the blue labels are fingering weight, the green labels aran weight and the pinks labels are laceweight. She has an etsy store, but I find the shipping rates to Canada (from Montreal!) are a bit on the high side ($9.00 per item, and $2.00 for each additional item), so I won't be ordering from that site. Fortunately, the Purple Purl sells her yarn in Toronto (not in all weights) so this is where I will go next time I want some more of her yarn. Her yarn and yarn colours remind me a lot of Dream in Color, it's as pretty if not prettier. 

That's it for now. Hopefully, the next update will happen before summer!

Holidays - and definitely no knitting content

I am leaving, with my family, at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning (6:20 a.m.) for a sun destination. For the fourth year in a row, we are returning to St.-Martin (French side) to a rented villa, for two weeks. Yes, 14 days of Caribbean heat. I have not packed yet, other than organize my yarn to go (always the most difficult part). After having rented the same villa for 3 years, we are trying a new place (the other villa sold right after we left and the new owners have not put it on the rental market yet), just a bit downhill from where we were before.

 

It's a bit smaller, but you can hear the ocean:

 

The kitchen is really nice:

 

And this is our bedroom:

 

I know you all hate me by now -- I really need to dig it in, don't I?

I am so tired, the winter was one of the most stressful I have lived in years; my sister is getting worse. She can't talk at all now and she screams out of frustration when nobody can understand her. She has lost a lot of weight and eats very little, only liquids. She has refused to be fitted with a feeding tube (which I can understand), but she lives the agony of being a prisoner of her own body. At night, she will cry on for hours -- she needs to be moved every hour or so, and she has trouble swallowing her own saliva. Her husband refuses any help, other than a therapist who comes a couple of hours every day, and we are helpless. When people tell me we treat our own pets more humanly than we treat terminally ill people, I now understand what they are talking about.

I have finished another UFO (no photos, too busy packing) and added a couple more projects. Knitting has definitely been great stress-relief therapy for me. I know that sometime in the future, I will look back and be glad it's in the past, but when you are living it, you think it will never end.

To better days.. I hope you are all having some form of vacation or staycation and we can, in any event, look forward to what might just be an early spring, at least here in Toronto.

I may be blogging from St. Martin, we do have Wi-Fi, and make everyone sick with more photos of hot, sunny weather. I think every Canadian should be entitled to at least a week of paid vacation in the sun to reward us for the awfully long and cold winters we have to endure!

Madrona (suite et fin, as we say in French)

Well, I am back home and recovering from Madrona. I edited the last post I wrote, because I made some unnecessary remarks in it. I only realized that the next day, when it finally dawned on me that the fact I had been freezing for the last 48 hours had nothing to do with the temperature in the hotel (which was fine), but was due to the fact I was running a fever. The trip home on Monday was a relief, because Colin pampered me as soon as I got home and I have been resting and getting better.

So I got my 15 minutes of knitting fame as the "anonymous woman" the Yarn Harlot wrote about in the P.S. of her post dated February 17th. It was very funny to read it and recognize myself in it. I did indeed see her and recognize her (despite what some people thought), but I thought, after four days at Madrona and the fact we had to get up at the uncivilized time of 5:00 a.m. to get to the airport and catch the plane to Toronto, she wanted some peace and quiet. If she wanted to talk, she would, and if she preferred to be left alone, that was fine. Anyway, I am shy myself and I wouldn't dream of going up to her and speaking to her; the irony is that I would not have hesitated to talk to her if she had been a total unknown and I had seen her knitting; fear of rejection, I suppose...

My last class with Cat Bordhi on Sunday was, as usual, a blast. She is a woman full of talent and totally bursting with creativity, and she has no ego. The day flew by and I said good-bye to her, definitely hoping to see her this summer at the Sock Summit, which is taking place in Portland in August. I took photos, but they did not come out too well, this is the least bad of them:

 

I saw her talking and hugging a beautiful woman who looked vaguely familiar, in the hallway just before class started. I asked if that was Sivia Harding and she did confirm it was indeed her. And there I am, knitting one of her patterns. The photos I have seen of her don't do her justice; she is much better-looking in reality.

I have downloaded photos from my little Sony camera, so here are some from Ruth Sorensen's class:

 

And the little sample I knitted during her class:

   

These are from Vivian Hoxbro's Domino Knitting Class (Vivian is in the middle):

 

 

Here I am modelling one of her creations (we were all wearing one of her garments and group photos were taken, but the photographer forgot to take one with my camera):

 

And here is a photo taken of Betsy Hershberg during Thursday's class:

And two of the samples I knitted (out of focus):

 

Speaking of Betsy -- I usually assume only a handful of people read this blog, so imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail today from Betsy, who was given a copy of my previous blog post by one of her students. She wrote a very kind e-mail in response to the comments I made, and the least I can do is to post part of her e-mail here (I did tell her I would):

I am so sorry that you found your experience in my class less satisfying than you had hoped for. It is always my desire to provide a wealth of information along with a fun experience in my classes and clearly this class was less than that for you. It was clear early on that you are quite an accomplished knitter and I wasn't sure whether you were being quiet because you were so focused (and quickly successful) or if the pace was causing you frustration. Now I know! I appreciate your understanding that the diverse skill level of students in the class had something to do with this problem. As for your other issues:

 

1) I take full responsibility and apologize for the "type and paste" problems in the handout - won't bore you with the reasons for them as in the end they are my fault. 

 

2) As for not being on top of my game, that too must be true but you should know that I was trying to push through an oncoming bout of flu, a poor decision that landed me in the ER of the Tacoma General Hospital all day on Saturday on IV fluids and meds and a scary high fever. But having looked forward to my first trip to Madrona for so long, I just didn't want to disappoint anyone. Hopefully, this is not a decision I'll ever have to make again, especially so far from home!

 

3) Lastly, I usually do bring in samples of my work that illustrate the use of the techniques we learned and can only blame my feverish brain on the oversight. I wish you had asked for them for I most certainly would have gotten them between sessions.

 

Bottom line, I value my student's experience in my classes and I'm sorry that yours was a "less than you expected" one. I appreciate and value all feedback and hope always to use it to the benefit of future classes. And if the opportunity arises, I hope you will give me another chance to provide you with a "more than you expected" experience. It would be my pleasure to see you in class again.

 

I was very touched she actually bothered to write to me and I really appreciated her detailed and comprehensive response. I think this is makes a great teacher -- to be able to receive criticism and to respond constructively. Needless to say, I will take a class with her again in the future.

Stalking the knitting stars

Over the last few years, I have attended quite a lot of knitting classes in Canada and the U.S. When I used to be in university, I loved studying and I could have been an eternal student if the realities of having to earn a living had not interfered with my plans.

I have transferred this love of learning to knitting classes, hence my assiduous attendance to a whole range of class settings, be it huge venues like Stitches, tiny ones like Gone Stitchin' and medium ones, like the Knitter's Frolic classes. I have of course progressed and my taste became more refined and demanding over the years, but of all types of settings, Madrona is the one I like best. It's small enough that you don't feel too lost in a crowd, but it's large enough that it attracts the heavy-weights in the knitting kingdom. I'm talking Cat Bordhi, Lucy Neatby, Nancy Bush, Evelyn Clark, and the like. The hotel, on top of that, is really comfortable and quiet (at least, it has been for me so far).

This is my second year in Madrona. Of course, as a total unknown, I don't expect a lot of recognition from any of the instructors, even if sometimes, this is the third or fourth class I have taken with them. After all, they see hundreds of students every year, so why would they remember me? I don't like to go up to them, saying "I took a class from you 6 months ago", and get this blank stare from them, and their polite response of "Oh, that's nice". I did once, silly me, and I felt like a right fool when the instructor in question looked at me, with slight alarm in her eyes, and tried to get away as fast as possible from me. Yeah, I might be a stalker after all... you never know.

I like taking classes with instructors to see their teaching style, especially the ones people rave about, to see exactly what it is people are raving about. I took a class with Lucy Neatby for that purpose last year, and boy, I was not disappointed; she is vivacious, energetic, charming, a bundle of energy full of knowledge. Go to her classes if you have the opportunity, people, you will not waste your time and your money. Sometimes, I will even take a class although I already know the technique, such as Vivian Hoxbro's Domino Knitting class. I have read the book, heck I even knitted an entire sweater in mitered squares using her technique :

 

But I wanted to hear "de vive voix" the expert talking about it, and sure enough, I did learn some very valuable tips and finer points about the technique. She saw I already understood the method and she very generously gave me something else to experiment on, which I truly appreciated, even though I was perfectly prepared to follow the class she taught. She is an entertaining person and she had a ton of garments we all ended up trying on and modelling (sorry, photos are on my little Sony camera and I am very smart because I forgot to bring the cable connecting it to my laptop, so they will have to wait until next time).

Betsy Hershberg (Bead Knitting on the Edge) is another one I wanted to see. She was definitely not at the top of her form (and I guess the fact she called in sick today may indicate why), she had an unfortunate group of students that was way too mixed -- some of which could not read the handout in front of them. "How many stitches do I cast on?" "23 stitches". "And I am supposed to do garter stitch?" "No, it's in stockinette, read your handout". "But am I supposed to string the beads first?" "Yes, it's on your handout, read it". "And now, what do I do?" "Follow the instructions on your handout". And so on. I was ready, about 20 minutes into the class (and this was an all-day class) to jump over the table and personally strangle the small bunch of people who were reading-instructions-challenged. Her written instructions were fine, but there were a few copy-and-past mistakes towards the end that messed up the people who were ahead (yes, I was part of them, and yes, I know I am supposed to wait but I had no other knitting to do and help me cope, so I went ahead), and she had very, very few samples to show. Now, any good instructor brings a ton of stuff with them. Even Vivian Hoxbro and Ruth Sorensen, who had to travel from far-away lands to teach here had a LOT of samples with them, so the distance to be travelled and the constriction of luggage limits are obviously not a deterrent to them. While it was an okay class, and I did learn useful techniques, I found the day very slow.

Ruth Sorensen was another deal altogether. I probably came to the class with false expectations (the class is called "Designing with Self-Striping Yarns"), as I thought she would talk about tricks and tips regarding the process itself. In fact, we were to choose a motif to knit with Kauni yarn and knit a sample with it. It was more of a knitting get-together than a structured class. I found the little aside she did with some of us on using Microsoft Excel to do charts the most useful part of the day. She is a charming person and I really like her, but I did not really get much instruction. But then again, it may just have been false expectations on my part. Still, when you are paying around $120 U.S. for a class, you do expect to be taught something for the largest part of the day, not sit around and chat.

I have photos on all these classes that I will post upon my return -- tomorrow, I take a class with Cat Bordhi. She is a well-known quantity, as I spent 3 days with her in June at Camp Stitches, learning everything I ever wanted to know about Hybrid Sock Architecture. She is a lovely person and I have learnt a lot from her in every class I have taken.

Here are some photos of Cat Bordhi's talk in this word-heavy post:

 

She sollicited Tina (Blue Moon Fiber Arts) and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's help in a very silly sketch:

 

It was actually quite funny, in her interpretation of the origins of knitting:

 

Yes, Stephanie is indeed eating wool and finding not very tasty (which is why, according to Cat, it got used for knitting and clothing instead):

 

I did not go to the banquet, I wanted a quiet evening tonight. But look what was waiting for me in my hotel room when I got back from class today:

 

Isn't that lovely? Colin was supposed to join me in Madrona on Thursday evening, but because of our moody 16-year old daughter in full existential crisis and for reasons too long to mention, he had to cancel his plans at the last minute and stayed in Toronto. So he had these three cute (and delicious) chocolates delivered to my room today. I have been with him nearly 25 years and he still manages to surprise me (in a good way!)

Mary Jane

So here's my next finished project, a WIP that had been languishing since November on my needles:

 

Name: Mary Jane, from Twist Collective's Winter Edition

Yarn used: Louisa Harding Grace hand-dyed (Ravelry link), 50% merino, 50% silk, colour 3. While the pattern called for approximately 720 yards of yarn, I had to use almost 1100 yards to complete the sweater in this particular yarn (10 skeins, with more than half of the last skein left over).

Size: a combination of medium and small -- should have chosen small or even extra-small throughout.

Started: 29 November 2008

Finished: 19 January 2009

Apart from the frustration of running out of yarn (I had bought more than what the pattern called for, but had to get 2 skeins more to finish it), which is probably due to substituting the yarn, I really enjoyed the knitting. The pattern is knit from the top down and requires minimal finishing. Alternating the snake skin stitch with regular stockinette prevented boredom from setting in, and there are some pretty details (see close-up of the shoulder).

Here is a close-up of the snake skin stitch:

 

The finished product, however, doesn't overjoy me. It's a bit too.... girly for me. The sleeves are a bit too puffy for my taste, and I realize that I don't like half sleeves. Yes, I should have known that before hand, right? I have never owned a sweater with half sleeves, and I realize now that it's probably because I'm not attracted to them in the first place.

The nicest part is the top shaping:

 

Of course, it is greatly helped by the padded bra....

But all in all, no, it's not one of these finished projects that I will wear much. Again, I'm a process knitter, and I end up wearing very few of my finished projects, so it's okay. No rolling of the eyes, please -- yes, it may seem totally idiotic to a lot of people to spend so much time knitting something I will not wear, but it's the pleasure I get from the knitting that is most important. There are lovely sweaters out there that would look great on me, but I would rather poke my eyes out than knit them, because they are incredibly boring, or the yarn would make me cry, or the pattern would just irritate me. Ah, the contradictions that we knitters are made of...

One note about the yarn: it's nice, it's soft, but there were knots in the middle of a skein, and I came across two skeins that had meters and meters of yarn that was not properly spun; I don't know how to describe it, but it had tufts here and there that actually show on the knitting (one of the sleeves mostly). While I liked the texture of the yarn, and what it's made of, I would not buy it again. I HATE coming across knots in the middle of my knitting and find it cheap of yarn manufacturers to stick them in there. I am in the middle of knitting a hat and just came across a big knot in the middle of my Sublime Cashmere Aran ball -- why, oh why must they do that? I know Noro has the habit of leaving knots, but Louisa Harding? Sublime? What is the world coming to? Ah, the drama of it all...

Moka understands my plight and is deeply concerned:

Amelia cardigan and next WIP

I finished the Amelia cardigan on the 6th, then blocked it; yesterday, I got nice pewter buttons at Lettuce Knit, chosen by Laura Chau who works there and who is the designer of the cardigan. I sewed then on yesterday and today, I wore it for the first time. I am often disappointed with a finished project because it rarely meets my rather perfectionist tastes, but I have to admit that I absolutely love this cardigan. I cannot find fault with it and have already received compliments today from people who couldn't believe I knit it myself (yes, it is supposed to be a compliment when it comes from non-knitters). Here is the front (sorry for the poor light, it's not exactly sunny outside):

 

and here is the back:

 

And here is a bunch of more detailed shots (feel free to skip once you get bored):

   

Pretty buttons:

 

Pretty colour:

 

A sleeve:

 

And the finished look (please ignore the face -- why do I always look pissed off when I take pictures of myself?):

 

I am sooo happy with it -- thank you Laura for a great design!

All full of excitement for another finished product that will meet my expectations, I have now turned to the next project waiting on the needles since November (I am attacking my WIPs in reverse order, following the LIFO -- last in, first out -- principle; it's fresher in my memory that way). This is Mary Jane in progress, from Twist Collective's Winter 2008:

I started it on November 29th, and abandoned it some time in December to knit hats and Amelia instead. The yarn is Louisa Harding Grace hand-dyed (50% merino, 50% silk). This project is also knit in one piece, but this time, from the top down. Nothing too complicated, it just takes an awful lot of time to knit an entire sweater on 3.25 mm needles. I do prefer the finished result that smaller needles produce, but it does get a tad boring. Here is a detail of the textured stitch:

   

Again, sorry for the light, I only seem to take pictures when it's cloudy outside. I have made good progress on it, and hopefully, I shall remain faithful to it... for the time being. Unless something shiny and pretty makes me look the other way and cast on another project.

It is now the 8th of January and I have not bought any yarn since the beginning of the year. I have really made an effort not to fall to the seducing calls of new sock clubs and yarn on sale (did you see Little Knits is having a 53% off sale on Debbie Bliss Cathay?), and I have given myself the goal of not buying any yarn until Madrona in February. I will try, but I don't promise anything. Is there a Yarn Addicts Anonymous group out there I could join? I will continue with Blue Moon Fiber's STR club because I have participated in it since the beginning (which is not really a good enough reason, but hey, any excuse works), and I have joined a lace club, the 2009 Shakespeare in Lace club from Wooly Wonka Fibers. That was back in November, and I can't even remember why I joined it, but there must be some incredibly important reason that motivated me to sign up (probably something in the shiny and pretty department, that usually does it for me). Oh yes, I remember why, there were words like "sparkling beads", "silk/cashmere", and names like Anne Hanson, Sivia Harding and Miriam Felton. I will probably sign up for the Loopy Ewe sock club lottery, and let fate decide whether I get in or not. And that's it. Nothing else. Well, unless it's really exciting... but no. I will be strong. I hope.

Amelia

So, for my first WIP, I present the Amelia cardigan:

 

It's a pattern by Laura Chau, published in the last issue of Knitty. It is knit in one piece from the bottom up; once you reach the armholes, you knit the two sleeves and attach them to the body of the cardigan. I am enjoying the knitting, despite stupid mistakes I made because I wasn't paying attention to the instructions and which forced a lot of ripping back to the first five inches of the body, when I was already starting the buttonholes (11 inches into the sweater), and ripping back half a sleeve because I started the increases too early.

I am knitting the second size (34" finished measurement) on 4.5 mm and 5 mm needles and I am using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in the Bittersweet colourway. This is a really soft yarn and the variegation of the yarn is subtle, so it doesn't detract from the stitch pattern. The cuffs are 5 inches of garter, which I shortened to 2 inches, just a personal preference for shorter cuffs:

  

I started this project on December 17th, interrupted by my son's scarf, but there is a good chance I will actually finish it in the not too distant future. I haven't grown tired of it (yet) and there is just enough variety in the pattern to hopefully keep my attention focussed. This is my first Laura Chau pattern, but it won't be my last. She writes very clear instructions and her patterns are a refreshing change from the knitting 4-pieces-sweaters that I usually knit.

Sassy Bead Company

I forgot to add for those who live in Toronto:

The Sassy Bead Company (2076 Yonge Street) is closing its doors at the end of January. On their website, it says they are moving, but they are in fact closing for good! I happened to pass by it as I was going to have lunch at the Jaipur Grille and saw the sign. If you use beads for knitting, don't forget to go and get yourselves some beads. The ones in bulk (size 6 or 8) are offered at 3 for the price of 2. Yes, I bought a few, no, I bought a lot.. but they are sooo pretttyyy...

And no, I did not buy the entire stock, there is a ton left.