The Yarn Harlot in Toronto

I finished a couple of projects, and went to see the Yarn Harlot on Friday evening at Indigo on Bay St. I had planned to arrive by 6:15 p.m. (her talk was at 7:00 p.m.), but I got delayed, and by the time I arrived at 6:30 p.m., there were no seats left. Surprise, surprise! Once again, the organizer of the event did not believe how many knitters would show up and had set out about 90 seats. Needless to say, by the time she gave her talk, there were more knitters standing than seated.

This was the second time I saw her. About 15 months ago, during the Knitting Olympics, she did a book signing at the Flying Dragon bookstore on Bayview, just around the corner from where I live. This was before the days hundreds of knitters would show up to see her, but she had a pretty respectable crowd back then already. She was just as funny this time as the last time I saw her, and all her material was new.

I also have a short audio file, about 3 minutes long, but I don't know how to insert it in this blog.

Anyway, she talked for amost an hour, and I had to leave before I could get my book signed, because DH was leaving for Dublin that same evening to visit his mother, and I wanted to say goodbye before he left the house. So, I have photos but not signed book! The line looked really long, and it would have taken easily another hour of standing before I would have got to her, so I don't regret it too much.

On the knitting front, I finished a pair of Seize Diamondbacks (that's the address of the KAL, the pattern is sold on line at Yarn Ball Boogie) in Seacoast Hanpainted Yarns (bought here), colourway Sunrise. I followed the pattern, except for the foot which I shortened and the toes, which I finished with a 3 needle bind-off, because I hate the Kitchener stitch. Here they are when I just started them:

And here they are finished:

 

I really enjoyed knitting them -- not too complicated, but not that plain that they get boring. I knitted them in just a week, knitting a couple of hours every evening. The yarn was beautiful, a blend of 60% merino, 30% bamboo and 10% nylon. And it did not pool at all -- the stripes just varied in width. Here is another view that shows how nicely this handpainted yarn behaved.

I rarely feel like knitting the same pattern twice, but I would knit these again without a problem. The instructions were very clear.

I made some progress on my Bohus -- finished the yoke and am about two thirds of the way through the back.

Here is a close-up of the yoke:

This is definitely a long-term project, especially with the heat we are experiencing at the moment. It becomes uncomfortable to knit big projects with lots of hot wool on one's lap!

I also forgot to mention I finished a little while ago the Viktor sweater from Rowan Magazine #40. It was for my husband, and he can't model it as he is away at the moment. It came out beautifully, knit with the new Rowan Tapestry yarn. I modified the size to fit him -- he is more of a woman's large than a man's small, so I modified as follows: smaller width, longer length, and adjusted sleeves.

And here is the detail:                                       

In other projects, I also finished the Birds of Paradise socks from Sundara Yarn -- another lovely yarn and pleasing pattern, which was transportable (easy to memorize) and took me a little while to finish, since I knit it exclusively when out of the house.

And I finished another project -- the Harlequin jacket! I finally bit the bullet and forced myself to spend a few hours assembling it and blocking it. Here it is:

It was a very interesting knit. I only changed the largest needle size to a smaller one, because I did not want the bottom to be too wide. I know it's a swing coat, but it is better on -- well -- more generously curved women than I. I saw it on one of the vendors at the Knitter's Frolic and it looked stunning on her.

Here is the detail of the top part of the jacket:  

So there -- I do occasionally do finish my projects. And I will not look in the direction of the two other sweaters waiting to be blocked and assembled.... Anyway, the yarn I used was Zara merino in three colours of blue, bought at Romni Wools and on E-Bay. It used 22 balls of yarn, I think I have one ball left over. It was a quick knit because it never got boring. I started it at the beginning of February, and finished the knitting because leaving on holidays Mid-March. The finishing only took two days (after almost two months of sitting helplessly in a plastic bag...)

I have started a pair of socks for my husband in STR Stormy weather, with a pattern from More Sensational Knittted Socks (Baby Fern, a 12-stitch pattern), I cast on 72 stitches with 2.5 mm needles and I will know tomorrow whether I am being generous enough with the number of stitches, as I will make him try it on when he comes home tomorrow. I like the yarn, but right now it is pooling like crazy. Took a photo, then my camera battery died, so I have to recharge it before I can upload. Stormy weather is all shades of grey, a colourway which met with his approval. Boring as hell, but I don't have to wear them, so I guess it's okay.

That's it for now! Photos to come when my camera battery is charged up again.