Do you KIP?

June 11 is International Knit in public day!



I'll make sure to do some public knitting on that day! If any Montrealer wants to participate, let me know and we'll meet somewhere. Hey maybe the weather will actually be warm and sunny then and we'll be able to finally meet outside!

Just one more stitch

I changed the name of my blog, because I didn't like the last one. Not sure about this one either, but it does describe me well. I can't count the number of times I went to bed wayyyy too late... "Just one more stitch", I'd say. Yeah.

I was in big need of retail therapy last night so I coupled it with sock therapy and got myself a new book:


It's Socks Socks Socks, edited by Elaine Rowley. I LOVE so many of the patterns in that book.

As you can see in the pic, I've already cast on for a pair: the feather and fan socks, inspired by a recent post in The yarn harlot's blog. I'm using the fleece artist yarn that Amanda, my not-secret pal sent me. I had never knitted with size 1 needles before. Tiny. And I realized that I must be a tight knitter, which isn't good when you're dealing with tiny little sticks like that. Oh well. You may also have noticed that my needles are aqua. I think that makes me cool or something.

Of course, while I was in Chapters yesterday, I couldn't help but look at every single book in the knitting section (is it just me or it's getting bigger every week? not that I'm complaining or anything). I had seen it numerous times before but I had never really looked at it. But last night I did. Meg Swansen's A Gathering of Lace. I LOVE IT! I WANT IT! IT'S 45$! Eeek. Ok, I want it. I'll get it. Someday. I badly want to make a shawl anyways.

Another book that I want. Except this one wasn't in the store, unfortunately. I doubt I would have resisted. Socks! If, by chance, there's a millionnaire reading this, it will be my pleasure to offer you the gift of giving by letting you buy me a few knitting books. I also accept yarn. Email me. We'll talk.

I finished the RibbonXback top from Knitty!



Analysis

1. It is not flattering. I should have made the XS.
2. You can't see it but it's sort of see-through. Ooops.
3. It should have been longer.
4. I should do more crunches.

Here's the back:



***

I still haven't decided if I'm going to join the Secret Pal 5 thing. I had so much fun in the past two SPs that I really want to do it again, but money is a bit tight... hmmmm. *ponders*

Ah well. Probably not.

***

Meeting the Montreal knitters on Sunday, weee!

Did you miss me?

Honey, I'm home!



I gotta say that it was much more work than a vacation. I worked 12+ hours every day (yes, on weekends too) and I visited Paris in the morning and on my only day off (the Sunday before I left). I got back home last night at 9:30 but it felt like middle of the night to me so I fell asleep right away. I got up at 6:30 this morning thinking it was the middle of the day of course.

I was working in Paris' Red Light district, can you believe that? The street was like this: sex shop, porn DVD store, office, peep show place, yarn store, more sex shops, french hookers...

Hmm did I mention yarn stores on my street? Yep. But unfortunately, they were always closed whenever I had some free time to actually go out. So no French yarn for me. I worked a little on the ribbon top while I was there, mostly while watching bad French TV in my hotel room at night (now i'm not saying that all French TV is bad of course, only whatever was playing between midnight and 2am. I did get to see Lost in Translation, one of my favourite movies ever, though).

Next Sunday = knitting meetup! I really can't wait. I doubt that the ribbon top will be finished, but maybe if I knit non-stop until then... ;) (Unfortunately, I have to get back to work tomorrow and Thursday so that's leaves me only a little bit of knitting time since Sunday).

Special message for Lee-Ann: I just learned the news while reading past messages from the montreal yahoo group. I'm keeping you in my thoughts and wishing you the best. I know things will be all right for you. Oh and I refuse to believe you're 38, just like I refuse to believe that any of the girls in anti-wrinkle cream ads is a day over 25.

Markers and ribbons

I finally got around to taking pics of my last Secret Pal gift:


Some yummy Lamb's pride, bamboo circular needles, beautiful stitch markers and equally beautiful earrings. There was also a notebook with cute cats on it but I forgot to add it to the picture :(

A close-up of the stitch markers:



***

Yesterday, I went to my second knitting meetup. And once again, I had lots of fun (I think I talked a little bit more this time). There were six of us, all happily knitting, talking about tattoos, piercings and the habit that old people have of talking about constipation all the time.

I had made a mistake in the fleece artist socks and frogged them. Instead of starting over, I decided to cast-on for the ribbon top from the current issue of Knitty. I am loving this project. It's going on quite fast. I think it'll come with me to Paris.

Progress:



I'm already looking forward to the next meeting!

***

So this blog is taking a two-weeks break! See ya around the 23rd!

I sock a lot

I finished the socks at the beginning of the week but I was too busy to post a pic until now. Here it goes:



Very comfy. They'll keep my feet warm in the plane on Monday.

And I began a new pair, with the Fleece Artist yarn that my Secret Pal sent.

Did I say Secret Pal? No, I mean Amanda, my not-secret-anymore Pal!

I got another great package on Thursday. Not only did I get a card which revealed her identity, I also got a bunch of cool stuff! Unfortunately, the batteries of my camera died so I don't have a pic (maybe tomorrow). I got two skeins (1 red, 1 black) of Lamb's Pride Worsted so I can make the Poster Boy bag from SNB Nation. I also got the necessary needles to make it (bamboo of course, now I'm addicted ;) ). I got a cute notebook with cats on it. AND I got some awesome stitch markers and a pair of earrings that come from Amanda's online store, Homebaked. The earrings match perfectly my favourite ring and necklace. I love everything and I'm pretty sure that I got the best Secret Pal out of all the participants. :p

I have no willpower

I know I said I wouldn't cast-on for the second sock before I had worked on some other WIPs, but... well let's just say I'm only a few inches from decreasing for the toe on sock #2.

But it's not my fault, I swear! My mom kept teasing me for wearing just one sock yesterday. But but mom! The sock WANTED to be worn!

The good thing about that is that I'll have a new pair of socks to bring with me to Paris. YES!