Mystery solved!

I finished the September 09 Mystery Sock:





Pattern: Fox Faces socks aka September 09 Mystery Sock, by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts, fingering weight (I LOVE THAT YARN)
Needles: 2.25 mm DPNs
Notes: Knit two at a time on two sets of DPNs. I made the leg a bit shorter (5 pattern repeats instead of 7).

I'm very happy with the socks and knitting a mystery pattern definitely was a challenge. I was scared I wouldn't like the result, but fortunately, I do. But I knew that with Nancy Bush, I would probably like it.

I cast on for a new project, that I wasn't able to photograph properly. I did my best:



Pattern is Flora and I'm using leftovers from my Fake Isle Hat. I'm making it for my aunt who is currently battling breast cancer. I already made her a hat Parrotfish during the summer, but I want to knit her something warmer.

I'm also trying to decide on my new sock project for Sockdown October. In October, we can knit:

a) Holiday stockings
b) Man socks (it has to be designed specifically for a man)
c) Socks for a Cause (proceeds from the sale of the pattern has to go to a cause)
d) Any sock designed by the designer of the month, Jeannie Cartmel

My problem is that I don't think I'll have time to knit more than one pair and I have too many options.

I want to make the Falling Snow Stocking. I like the Paul Atwell socks (man socks). I also like Having Hope (proceeds donated to cancer research). And I like a couple of Jeannie Cartmel patterns such as Starflower, Magic Mirror and Summer Sliding.

I don't know which one to choose. Yesterday, Having Hope was winning. Today, it's the holiday stocking. I have no idea. I also want to start a pair of Go Habs Go socks to knit during the Habs games (that won't be part of the Sockdown challenge). Stay tuned!

Habsolutely fantastic

Can you smell it? The beginning of hockey season is right around the corner. Tonight is the last preseason game and in a few days, October 1st, my beloved Habs will play their first real game of the season. I can't wait!

I had tickets for Thursday's game against Boston. Unfortunately, my new favourite player wasn't playing.


Brian Gionta ♥♥♥♥♥

I still enjoyed the game, even though we lost. I took a few pics but the stupid net ruined them all.


Plekanec ♥♥♥♥♥


My favourite goalie Jaroslav Halak ♥♥♥♥♥






I was seated close to Joël, Jacques and Alain from RDS.



I ♥ Youppi


Patrice Brisebois announced he was retiring and got the Jean-Béliveau trophy.

Sorry about the lack of knitting content. Expect a sock-related post soon.

Two at a time

I finished a pair of socks last night, like I had planned.



Pattern: None
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Multi, in Tucson
Needles: Two at a time on two 2.25 mm circulars

This is my second pair knit two at a time on two circs, and it's definitely not my favourite method. I like that when I'm done, I'm done (don't need to knit a second sock), but I still prefer my DPNs.

Today's goals

It looks like I'm going to have a ME day, since my boyfriend is leaving me by myself to go hang out with the guys from Metallica (cause he's cool like that).

So I made myself a list of goals for the day, some fun ones and not-so-fun ones.

1. Go to the gym
2. Do laundry (you don't want to know how many loads I need to do. We don't seem to have any clean clothes left)
3. Finish my Tucson socks (I'm at the toes, I can do it)
4. Cast-on for one of the Christmas gifts
5. Watch the Habs game on RIS
6. Read a magazine in the bath

I also need to resist the temptation to go to Effiloché for some yarn therapy.

Startitis again?

It's happening. Startitis. I can feel it coming.

I've been wanting to start projects like crazy lately but I'm resisting so far. I'm a slow knitter and if I start too many things, it takes me forever to have anything finished.

But today I saw the Honeybee Cardigan and I fell in love. Then I read the magic word, "seamless", and I fell in love HARD. I really really want to make it, plus I need something fun to make me forget that I'm still not pregnant after a year of trying (I don't really want to talk about it).

So. Do I cast on? Or not?

I first want to finish my first sock in progress, but I should have it done by next week. And my Nancy Bush mystery sock is right on schedule (I finished clue #3 on the first sock in one evening last night, and I'll work on sock #2 tomorrow). All my other WIPs are on hold indefinitely because I'm just not into them. Sooooo, I'm due to start something new any day now.

However, I have many projects on my to-do list. I want to make the Shifting Sands Scarf for my mom (for Christmas) and the Flora hat for my aunt who's battling breast cancer (also for Christmas or sooner). AND I want to make the Potpourri mittens for myself. *sigh* Too many beautiful patterns, too litle time.

(This post was brought to you by a Wednesday night and a bottle of wine. Because I'm worth it).

Ps/ Congrats to Kate-the-enabler on her Little Miss Enabler!!! :)

Building a Mystery

In the... five years or so I've been knitting, I've fallen in love with many yarns. Sometimes it was love at first sight, or at first touch, other times, it started with a like and slowly transformed itself into love. Of course, no matter how much I've loved them, I could never remain faithful, but the yarns didn't mind sharing me so all was good.

But now. Now I think I found THE ONE. I am passionately, madly in love with Tanis Fiber Arts' sock yarn, so much so that I need to declare my love publicly. I LOVE YOU YELLOW YARN!

(As much as I love it, I know I won't be faithful to this one either. Hey, I'm only human).

I've been working on the Nancy Bush mystery sock since we got the first clue on September 1st. The first clue was short and easy (and it included a braid!).



I was able to knit clue #1 on both socks in a couple of days. So I was really happy when we got clue #2 on September 8.



Clue #2 is finished on sock #1, I'll work on sock #2 on the weekend. I'm loving the sock! The only modification I've made so far is that I only knit 5 pattern repeats instead of 7.

I can't wait to see clue #3 (I think we'll turn the heel). This mystery thing is fun!

ETA: I forgot to take a pic of the back of the sock. It's a K1P1 rib for the first three pattern repeats and then it switches to stockinette for four repeats. Since I'm making mine shorter, I did the rib for two repeats and stockinette for three. I think it looks neat.

Stuff to knit with...

So I took the time to photograph the yummy yarn that was in that box I posted in my last post.

First: sock yarn!



Knit Picks Essential (now called Stoll, but it still says Essential on the label). From left to right, the colours are: Grass, Mermaid, Buckskin, Plum Tweed, Pumpkin and Sprinkle Heather.

I also got three skeins of Palette:



Colours are Masala (top), Cream and Sky and I plan to use it for a very special pair of mittens. Can you guess which one? Clue: they're in my queue.

You can see a close-up of every yarn in my stash page on Ravelry.

Back to reality

There was no escaping it this week: I had to go back to work after two weeks of vacation (was it really two weeks? It felt like two seconds).

We had a very relaxing time and spent a good portion of our vacation at home, or with family. And we went to Quebec City for a few days.



We saw The Image Mill, which was fantastic. I wasn't able to get good pictures though. Trust me, it was worth it.

We also saw a baseball game, but unfortunately, Eric Gagné wasn't the pitcher that night (he was the night before). Quebec's team lost. Oh well. We had a good time, even though it was COLD out!



We also visited a place that makes apple cider. We sampled many of the products and it was delicious.

We saw the free street show by Cirque du Soleil, well most of it any way. There were a lot of people there and I wasn't feeling too well so we left early.



So, our vacation was nice but I wasn't too sad when Monday came and I had to get back to work, because that same night I went to see...



Franz Ferdinand!!! It was seriously one of the best shows of my life. It was amazing. They only have good songs so the show had to be good. The singer spoke French the whole time, which was nice and he had so much energy it was contagious. You can see a couple of videos on YouTube.

I mostly knit on my plain socks on two circs during my vacation (no pic for now). And yesterday, I was finally able to cast on Nancy Bush's mystery sock (first clue has a braid!) yesterday, after a little... um... winding incident. I'm using Tanis Fiber Arts yarn and I LOVE working with it! Love!

Speaking of yarn, I have enhanced my stash recently... but I'll save it for another post. Here's a sneak peak: