Destroy my Sweater

Photo of the week

2012-01-30T12:22:00.003-05:00

Lens: 50 mm f/1.8
Info: 1.8 - 1/60 - ISO 1600

I didn't take many pictures last week but I really liked that one, even though I had to bump up the ISO because there were no light in his room.

I'm sorry for the lack of post last week. I had planned on posting a FO, but the O didn't get F after all. I'm planning on finishing it this week for sure, so I should post pics later this week.

Photo of the week

2012-01-23T10:02:00.002-05:00

Lens: 50 mm
2.8, 1/400, ISO 100

I really wanted to try and take a picture of something other than my son. Last week was COLD, but it was also really beautiful. I took this pic right in front of my house.

Stop, stash time!

2012-01-18T12:09:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine (non-knitter) recently asked me to post pics of my stash in a Facebook group I'm in. So I did. I always like to do this exercise because it allows me to see just how much I have.

It's really not that bad, compared to many, but it feels like a lot. Probably because it would take me over five years to knit it all...

(The pics are beyond bad, I just quickly took snapshots, in bad light too)

Photo of the week

2012-01-16T10:09:00.002-05:00

Lens: 50 mm 1.8 Info: 1.8, 1/100 ISO 800

I went a little bit Photoshop-happy for this, but hey, I have a picture for the week :)

I promise a post about knitting this week!

TO SANDRA: Thanks for the comment on my last pic! I wanted to reply but I don't have your email. I appreciated the tips :)

Let's talk about books!

2012-01-11T21:20:00.004-05:00

And I'm not talking about knitting books!

I got a Kindle for my birthday in December and I'm loving it. I'm also loving the fact that it made me want to start reading a lot again. I've always been a reader, but for the past couple of years, I feel that I haven't been reading as much as I usually do. What can I say, I have too many hobbies and not enough time! Anyways, I'll try to post about books I like once in a while and feel free to share your own recommendations also! I'm always on the lookout for good titles!

I'll admit that one was pre-Kindle. I read The Hunger Games trilogy a couple of months ago and I loved loved loved it! It's the kind of series that has you buy the second book (and the third) the minute you finish the first one. It is «Young Adult», but it still found a way to captivate the «Old Adult» that I am.

«It is written in first person and introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. This is where the government, working in a central city called the Capitol, holds power. In the book, the Hunger Games are an annual event where one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive.» (Wikipedia, because I'm lazy)

And there will be a movie soon and it looks fabulous!

******

Ok, second book I've read recently: The Help.

I'm a bit late to the party with that one since the movie is already out of DVD, hehehe. But I had heard good things about it so I wanted to read it before seeing the film (which I still haven't seen).

The story of the book is set in the 60s, in the state of Mississippi, and is told from the point of view of three different women. Two of them are African-American maids and the third one is the daughter of a rich white family.

I really liked the book but I will admit that I had a hard time getting used to Aibileen (one of the maid)'s style at first. It's written in a spoken-style and English isn't my first language so it wasn't easy to read at first, but I got used to it and she was my favourite character.

I'm currently reading the Yarn Harlot's latest book (as well as a book that I hope will help me figure out a way to get my boy to sleep through the night again). But I'm looking for a novel or a good series to read next. I'm open to suggestions... :)

Photo of the week

2012-01-09T20:50:00.003-05:00

Lens: 50 mm 1.8 Info: 1.8, 1/125 ISO 200

Ok so I'm very interested in learning about photography. I read about it. I took an intro class. I got a new lens for Christmas that I love (the 50 mm f/1.8 used above) and a cute little subject I can take tons of pictures of.

But the truth is: I suck. Haha. I can take a good snapshot here and there but I feel I don't have "the eye", when it comes to photography. I'm not an artist and you know what? That's ok. And that doesn't mean I can't get better. But to get better, I need to practice.

I've been toying with the idea of trying Project 366 this year, but to be honest, I can't see myself keeping up with it the whole year. But then I heard of Project 52. One picture a week for 52 weeks. Or 51 in my case since I'm one week late to the party. THAT I think I can do.

So there you go, my only goal for this project is to post one picture a week. I can't promise you'll see good ones, but I'm hoping I can see at least a little bit of progress between now and December. I can, however, promise that 90% of my pics are going to be of my son. But he's cute so that's ok :)

A post with yarn is always a good one

2012-01-06T14:35:00.002-05:00

Ok so I mentionned in my last post that I wanted to knit from stash for most of the year. That means no yarn porn for a while... after today! Because I did get some new yarn this past month, I just haven't posted about it until now.

First, instead of buying anything at Knit Picks' Cyber Monday sale (where nothing I wanted was even on sale), I treated myself to two skeins of Wollmeise sock yarn. I had been wanting to try it for a while, but as you all know, they're not easy to get. Someone on Ravelry posted that there was still some two-skeins grab bags available and I thought "Why not?" I had no idea which colours I would get, but I knew I would have no problem selling them if I didn't like them so I wasn't too worried.

But it turns out, I LOVE them both. The first one wasn't easy to photograph:

It's a very dark green and it's absolutely beautiful. I'm not sure yet which pattern I could use to show it off, because dark yarns like that tend to hide patterns a bit. I'm keeping my eyes open for the perfect combination.

The second skein is soooooooooo pretty, I like it even more than the first one. I think I'll have an easier time finding a pattern for it.

The following yarns I received from my mom at Christmas. She made a big Knit Picks order in November and gave me some for my birthday (I already posted pics of them) and the rest on Christmas Day. I'm very happy I got some bulky because it's something I rarely buy and lately I've been dreaming of big hats and scarves.

I got three skeins of Biggo (Knit Picks' new bulky line) in Haze Heather. It's very very soft. I'm currently knitting a hat with it (so you should see a FO soon) and I like it a lot. I can see myself ordering more of this (you know, when I'm allowed to buy yarn again).

Wool of the Andes Bulky in Cadet. I have a cowl in mind for it, but I'm not 100 % sure yet.

Aaaaah, my beloved Stroll Tonal, and in Blue Violet, the one colour I was hoping would be on sale on CyberMonday. It's beautiful of course and it goes in my Tonal Collection (I'm obsessed I'm telling you). I think my biggest challenge this year will be resisting the new colours of Tonal when they get released, as well as some of the backordered colours I've been coveting. Oh well. I CAN live without them.

How about some resolutions?

2012-01-04T13:53:00.002-05:00

January = resolution time!

I know a lot of people who hate resolutions, mainly because they never keep them. But I like them... even though I fail 99 % of the time. I think I have vowed to lose weight for the past 15 years or so and it never happened. But that doesn't mean I'll stop trying. My mother in law was a smoker for over 40 years. She tried stopping countless times and it never worked. But last October, she celebrated her first anniversary as a non-smoker. And that proves that just because you've failed again and again and again, it doesn't mean you won't succeed one day.

I like resolutions because I like having goals. So I set myself goals, in January of course, but also throughout the year.

I still have my goal of losing weight. I have a lot to lose, since I haven't lost all that much of the baby weight and I was already overweight to begin with. My mom is getting married in June and I'll be the Maid of Honor. I want to lose 30-40 pounds before that, which is a lot but I think it's doable.

I also have knitting resolutions. Or I should say shopping resolutions. I have too much yarn for the little space that I have. And because of that, everytime I do buy yarn I feel super guilty even if it's yarn I'm going to use right away. So I need to knit from stash as much as possible. My goal is to do just that at least until Fall.

I especially want to knit my sock yarn because I have A LOT. And I just so happen to need socks right now so it all works out. I'm shooting for six pairs this year, we'll see how that goes. I already have two on the needles:

Norfolk Ramblers

That second pair is a pair of plain vanilla socks. I was happy to see that I can still knit socks without a pattern, I hadn't made a plain pair in a long time.

Another resolution: to use my sock books! I want to keep knitting socks from Sock Innovation, as well as my many other sock books.

Finally, I also vow to blog more this year. I miss my blog and I miss reading comments. Hardly anyone reads this blog anymore and I understand why. My goal is at least two posts a week, so expect a new one soon! And I can already say that there will be yarn porn (because I did get new yarn before the start of the yarn diet).

2011 in knits

2011-12-30T20:04:00.002-05:00

Another year is about to end and it's time for my annual review of the year.

In 2011, I finished 15 projects, most of them in the first couple of months (read: before baby!). Much to my surprise, I only made three pairs of socks! I plan on making more in 2012, as many of my socks currently have holes in them. I need new ones!

My favourite FO of the year include:

Julien's stocking

The Wayna Picchu Hat

My Eunice socks

My Icarus shawl

Of course, there's no nicer FO than this little boy right here:

I can't believe he's almost 10 months old! He's a beautiful and happy little boy and he makes my life better in every way imaginable. I looooooove him!

Bookpost

2011-12-13T14:06:00.002-05:00

So I mentionned in my last post that I had some new books to talk about, well here they are.

On top of the great Knit Picks yarn that my mom got me for my birthday, she also got me Cookie A's Knit.Sock.Love book! I've been coveting it for a while so I couldn't be happier. I'm trying not to buy books anymore because I have tons of them and I've made it my personal mission to knit from them as much as possible. I'm currently trying to knit my way through Sock Innovation (though both of my current socks aren't from that book, but I'll get back to it as soon as they're done).

Anyways, I think I want to knit every sock in Knit.Sock.Love except for the German Stockings because I down do knee socks.

A friend of mine also gave me two great books. One is Classic Elite Quick Knits. It has lots of socks and hats and mittens (and other things), including some patterns by Jared Flood.

The other book is Socktopus, by Alice Yu. It has 17 patterns, including some that will work well with variegated yarn. I seriously like them all.

So yeah, I could knit only from those three books for the next decade and be happy. :)

Sorry about the lack of pics in this post, but I promise some great yarn porn in the next!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-12-08T20:19:00.002-05:00

I must be the worst blogger ever! I completely skipped November and haven't posted a thing since mid-October! In my defense, Autumn has been crazy here. My son's been sick on and off with colds and various viruses for the past few months and he completely stopped sleeping through the night. His sleeping habits have gotten worse and worse and let's just say this mommy is exhausted. Things have been rough. But I can't be mad at this face, can I?

In other news, I finished something. I wanted to make a very special stocking for Julien's first Christmas.

Pattern: A New Baby's Christmas Stocking, by Dorene Delaney Giordano
Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark in Drift and Bayberry
Needles: US 2½ - 3.0 mm circulars (magic loop)
Notes: I love the FO but I really hate knitting toe-ups. I have to get used to it though as I plan to knit two more (one for Chris and one for me) in the future (not for this Christmas though).

In other news, I have to go on a yarn diet. My stash doesn't make me happy anymore. I have enough yarn to last me for years and years and everytime I buy more I feel I should really knit what I have first. I have lots of beautiful yarn and I hate that I'm not using it because I keep buying more. I got two birthday skeins coming in the mail but I'm hoping to stop buying at least until next Fall. We'll see.

That being said, even if I'm not buying, I can't help it if people buy me things. My mom got me a nice little Knit Picks package for my birthday.

She got me a skein of Stroll Handpainted in Watermelon:

Two skeins of Felici in Firefighter:

And four skeins of City Tweed DK in Rhubarb:

I had never tried City Tweed and I couldn't believe how soft it is. I always expect tweedy yarns to be a bit rough for some reason, but this is like butter. I really like it.

I also got two circular needles (sizes 0 and 1) and a book, but I'll talk about it more in a future post. Gotta go now!

Yarnlust

2011-10-14T08:42:00.002-04:00

If you are going to Rhinebeck this weekend, I AM JEALOUS OF YOU! I've never been and it had never bothered me before, but this year, maybe because I've been spending a lot of time at home, I am itching to go! A road trip sounds so good right now, especially a road trip that involves yarn! Note to my friends: if anyone plans on going again next year and if you have an extra space in your car, think of me! I can't help with the driving, but I can help with the gas paying, that's something!

But this year, I shall be living vicariously through all of you and I can't wait to read your blogs to see what you all got. In the meantime, I am window shopping on various online yarn sites. I'm currently lusting after a skein of Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Strawberry Lemonade. Doesn't it look yummy? But I'm trying to be a good girl and not order. According to Ravelry, I currently have enough sock yarn to make at least 25 pairs. Most knitters would say it's not that much, but it feels like a lot to me. At my current rate of about 5 pairs a year, it would take me... let me count... five years to knit it all! It's crazy when you think about it. So right now, I need to knit more and buy less. At least until Knit Picks' CyberMonday sale (if they have one again this year). I can't promise anything if the Stroll Tonals go on sale.

Speaking of socks and of Stroll Tonal... I finished a pair!

Pattern: Sunshine, by Cookie A
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Springtime (LOVE!!!)
Needles: 2.75 mm for the leg, 2.25 for the foot
Notes: I must have been drunk when I started the toe decreases on these because I made the foot a bit too short. I can still make them fit, but not as well as my other socks. Oh well.

One of the October Sockdown challenges is the knit a holiday stocking and since I wanted to make one for Julien, I didn't hesitate to participate. I'm making A NEW baby's Christmas Stocking in Knit Picks Telemark. I hadn't realized the pattern was toe-up when I bought it, but I've been able to figure it all out so far. Here's what it looks like now:

Let's change the clocks

2011-09-28T15:27:00.002-04:00

We need a change. We need to change the clocks so that it has 34 hours insteahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd of just 24.

I need more time to do everything I want!

Most of my days consist of taking care of a six month old and trying to keep an appearance of cleansiness in my house.

I recently started working out again. From home, because I don't have time for the gym. I'm currently doing the one hundred pushups challenge (doing them the sissy way because I can't do real pushups just yet) and I also bought Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD. It is kicking.my.butt. I never really liked workout DVDs before because I found they were always too easy, but that one isn't, noooooooooo sir.

Julien and I started our mommy and baby swimming classes. We both love it. I'm already looking forward to next Monday to go again.

The same day of the swimming class, I have a photography class. I like it but we have a lot of assignements. It's going to be worth it though, because I really want to know how to use the manual mode of my camera.

Oh yeah, and there's knitting. I manage to find a bit of time for it, but there are too many things I want to make (and too much yarn I want to buy) and not enough time to do it all. I have 3-4 projects going right now and I'm already dreaming of the next 2-3 I want to cast on for. I have a problem.

And I just received the yarn to make these (picture from Ravelry). *sigh* I may have time to make them sometime in 2014...

My Precious!

2011-09-20T19:57:00.005-04:00

I received Knit Picks order #1!!!

Yum yum yum! I love everything I got. If you want the details, I got some Stroll Tonal in Summer Blooms, Blue Yonder, Queen Anne and Foliage, a skein of Stroll Hand Painted in Juice Box, two skeins of Stroll in Majestic (a discontinued colour) and one in Wonderland Heather (I wanted two, I made a mistake when I ordered!), three skeins each of Telemark in Bayberry and Drift.

I also got some size 7 16" fixed circulars, size 1 32" fixed circulars (for magic loop for socks!) and some size 7 tips for my interchangeable set.

I had never ordered the Telemark before and I gotta say, the yarn is rough! Definitely not something I'd wear next to the skin, but I want to use it for a Christmas stocking for Julien so it's perfect.

Here are some close-up of my favourites:

Stroll Tonal Blue Yonder

Stroll Tonal Summer Blooms

Stroll Tonal Queen Anne

Stroll Tonal Foliage

Stroll Hand Painted in Juice Box

Organizing and a bit of shopping

2011-09-19T10:25:00.002-04:00

I've been on an organizing kick lately. After buying an organizer for my interchangeable set on Etsy, I decided I wanted one for my fixed circulars as well as for my DPNs too. So I found ones that I liked on Etsy and I bought them.

(For circular needles)

(For DPNs)

I got them from sarahkincheloe on Etsy (the pictures are from her too). I really like them and now my needles are all organized and I know what I have and what I still need to get to complete my collection.

Speaking of getting knitting stuff, I was bad. Really bad. Last week, I did something I had never done before. I ordered from Knit Picks twice. In the same week.

Now let me explain. I had a 28 $ gift certificate and I wanted yarn to make Julien a Christmas stocking. And last Monday, there was a code circulating online that gave you 15 % off your purchase at Knit Picks (it was good on that day only). So I figured it was a good time to order. With the certificate and the discount, my 110 $ order came down to 67 $, including shipping (ok, I may have gotten a little more than the yarn I needed for the stocking).

THEN, two days after that order, Knit Picks came out with new yarns (angora, people!) and new colours for their Stroll sock yarn line. I was excited, but I could resist, no problem. Until I saw they also rerelased the Woodland Winter Mittens kit, that I love and had sold out oh-so-quickly the last time. And they have a new version with bright colours too. I just had to get it. So I did (and I may have added some of the new Stroll colours too).

The good news for YOU, is that I'll have some yarn porn to share soon. :)

Finish one, start three

2011-09-08T13:28:00.003-04:00

I made another Wayna Picchu hat. That one will go to my godson Cristobal. He wasn't available for a picture, so I used my favourite little model.

Pattern: Wayna Picchu Earflap Hat, by Nichole Reese
Size: M (1-3 years old)
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Mink Heather (MC) and Winter Night (CC)
Needles: US 5 - 3.75 mm circular needles
Mods: I knitted a seed stitch border.

I love that pattern so much. I rarely knit a pattern more than once, but I can see myself making more of these.

I've also been bit by the startitis bug. When the schedule for Sockdown 5 was posted on Ravelry, I knew I would have to participate this year, after a yearlong hiatus. I miss knitting socks when I go too long without one on the needles.

As usual, the first month's challenge is "knit all in one colour" and this year's colour is Chartreuse. So I went through my stash and found what looked the most like the colour sample that was posted:

KP Stroll Tonal in Springtime. I'm making Sunshine, by Cookie A, which also helps fulfilling my quest of knitting as many patterns as possible from her book Sock Innovation (this will be #4!).

Also, Cailyn Meyer is one of the featured designers for the month and I've wanted to knit her Java Socks since I first saw them on Knitty. So I'll be casting on soon, using Lulu Yarn's Supersock Merino in Fall Fire. I don't have a pic but you can see some here.

Finally, and because I didn't want to knit socks only, I also cast on for a little sweater, Waffles, using the Reynolds Soft Sea Wool I recently bought.

That's it. Hopefully I'll have new FOs to show soon-ish! Happy knitting people!

Yarn and FO

2011-08-22T13:43:00.002-04:00

This is going to be a fun post! First, I have a brand new FO!

Pattern: Wayna Picchu Earflap Hat, by Nichole Reese
Size: M (1-3 years old)
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Winter Night (MC) and Mink Heather (CC)
Needles: US 5 - 3.75 mm circular needles (I tried magic loop for the first time!)
Mods: I did a regular cast-on and I didn't do the crochet finishing thing because I can't crochet to save my life. Because of that, the hat curls a little but it's not too bad and I still like it.

Julien seems to like it much more than the pumpkin hat I made him. I absolutely love this pattern and I've already started another one, reversing the MC and CC.

Ok and now the yarn porn. As most of you must know, Ariadne will be closing its door (I believe it'll be this week actually). I'm very sad about that because I loved the store. But of course, now there's a closing sale going on and I just had to go check it out. I went a couple of weeks ago and I was pretty reasonnable. I got:

Six skeins of Cascade 220 Heathers in whatever this colour is.

Four skeins of Reynolds Soft Sea Wool in brown.

Then I got home and kept thinking I should have gotten the purple Cascade 220 also. So I went back last week and got:

Three skeins of Cascade 220 in purple.

Two skeins of Cascade 220 in blue.

Of course, now I keep thinking I should have also bought the green, but oh well. I gotta leave some for others. :)

My little pumpkin

2011-08-05T13:06:00.004-04:00

I needed a pumpkin hat for a photography project, so I decided not to waste any time and knit one.

He doesn't seem too happy, but I just couldn't make him smile.

Pattern: Punkin Head, by Tara Thomsen
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Pumpkin and Forest Heather (held double)
Needles: US 6 DPNs
Mods: None

Cutest Habs fan

2011-07-21T14:42:00.002-04:00

Ok so that shawl? It's not gonna happen. I keep messing it up and I haven't knit a stitch in days because I'm no longer motivated. I guess I could try again and hope to have it for the second wedding I have to go to at the end of August, but I don't even want to. So it'll be put in time out and maybe in 6 months I'll want to try again.

And my mom is getting married in two years, so maybe I'll get to wear it at HER wedding! :)

Now to make this post less boring, I'll give you pics of my cutie in his new Habs diaper! :)

Ooops I did it again...

2011-07-08T08:39:00.002-04:00

Ok so you all know I have a Knit Picks addiction, right? I know some people don't like their yarn, but I love them and I love their prices. And their needles too.

I'm usually pretty reasonnable though and I order from them maybe twice a year. You may remember I ordered some of their Palette yarn recently, just before the price increased. Well, I did it again and made another order a couple of weeks ago.

See, I got this code in my emails for 10 $ off a set of Zephyr interchangeables. I already have the nickel plated set, but I wanted to buy a second set and I like the Zephyr tips sooo... I just couldn't say no to 10 $ off. And of course, if I'm going to order, I'm going to add some yarn.

I got some Wool of the Andes in Pumpkin and Forrest Heather for a Pumpkin Hat. Some Wool of the Andes in Cloud and Cobblestone Heather to make Christmas Gnomes (I'll also use some WOTA in Cranberry that I already have). I bought a few skeins of Stroll Sport (in Mink Heather, Wave Heather and Winter Night) for hats. And a skein of Stroll Tonal in Gypsy, just because.

Can I say just how much I love (LOVE) the Stroll Tonal? I have three colours so far, but Gypsy is definitely my favourite. It's beautiful!

I got socks!

2011-07-06T15:43:00.004-04:00

I finally got a FO to share! It's actually my first post-baby FO and no, it is NOT a shawl! After frogging to the lifeline a stupid number of times (*coughFIVEcough*), I decided I needed a break from the shawl. And I'm glad I did, because now I have socks!

**ETA: Sorry if the pics are huge, I'm not sure how to fix it**

PatternEunice, by Cookie A.
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Tweed in Plum
Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm) and US 2 (2.75 mm) DPNs

I love that pattern! It was a fun knit and it would have been quick if I didn't have a baby to take care of ;)

Also, I wanted to share my latest Etsy purchase. When I bought my set of interchangeables from Knit Picks, it came with a binder to store them. Well I never liked that binder, so I finally bought an interchangeable needles case from Southern Woolies and I absolutely love it! You can fit more than one set in it (which is good since I *may* have ordered a second set recently ;) ).

Stupid nupps

2011-06-24T08:28:00.002-04:00

Hello world!

I hope everything is well in the wonderful world of knitting. I am happy to report that 3.5 months after giving birth, knitting is finally back into my life (and by that, I mean I can do more than 1-2 rows a week). Yay!

For a while, I was happily working on my Eunice socks. I don't have much longer to go and I LOVE the way they are turning out.

But sock knitting came to a halt when I bought this dress. See, I have a baptism to go to soon (my friend's baby, I'm the godmother) and then I have two weddings later this summer. So I got this simple dress but it's sleeveless. Sooooo I decided I needed a shawl. I decided that last week and the baptism is on July 3rd. No problem. I chose a simple small shawl (Swallowtail) and chose a skein of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in peppermint and happily cast on.

Things were going wonderfully. I was totally going to finish on time. I did the 14 repeats of the second chart and started the third...

It has nupps. Stupid little nupps. The p5tog on the wrong side are taking forever AND I made a mistake in the last row I knit yesterday and will most likely have to frog to the lifeline (only 5 rows, but still).

Now I'm not so sure I can finish for the baptism. Oh well. I know I can still finish for the first wedding at the end of July so that will be my new goal.

In Julien news, I am happy to report that he now sleeps through the night. He actually started doing it on and off at 10 weeks (he's 15 weeks now). But for a little over a week, he has slept through the night every night (I'm talking from 7-8 pm to 6 am). Let me tell you, it's nice.

He has rolled over (tummy to back and back to tummy) a couple of times, he holds his head up really well and he loves to "stand" (we hold him of course). In the past couple of weeks, he has found his thumb (and seems to think it's the best thing ever) and his toes. He smiles a lot (and cries a lot too, still) and I love him to pieces. Being a mommy is awesome!

Pretty!

2011-06-10T14:42:00.002-04:00

Someone in the Knit Picks group on Ravelry organized a "Palette sampler coop" recently and I decided to buy a share, since Knit Picks doesn't offer colour cards anymore. Since the price of Palette has gone up, I'll want to be sure I really like the colours I'll order in the future and now I have a sample of every colour offered. I love my mini-skeins, they're so pretty!

Logical

2011-06-01T21:10:00.000-04:00

Yaaaaaarn!

2011-05-31T12:21:00.002-04:00

I received my Knit Picks order and it is yummy!

Lots of Palette = a lot of mittens! I'm glad I was able to get that much while the price was still low. I tried to get a good mix of neutrals and of colours so that I have choices when I pick colourwork patterns.

I also got two skeins of Imagination in Looking Glass.

Now I just need to find the time to actually use all that yarn!

Half FO

2011-05-20T13:54:00.002-04:00

Well I did find time to knit after all. I finished one sock, only one to go for the pair! This is Eunice in all its unblocked glory. Better pictures will come when the pair is finished:

En vrac

2011-05-13T16:44:00.003-04:00

Hello? Anybody here?

It's been over a month since my last post and, sadly, I don't have much to share in terms of knitting content. I'm not worried, I know I'll have time to knit again, someday, but right now my baby boy is taking 95 % of my time (I sleep the other 5 % of the time).

He's in my arms a lot and, sadly, I haven't yet mastered one-hand knitting. I can (and do!) browse patterns on Ravelry a lot though, so my queue has been getting longer even though I'm not knitting. Here are a few patterns that have recently caught my fancy:

Calligraphy cardigan
Bazinga mittens (as a brand new Big Bang Theory addict, I *need* these!)
Garden gnome hat and mittens
Midnight mittens
Wayna Picchu Earflap Hat

In other news, I just found out that Knitpicks is going to dramatically increase the price of their Palette yarn. Instead of 1,99-2,19 a ball, it'll be 3,29-3,49. The price is supposed to go up sometime today. Palette is my favourite yarn for fair isle mittens, so I decided to stock up while the price was still low. I got 20 colours!

I'll post a pic when it gets here. Meanwhile, here's a picture of the boy who's been occupying all my free time:

Why would I want to knit when I can spend all my time looking at that cute face? :)

Duckie

2011-04-08T11:49:00.002-04:00

Believe it or not, my little Julien will be one month old tomorrow! Time sure flies. This week has been my first week alone with him (Chris has gone by to work) and I'm now getting pretty good at doing things with one hand only (like typing this post).

Sadly, I haven't learned how to knit with one hand, so I haven't done much of it.

Julien has spent his first month almost exclusively in pajamas, as most clothes I have for him don't fit yet. But I did put him in jeans (too big!) a few days ago.

See his feet? He's wearing duck booties!

They were a gift from Tara. We love them!

Why mommy why?

2011-03-17T14:02:00.003-04:00

«I like my hat but it's a little big on my don't you think?»

Knitting done since having a baby: 1.5 rows on my sock. Yeah, there won't be new FOs on here for a while! :)

Introducing...

2011-03-13T17:44:00.004-04:00

...

Baby Julien, born on March 9th 2011, after a super quick labor.

For those who like to know these kinds of things: Contractions started at 9am. At 10, they got really intense. We left home at 11:10. We got to the hospital at 11:30 and found out I was already 10 cm dilated and ready to push. I pushed through three contractions and baby was born at 11:56. Crazy fast!

Julien is beautiful and I love him so much. Being a mommy is the most wonderful and most difficult thing I've ever done. Don't expect many posts in the next few weeks, I'm a bit overwhelmed! And no, I didn't finish the socks before giving birth! ;)

No baby but new socks!

2011-03-07T15:25:00.004-05:00

Pregnancy status: Overdue! This baby has decided to be fashionably late. My doctor didn't seem to think I'd make it to my next appointment (this Thursday), but I'm starting to think it may happen. Who knows?

Last week, I started a brand new pair of socks and I was wondering how much I'd have time to knit on them before baby got here. Would I turn the heel? Would I finish sock #1? Would I get to the toe of #2?

I actually finished them! I'm sorry I don't have a great picture, I'm not really in the mood for a photo shoot (and bending over to photograph my own feet is not an easy task, let me tell you!).

Pattern: Glynis, by Cookie A
Yarn: Slackford Studio, LLC Stalwart Sock in From Dusk Till Dawn
Needles: US 2 - 2.75 mm needles
Notes: I usually use US 1 needles for socks but I had read comments saying it wasn't a very stretchy pattern so I opted for bigger ones. They fit very well so I think I made the right choice. I also chose to do only eight repeats (instead of nine) on the legs, because I have short legs.

If you ever knit this pattern, don't forget to check the errata.

So I finished the socks yesterday and I cast on this morning for... another pair of Cookie A socks, also from the book Sock Innovation. This time I'm making Eunice, using Knit Picks Essential Tweed in Plum. I guess I'm in a purple phase. I really like the yarn, it's a shame Knit Picks has stopped making their tweed sock yarn!

So, do you all think I'll get to finish these socks before baby gets here?

Sock Fever (and baby fever too)

2011-03-05T10:54:00.002-05:00

Pregnancy status: 40 weeks pregnant! From the beginning of this pregnancy, I've thought I would go overdue and it looks like my instinct was right. I am just now starting to get uncomfortable, so it's not too bad. My next appointment is on Thursday and I do hope baby will be here before then, but we'll see. I've loved being pregnant so much, I'm going to miss it when it's over (and I'm not sure there's going to be a baby #2), but I'm sooooo looking forward to meeting my little guy!

This past week, I've been knitting socks! I'm on a sock yarn kick and a sock pattern kick. If I had listened to myself, I would have cast on for a dozen new pairs of socks. But I've only been working on one pattern, Glynis, by the great Cookie A. Love.the.pattern. And I love my yarn even more:

It's Slackford Studio, LLC Stalwart Sock in From Dusk Till Dawn. The colour is lovely and it's delicious to knit with. I have another skein in a grey colourway but I will be ordering more for sure.

I'm currently done with sock #1 and I'm at the heel flap for sock #2. I could have a new pair of socks soon, depending on when baby decides to come.

I've also spent the past week matching the sock yarn I currently own to sock patterns I want to knit (most of them from Cookie's Sock Innovation book). I doubt all the projects will come true, but who knows. I'd sort of like to knit a lot of socks from stash so I could order tons of new sock yarn guilt free. :)

Go Habs Go

2011-02-27T16:11:00.004-05:00

I'm pretty sure I currently have a Habs fan in my uterus. He sure does kick a lot during the games. Therefore, I decided to make him his very own Habs socks.

Pattern: Garter Stripe Baby Socks, by Jennifer Hoel
Size: Newborn, but I used bigger needles so it'll fit him later.
Yarn: Biscotte & Cie Bambooloo in Go Habs Go (I used the leftovers from an adult pair)
Needles: US 1 - 2.25 mm
Notes: There wasn't enough white in the leftovers I used to make a matching pair, but I like the socks anyways. Also, there is a mistake in row 11 of the heel turn in the pattern. You need to leave out the k3tog as there aren't enough stitches for it.

I also decided to cast on for a new project: socks for me! It's been a LONG time since I last made socks (not counting the above baby socks) and I thought I'd go with a Cookie A pattern to get back into it! I chose Glynis, from the book Sock Innovation and I'm using yummy purple yarn (Slackford Studio, LLC Stalwart Sock in From Dusk Till Dawn).

February is for finishing!

2011-02-25T14:10:00.002-05:00

Pregnancy status: 39 weeks and 1 day! There's a lot of snow today so I told baby I'd prefer if he didn't show up today. I think he'll listen :)

I have THREE, count 'em THREE, FOs to share today. That means I've finished SEVEN projects in February so far (and there's a good chance there's going to be a #8). That's a lot for me. Do you know how many projects I finished in all of 2010? Eight. :)

Pattern: Icarus shawl by Miriam L. Felton
Yarn: Knit Picks Shimmer Hand Dyed Lace Yarn in Maple Leaf
Needles: US 3 - 3.25 mm
Notes: I love it. LOVE with a capital L (and O and V and E). It's so light and pretty and it was worth all the work. I don't wear many shawls but it works well as a scarf so I may use it that way, especially when the weather gets a little warmer.

Pattern: Pea Pod Baby Set, by Kate Gilbert
Size: 6 months
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish DK in Asparagus (3 skeins)
Needles: US 5 - 3.75
Notes: Well my finishing skills leave a lot to be desired, but believe it or not, it is getting better. And I think it can only get better with practice, right? I love the Swish DK and I can't believe how much softer it gets after it's washed. I will definitely use it again.

Pattern: Very Berry Bonnet, by Cara B.
Size: 0-3 months
Yarn: Red Heart Buttercup
Needles: US 9 - 5.5 mm
Notes: I had some leftovers after I made my baby pod so I decided to knit this hat. It was a very quick knit, started and finished on the same day. I added the two pompoms, I think it makes it even cuter. I did not check gauge so it's bigger than I wanted it but I figured it'll fit him eventually.

Almost finished blob

2011-02-23T13:11:00.002-05:00

Pregnancy status: I will be 39 weeks tomorrow! I've had bad cramps/contractions but nothing regular or anything. I'm feeling good today and don't think today will be his birthday, though you never know. My suitcase is ready, laundry is done, the house is as clean as it'll be, so now I can relax and knit, knit, knit.

I'm happy to report that I finished knitting the blob! I only need to weave in two ends and to block it. I don't have blocking wires though, but I'll see what I can do. If I can't do it without, I'll order some and block it later. I think it already looks fabulous though, don't you think?

Thanks again Tara for saving my life with that extra ball of yarn!

Next on the list: weaving all the ends of my Peapod sweater and finishing the This end up baby vest. I'm on a roll! After that, I think I hear some sock patterns calling my name, but if baby gets here, I may not have much time for them!

My new love

2011-02-21T11:47:00.002-05:00

I have a new love in the form of a scarf I just finished. It's soft, warm and beautiful, all optimal scarf qualities. I was actually happy when I saw it was cold outside today (and that never happens) because it means I can wear it to go to my doctor appointment.

The good thing about early maternity leave is that it gives me a lot of time to knit and finish projects. The bad thing is that I don't necessarily have someone with me to help me take pictures when I want to. So here is me playing both model and photographer. I did my best:

Pattern: Infinitude scarf, by Jeni Chase (I made the larger size)
Yarn: Berroco Vintage (1 skein and a little bit of the second one)
Needles: US 8 - 5.0 mm
Notes: That was a quick knit! I cast-on on Wednesday and finished on Sunday. The only modification I made was an accidental one. You're supposed to purl four rows at one point and I purled only three. I realized it before the next repeat so I kept on purling three for every repeat.

And now, for my pregnancy status: I'm currently 38 weeks and 4 days. I'm still feeling fine and enjoying the end of my pregnancy. At this point, I'd have a hard time predicting when he's going to come, but you can be sure I'll keep you posted.

And I want to thank my friend Robyn again for the lovely gifts she brought me last week (the duckie and blanket are only part of it)! She came to my house for a lovely knitting afternoon and I got to meet her cute son Quentin. I love seeing my knitting friends, we always have a good time.

I was a bad blogger and didn't take pics during the visit, but she did and you can see them in her post.

Tiny little hat

2011-02-17T09:04:00.002-05:00

Pregnancy status: 38 weeks pregnant and I don't think baby is coming soon. I have a feeling it'll be a couple of weeks still. I'm ok with this. I'm not too uncomfortable, I can still sleep and I know my life will change completely once he's here so I'm appreciating these last moments by myself and with Chris.

Thanks to maternity leave, I have plenty of time to knit so I have another FO.

Pattern: Munchkin Hat, by Jeannie Kubricht
Yarn: Dale of Norway/Dalegarn Baby Ull (it's a fingering weight, I held it doubled).
Needles: US 8/5 mm DPNs
Notes: What a quick knit! I knit the whole hat in a day and didn't feel like doing the twisted cord + pompom then so I made them the day after, but I really could have completed the whole project in a day. I wish I had made it longer though. I plan on using the hat for pics only.

Knitting the hat isn't the only thing I did last Sunday. I also went to Espace Tricot, a LYS that is pretty close to my house. There, I met with Tara, whom I hadn't seen in like a year. It was super nice to see her again, plus she had brought this for me:

Knit Picks Shimmer in Maple Leaf! You know what that means? I can finally finish...

The Blob! Aka my Icarus shawl, that I had set aside after I had ran out of yarn in November. Weeeeee! I'm very happy about that, since I only had a few (long!) rows left. Thank you so much Tara!

Oh yeah, and since I was at Espace Tricot, I just couldn't leave without buying a little something. Other than some DPNs, I left with these:

Two skeins of Berroco Vintage. I was actually looking for yarn to make a little newborn sweater. I first picked some Cascade 220 in a cute heathered blue, but then changed my mind and went for the orange. I hesitated, because it's only 40% wool and the rest is acrylic and nylon, but it's super soft and machine washable, so it won in the end.

But then I got home and I realized that I just didn't feel like knitting a baby sweater. Does that make me a bad mom already? Or just a selfish knitter? I just felt like the yarn wanted to be a scarf. So last night I cast on for an Infinitude scarf.

Quick Knit

2011-02-08T16:45:00.003-05:00

Believe it or not, I have another FO to share. This has got to be some sort of record (for me anyways). I cast-on for this cocoon during the Super Bowl on Sunday and just cast-off this afternoon. But really, I could have knit it all in one day.

Pattern: Baby cocoon and pod, by Angie Hartley (there are two patterns, I made the pod).
Yarn: Red Heart Buttercup in White
Needles: US 13 / 9 mm

Thanks to my son's teddy bear for modeling. I'm hoping to get a nicer pic with my son in it soon :) I'm not a good photographer, but I thought it would be a cute prop to have.

Baby has a blanket

2011-02-06T15:00:00.002-05:00

*drumroll*

I have a FO to share! I never thought it would take me so long to knit a baby blanket, but I finally did! It's about time too, now that I'm almost full term (currently 36 weeks pregnant and on maternity leave, woohoo!).

Pattern: Sleeping Beauty Baby Blanket, by Diana Matthews
Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Worsted in Honey Dew
Needles: US 6 - 4 mm

I had a hard time photographing it. Let's just say it looks much better in person. The colour is prettier. It was my first time working with Comfy Worsted and I really liked it even though I'm not usually a fan of cotton yarns. The pattern was well written, but as you can probably guess, the middle part (all stockinette) was a little boring.

I hope my baby likes it!

The luckiest

2011-01-16T15:06:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I just feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

I had a wonderful year. I realized my dream of getting pregnant and I've had a pretty uneventful pregnancy. Gestational diabetes suck but I'm able to control it pretty well with diet alone so I really can't complain. I'm currently 33 weeks pregnant and I'm not tired of being pregnant yet. I am, however, tired of going to work every morning. Only two weeks left to go!

This morning I went out for breakfast at Benedicts, a nice breakfast restaurant (that also has good lunch and dinner options too), in wonderful company (one of my best friends, her boyfriend and their brand new baby boy). And she gave me the most wonderful gift: she asked me to be her baby's godmother. I'm so happy and touched. And her baby is sooo cute!

I'm also lucky to have a great man in my life who is going to be a wonderful father. Now I love him for many reasons, he's smart and funny and sexy and handsome of course. And also, he got me yarn for Christmas!

A little before Christmas, I sent him my Knit Picks wishlist and told him if he didn't know what to get me, I'd be happy with anything on it. We didn't talk about it after that.

He ended up giving me earrings for Christmas and I was thrilled (I love them). But then a few days after Christmas, I got a package from KnitPicks! It had four skeins of the yarn pictured above, which is Imagination in the Seven Dwarves colourway.

I'm thinking of maybe pairing it with something else to make the Chevron scarf. At first I thought a black yarn would work, but then I saw this version, which uses the Seven Dwarves paired with another Imagination colourway (Looking glass). I really like it though I'd make mine so the Seven Dwarves is the dominant colour.

Oh and there was something else in the Knit Picks box: a Knitting Chart Keeper. I'd had my eyes on it for a while so I was really happy to get it.

But wait, that's not all.

After I had sent him my Knit Picks wishlist, I also sent him links to a few things I liked on Etsy, including a link to this Etsy shop. I just LOVE her bags and fell in love with a particular one, but hesitated buying it because I do have a lot of bags.

Well, guess what I got in the mail last week, completely unexpectedly...

I love it! I'm really spoiled and I know how lucky I am.

Projects projects projects

2011-01-03T15:12:00.002-05:00

I am in a very knitty mood these days.

All I want to do is knit, buy yarn, touch yarn, look at yarn (my Knitpicks wishlist is now up to 490 $!) and look at patterns. I have tons of projects in mind and of course, very little time to knit.

I've been working pretty much exclusively on my baby blanket during the holidays and I got faith it's going to be finished soon. My goal is end of January, but I think I can finish it before that. We'll see.

Speaking of blankets, there's a contest going on right here where you can submit a handknit or crochet baby blanket to win a 50 $ Knit Picks gift certificate. It isn't clear on the site whether you have to design the blanket or not, but Knit Picks said on Facebook that you can use someone else's pattern. I may enter mine when it's finished.

Also on my list of «things to knit before baby gets here»:

- This baby cocoon (for pictures)

- This baby hat (also for pictures only)

- This very cute baby cardigan (newborn size)

- Some hats and booties

Most are small projects, but being a very slow knitter, I doubt I'll be able to finish it all. But I'll try.

I'm also itching to knit socks. I haven't made a pair in forever and it's my favourite thing to knit (plus I've got lots of sock yarn that's calling my name).

I'm telling you, when I stop working on January 28, my goal is to use the weeks before baby gets here to knit, knit, knit!

Happy Year 2011

2011-01-02T08:11:00.003-05:00

I can't believe we're in 2011, which is going to be my son's birth year! It's hard to believe I have only two months left in this pregnancy.

I have to say I'm not unhappy the holidays are over. I managed to have dessert-free holidays (because of gestational diabetes) and that, my friends, was no fun at all. I have a sweet tooth and my godmother makes a table-full of dessert for the New Year's Day party. Trust me, resisting was hard. But I did it, I saw the doc and so far, I don't have to be an insulin junkie and I'm very relieved about that.

GD sucks but it's been pretty manageable for me. However, my sugars can get really high in the mornings and I found I just can't eat carbs at all for breakfast if I want my sugars to stay at a normal level. So I've been eating eggs, bacon (or sausage) and cheese every morning and I'm already sick of eggs. Oh well. I can't skip breakfast because I've already lost some weight and the doc didn't like that.

Oh and between seeing my GD doc every two weeks and my regular doc every two weeks, I feel like I'm always at the hospital!

So, 2010 is over and what a crazy, wonderful year it has been. Among the highlights:

-Chris and I went to Berlin and Copenhaguen in March. It was a great trip, though Chris' back problems made it difficult at times. But I'm glad we went as we're not expecting to go to Europe again anytime soon.

-We bought a house! And when I say "house", I really mean a condo (first floor and basement of a duplex), but it feels like a house to us. The place is 100 years old and we still have work to do on it, but we love it and we love our neighbourhood.

-And of course, THE highlight of the year is my pregnancy. After 20 months of trying, I finally got a positive on June 25th, one of the most wonderful days of my life. I'm also lucky to have a pretty easy pregnancy (even with GD) so far. I hope the birth will go as well ;)

As far as knitting goes, 2010 hasn't exactly been a great year. I lost my knitting mojo for months, plus I had bad luck with some projects. Therefore, I have only finished EIGHT projects! And small ones at that. It's pretty unbelievable. Now, I don't know how much knitting I'll have time to do in 2011, but I'm hoping I can have more than eight FO.

My favourites of the year:

Potpourri mittens

Cable and rib socks

Kai-Mei

I haven't finished anything for baby yet, but my goal is to finish my baby blanket before the end of January (I finally started the border). I also have a few small projects in mind that I think I may be able to finish before he gets here.

I'll end my first post of 2011 by sending tons of virtual hugs to my friend Tara and her beautiful daughter Émilie. You are strong and wonderful and I'm keeping you in my thoughts.

Box of love

2010-12-12T14:38:00.005-05:00

I promised yarn porn in my last post, and I deliver.

I got this big box by mail on Friday...

Hmmmm. Box o' yarn from Knit Picks...

Now I want to apologize to my Montreal knitter friends for not offering to combine orders and share shipping. But when I saw that there was a cyber Monday sale AND that one of the books I had on my wishlist had become a "last chance" item, I went a little bit crazy and I had to order.right.away. It's a good thing I did too, because I ordered in the morning and when I got home that night, this particular yarn in this particular colourway (the one I wanted the most) wasn't listed on Knit Picks anymore:

Swish DK in Asparagus. I don't know if Knit Picks will restock it at some point, but I'm glad I got it when I did because I love love love the colour and it's perfect for a baby sweater I wanted to make (see end of this post). I got five skeins of it, which should be enough for my project (I'd hate to run out of yarn again).

I also got:

Stroll Sport in Tidepool Heather. It's also super soft. I got six skeins and it also should become a baby sweater (I have a pattern in mind, we'll see if I get to it or change my mind).

Stroll Tonal in Deep Waters. I love love love that yarn. I think I want one of each colourway. Actually, the one I wanted the most was "Foliage", but it was the only colourway that wasn't on sale. Poo. But I don't regret Deep Waters, it's beautiful. I'm not sure if I'll use it for socks or for this super cute baby sweater, we'll see.

Felici sock yarn in Abracadabra. I bought it just because. I kept hearing about how soft this yarn is on the Knit Picks group and I gotta say I wasn't disappointed. It's one of the softest sock yarn I've ever touched. I don't usually buy much self-striping yarn anymore, but it's fun to have once in a while. It makes for mindless knitting and the socks always turn out cute.

I got two skeins of Capra in Fairy Tale. It's the only yarn I got that wasn't on sale, but I had wanted to try it since it first came out. It's a cashmere/merino blend (only 15% cashmere though) and it's quite soft. I really like it. The colour, however, wasn't exactly what I expected. I thought it would be more purple but it's more raspberry-like. I still like it though.

The book I got is Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. I love her patterns and that book has a lot of nice ones. And it was super cheap on KP and a "last chance" item so I couldn't resist.

I also got (not on sale) two needle cables and some 4,5 mm tips.

With all this new yarn, I just had to cast on for a new project.

I'm using my Swish DK in Asparagus to make Kate Gilbert's Pea Pod baby set. Well just the sweater actually. I fell in love with that pattern when I first saw it in IK a long time ago and I had promised myself I would knit it for my baby someday. So here we go! I'm making the 6 months size, as that should bring us to September. Hopefully it'll fit then (or later), not during the summer. I only have a few rows done, but I'm enjoying working with Swish so far.

omg, what is that?

2010-12-10T20:22:00.004-05:00

Is it... a FO?

Why yes, it is. My first FO since MAY, believe it or not.

Pattern: Habitat, by Jared Flood
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers
Needles: 5mm / US 8 circulars + dpns

I couldn't believe it when I realized I hadn't finished anything in months. I can explain it of course. I didn't feel like knitting much all summer with the heat and the tirednes of pregnancy. Prior to that, I had been working on a cardigan but I put it aside when I found out I was pregnant. Then there was the shawl aka the blob and we all know what happened with that. I've also been working on a baby blanket that's a bit boring to knit and I started a baby vest for a knitting class but I got sick and missed the last one and never got around to seaming it.

Now for some reason I really want to knit socks. Probably because I've never been this long without knitting a pair. But I do want to work on some baby things. We'll see.

Oh and I have a pic of me actually wearing the hat.

Seeing this pic made me realize just how much weight I've gained in my face. omg! I'm not exactly glowing am I? hehe. And all the pics we took were like that so it's not just one bad pic.

Speaking of pregnancy, I am now 28 weeks! Time is flying! I'll be leaving work on January 28. I have over three weeks of vacation/time owed left so my actual maternity leave won't start until the end of February. I gotta tell you, I'm really looking forward to it!

In not-so-good news, though, I just found out a few days ago that I have gestational diabetes, which sucks big time. I barely failed my test too. The doc told me I should have been under 7.8 and I got 7.9. How fun is this, being diagnosed with this just before the holidays? No bûche de Noël for me!

Stay tuned for my next post as it will contain YARN PORN!

Blob in waiting

2010-11-17T08:56:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,

You all remember me? I'm Caroline, the once-a-month blogger!

I am happy to announce that I got my knitting mojo back. More specifically, I decided a few weeks ago that I would finish my Icarus shawl no matter what. So I put my other projects aside and started knitting. And I knit and knit and knit, those rows that wouldn't end (seriously, I must have a million stitches on my needles right now). I think I have about 6 rows left and then I stopped knitting. Yep, I ran out of yarn! AND the colourway I'm using is discontinued. Oh joy. So that leaves me with three choices.

1. Find someone who has some leftovers or a whole skein to sell (Knit Picks Shimmer in Maple Leaf, dye lot 1982)

2. Frog to the lifeline I (thankfully) added before the last repeat of the main body chart and reknit the border chart without that last repeat.

3. Hide the shawl under my bed and forget it ever existed.

I'm currently working on #1 and crossing my fingers hoping I'll find the yarn, because I don't think I have the courage for #2 and would most likely skip directly to choice #3.

I haven't knit a stitch since I ran out of yarn last weekend. I have two baby projects that I could work on (and I should... I feel March is going to be here soon). I don't feel like knitting them though. I want to make hats and mittens and socks. So we'll see. I really wanted to finish a project before casting on for a new one, and I totally would have had I not ran out of stupid yarn.

Ok, I know I said stupid yarn but I didn't really mean it. I'm sorry, yarn, I love you.

And because I've never posted one, here's a pic of me in my pregnant state (sorry it's blurry but it's all I have).

I don't have many pics of me right now because I'm struggling a bit with body image. I was 22 weeks on that pic, I'm now almost 25 weeks. I'll try to take a new picture sometime soon.

Fall is for knitting

2010-10-17T16:06:00.002-04:00

Fall is here for good and I've really been enjoying it. I've been baking and cooking and of course knitting. For the past few weeks, I've been feeling really great (yay for the 2nd trimester!) and I have a lot more energy. In fact, if I didn't feel the little one move all the time, I could probably forget that I'm even pregnant.

I got my 20 weeks ultrasound last Tuesday and we found out we're having a baby BOY!!! I could not believe it, I really had a gut feeling that I was having a girl. I'm soooo happy though, I just love little boys. And I'm already in love with mine!

My knitting mojo is back, too, which is great. I don't have any FOs yet, but I've been knitting. I'm even working on my Icarus shawl, still. There are a dozen rows left to knit and I think I may run out of yarn, which is scary. But we'll see when we get there.

I'm still working on my baby blanket. I'm enjoying working with Knit Picks Comfy, but it's a very boring knit. Good for TV watching though.

Also, I took a finishing class a few weeks ago and I started a baby vest so I'd have something to work on in the last class. Unfortunately, I got sick (with a very bad cold) so I stayed home that night and the vest is still unfinished. I need to work on it while the class is still fresh in my memory.

I needed a really quick project and I gotta say I didn't really care about the end result so I didn't even check gauge. Hopefully it'll fit baby at some point. I also used non superwash yarn (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes) so we'll see how I feel about washing it by hand when the time comes. Oh and the pattern is This End Up.

Where do I start?

2010-09-16T20:44:00.002-04:00

*sigh*

Yet another month has passed. I'm sorry I'm not posting more, things are really crazy right now.

You know, I had always imagined that when I'd get pregnant, I would go crazy knitting all sorts of cute things for babies. I'd imagine the blankets, the wee sweaters, the booties.

But now I'm pregnant and... nothing. I've lost my knitting mojo before, but I don't remember it ever being as bad. The weird thing is that I still love looking at projects and yarns, I just don't feel like knitting. I work on a row of a baby blanket once in a while, but that's it. I haven't touched my Icarus shawl in forever and I *really* should try to finish it because it has these beautiful fall colours that would be wonderful right now.

I'm taking a finishing class at Ariadne starting next week and I hope actually being in a yarn store will make me want to knit again. Right now I should be working on a few swatches for the class, but meh...

When I got pregnant, I also promised myself this blog would not become a pregnancy blog, but it really is the most interesting thing happening in my life right now. So...

Meet my little peanut! It's actually my 12 week ultrasound and I'm 16 weeks now. Sorry about the delay! We should know if it's a boy or a girl on October 12. Feel free to take a guess!

My eggo is preggo

2010-08-14T09:23:00.002-04:00

Thanks to everyone for your nice comments to my last post. It really touches me that you all care so much. :)

So yep, after 20 months of trying I am finally knocked up. I don't know how it happened... wait, I do know how it happened, I just don't know why it happened this time and not before. But of course I couldn't be happier.

I am due March 3rd and am currently 11 weeks and 2 days pregnant. OMG! We found out on June 25th, the same day that we signed all the papers for our new home. I'll never forget that day.

I think that I'm having a girl, my mom thinks I'm having a boy. I bet one of us is right. I really don't care either way. I think I'd be a good boy mom as I'm soooo not girly! ;) But knitting wise, I find cuter patterns for girls. Hehe. We should find out what's in there sometime in October.

Oh and now that I'm pregnant, be prepared to sometime read about boobies, morning sickness, stretch marks and all that fun stuff. I've been feeling nauseous since before I even found out I was pregnant, but it wasn't too bad... until last week. WTF? All my books tell me I'm supposed to start feeling better around 10 weeks and I get worse?

I am very exciting to start knitting for the little one but for some reason, I haven't cast on for anything yet. Everytime I want to, I convince myself that I should really try to finish my shawl first so I knit one row of it and it takes me forever and then I don't want to knit anymore. I think I'll start a blanket today, knit a bit on it and THEN go back to the shawl.

Oh also, I said last April that I would be on a yarn diet till the end of the year. When I made that decision, I told Chris that the only thing that would make me break that diet would be a pregnancy. Soooo... ;) I still haven't bought anything because I have yarn for the blanket and another baby project I want to start, but once we find out what we're having, I'll probably HAVE to buy some yarn. I'm sure I would have succeeded in my yarn diet if I hadn't gotten pregnant by the way... ;)

Picture = 1000 words

2010-08-08T15:29:00.005-04:00

Ps/PLEASE DO NOT MENTION THIS ON FACEBOOK

Ps2/Sorry about the upside down pic

Ps3/Details later ;)

Hmmmm yarn...

2010-08-07T09:53:00.002-04:00

So, did you guys see the new Knit Picks yarn?

Seriously, Knit Picks, cashmere? How am I supposed to ever save money if you always come up with new ways to FORCE me to order? ;)

Capra Cashmere Yarn
Ok I know it's only 15% cashmere, but the other 85 % is merino which is yummy too. The colours are great too. I will definitely be ordering (no, not now) at least enough to make me a cute little scarf.

There are also some new colours in other yarns. I like the new City Tweed colours and there are some new yummy shades of the Stroll sock yarns too. And check out the new Palette! I love that yarn for mittens.

*sigh*

You know, I really need to actually start knitting again so I can justify buying all this new yarn.

I know...

2010-08-01T18:50:00.002-04:00

It's been a LONG LONG while since I last posted. A little more than a month actually! Crazy! I've been wanting to post but just never got around to it as I couldn't find anything I wanted to write about. It's silly because things have been happening.

I mean we just moved into our brand new home! And let me tell you, I love everything about it. It's huge compared to our last place. And I'm loving the new neighborhood. I don't leave as close to the metro as I used to (it used to be a 2 min. walk) but it still takes me pretty much the same amount of time to get to work. So all is good and we don't regret our choice.

The *only* bad thing about our home is that we can't get a signal for our cell phone whenever we're inside! Unless we are close to the window, in the living room. And even then, I sometime lose the signal. It sucks because we haven't had a home phone in years, we only just use our cell phones. We'll definitely have to get a home line now.

We also had two weeks of vacation following the move. We spent most of that time in our new place, settling in. It was fun and I would have taken many more weeks off. But I did have to go back to work two weeks ago. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Yesterday I spent the whole day at parc Jean-Drapeau for the Osheaga festival.

It was lots of fun. We saw K'Naan, Stars, The National, Pavement and my beloved Arcade Fire. It was great. Unfortunately, I started having a killer headache early in the evening. By the time Arcade Fire came on, I thought my head was going to explode. Still, I endured for about an hour but then we decided to leave during the last song of the main set. I don't regret it though as we were able to catch the metro right away. My friend who stayed until the end said it was crazy to wait for the metro after the show.

Chris had a media pass for the festival so he went again today. I wish I could have gone but I'm still not feeling too well plus it's a bit on the expensive side. Today had Metric and Weezer. I would have loved to see them.

Oh and I know this is a knitting blog, but I think I must have knit something like three rows (three LONG rows) of my shawl in the past month. I'm really itching to start new project, but I know if I stop knitting the shawl, I'll never finish it. I really need to try and knit at least a little bit every night so I can hopefully finish it in the next month or so.

Did you guys see the new Twist Collective? It's so nice!

I absolutely adore Red Oak but I don't see myself ever making it. I can't wait to see some FOs of it though. I also like Peregrine, but I'm afraid it'd give me too much cleavage (I'm heavy on the boobie front, if you know what I mean).

I queued Lallans, Gwendolyn (I'd make it without the green border though), Anthera (I especially like the cowl) and Twinflower.

Ok I'll try to write again before the end of the month ;)

Bye bye Petite-Patrie!

2010-06-30T07:00:00.001-04:00

We are moving into our NEW HOUSE tomorrow. I'll be sad to leave our current neighbourhood, but I'm excited to discover a new one.

Next time I post, I'll be in NDG!

One week!

2010-06-24T10:03:00.002-04:00

In one week we will finally be in our new home. OUR home. It's so exciting! Last weekend, we took a long walk in our new neighbourhood and I can tell we're going to love it. Especially the big park that is less than a 5 min. walk from our house.

As you can imagine, we are insanely busy right now, which explains the lack of blogging (and the lack of knitting). We're still not all done with packing (it will be done on the weekend) and I've been working lots of overtime too. I'm telling you, I cannot wait to be on vacation!

Last weekend, right before we left to go on our walk, I had the TV on at HGTV but I wasn't really paying attention to it. Then I looked up and saw this:

Knitting on TV! Hehe. It was a show called Kirstie's Homemade Home and she was in a yarn shop learning to knit I guess. I didn't watch much because we had to leave and it looked like it was beginner stuff anyways, but still it was fun to see!

Public service announcement

2010-06-15T19:23:00.003-04:00

People, I need your attention.

If you like ice cream, bananas and healthy food, this post will, as it claims, change your life.

OMG. YUM. I will be eating this all summer long!

I added a date cookie in mine, which makes it a little less healthy I guess ;) Oh and if you make it, make sure your bananas are plenty ripe. Mine weren't ripe enough so it probably wasn't as good as it should have been.

sports + knitting = ♥

2010-06-13T15:07:00.002-04:00

Blob status = I finished chart 2 (woohoo!) and am now halfway through chart 3. It's a good thing I love the yarn.

Now you all know I love to knit while watching hockey. Or (American) football. I'm a Habs and Alouettes girl! But I've also learned to love soccer so I'm having lots of fun knitting while watching world cup games.

The thing I like about the world cup is that because Canada doesn't have a team, everyone around me is rooting for a different team. We got Italy, France, Portugal, England, Spain (etc.) supporters at work. It's fun. As for me, I got my t-shirt to show my support:

Grandma would be proud!

My life in boxes

2010-06-08T09:26:00.002-04:00

My knitting closet is no more. Everything but what I need for my current projects is in boxes.

omg, I am moving in less than four weeks! I'm both exciting and scared (I've never owned a home before)!

I will have to figure out where to put all that knitting stuff in the new house. While our new place will be much bigger than our current appartment, it lacks a bit in storage space. We want to change that, but it won't all happen this year. So I'll have to figure out something.

On the knitting front, I'm still spending all my free time (the little free time I have these days) making the blob grow. It's getting big. I'm almost done with Chart 2, and then I'll have to do Chart 3 and Chart 4 and the edging. They're not big charts but it's still taking me forever. Sometimes I wonder if that shawl will ever end!

The blob

2010-06-04T08:31:00.003-04:00

Judging by the comments on my last post, you all seem to want to see the blob, even if it looks identical to the last blob pic.

Well I live to serve. So here you go, taken this morning:

Icarus-in-progress. It's funny how, at the beginning, the project was knitting up so quickly I thought I'd be done in no time. Yeah right. Now that the rows have billions of stitches, I can't ever knit more than one or two a night. I finally started the second chart two nights ago. My goals is to finish the whole thing before the move (though I may have to wait until I'm in the new house to block it). I think I can do that.

And now my question to you, dear blog readers: How do you block your shawls? Do you use blocking wires?

Speaking of which, does anyone know where (if) you can buy blocking wires in Montreal?

What do you want to read?

2010-05-31T20:35:00.003-04:00

As I mentionned (I think) in my last post, I've been working on bigger projects these days. More specifically, a shawl and a cardigan.

I'm loving both projects but it poses a problem as far as this blog goes. I've been thinking about what I should write about and I have no idea. There's only so much I can say about shawl knitting, especially since I've been repeating the same rows over and over and over (I'll be starting the border soon, yay!). I don't have anything to say about the cardigan because I haven't touched it in weeks, specifically because I want to get to that damn shawl border already!

Anyways. A shawl in progress looks like a blob. I could post a pic of the current blob, but it wouldn't look much different than last week's blob.

So I've been wondering. What do you, readers, want me to write about? Regular life? (there isn't much going on, really). Future knitting projects? Food? Or should I stay silent until I have a FO to show? Is anyone still reading this blog?

Anywayyyyys. As I was saying, I'm loving the big projects. As much as I LOVE knitting socks, hats, mittens, etc., there's something very satisfying about the act of making a whole sweater out of strings, you know? I just hope I can be happy with the end product, especially since I've been dreaming of future sweaters lately.

These days, I'm daydreaming about the Notre-Dame de Grâce pullover. Ha. You think it has anything to do with the fact that it's the name of my future neighbourhood? I don't know. But I love it. Now, why do I dream of big cosy sweaters when it's two million degrees outside? My mind is weird.

Unfortunately, I won't get to knit the NDG sweater for a while, since I don't have the yarn and I'm not buying any for a while. Oh well...

Wip it good

2010-05-24T19:13:00.002-04:00

I haven't been posting much lately. I'm currently on a yarn diet so I don't have any goodies to post. And I'm working on bigger projects, so I don't have any FO either. Life has been pretty ordinary. Work, work, pack and work. I am incredibly excited about our move in July, but damn I hate the whole packing thing. I can't wait until we're there!

I've been mostly working on the Icarus shawl and I now only have one of the center repeats left. Unfortunately, a shawl-in-progress isn't an wasy object to photograph. It'll looks good when it's done, but now it doesn't look like much.

Hopefully I'll have an FO to share soon.

In other news, after not knitting socks for a few weeks, I find I'm itching to knit them again. I may do the summer of socks thing. I also need to start a baby blanket for a friend.

Ok, back to the shawl and hockey watching. I'm hoping it won't be the last game of the season.

Busy Bee

2010-05-02T14:42:00.002-04:00

My man is currently out of town for the week-end and I purposefully didn't make any plans (other than a dinner with friends Friday night). I wanted a quiet week-end, filled with knitting and that's what I got! I was busy!

I am still working on the Honeybee cardigan and I realized I'll probably be spending the next few months working on it. It's going slowly, but I can see progress.

I have 5 inches done. I need 15 before I start the sleeves. Yeah, it'll take a while ;) But I'm loving working with the yarn (Knit Picks Gloss), so that's ok.

Yesterday, I finished my Kai-Mei socks.

Pattern: Kai-Mei, by Cookie A., from her book Sock Innovation.
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rocks, Lightweight in 24 Karat
Needles: 2.25 mm DPNs
Mods: I was scared I'd run out of yarn so I made the leg one inch shorter.

Oddly enough, I don't feel like making socks right now (shocking, I know) so I didn't rush and cast on another pair as soon as I finished these. Instead, I cast on for the Icarus shawl, using this yarn:

(Knit Picks Shimmer in Maple Leaf)

I'm hoping my shawl will be as beautiful as this one. Yeah, call me copycat, I don't care. I saw it and now I want it. ;)

Oh and I went to Effiloché earlier today to get needles for the shawl and I did.not.buy.any.yarn. Willpower. I have some. I did go and fondle the Tanis Fiber Art sock yarn though.

Already tempted

2010-04-29T22:13:00.003-04:00

So I decide I need to go on a yarn diet until the end of the year (crazy idea, I know) and Knit Picks decide to release these yummy sock cocktails: Mojito, Violet Martini and Rob Roy.

Yum.

Don't worry, I'm tempted but I won't buy. :)

PSA

2010-04-27T21:02:00.001-04:00

April 24 - May 1st is National Infertility Awareness Week. As you play with your kids today, or tuck them into bed tonight, please take a minute to empathize with the millions of couples out there struggling to achieve what you have. If you or someone you love is affected by infertility, please post this in your Facebook status (or blog!) this week to show your support.

Stash. Meet new yarn.

2010-04-25T16:33:00.003-04:00

My last post ended with a little bit of yarn porn and I'm now continuing where I left off. I got a big box from Knit Picks a few days ago, filled with goodies. I had gotten a 10 % off coupon and couldn't resist ordering. Wanna see?

First, I got a set of 2.75 mm Harmony DPNs. I love these needles so much, I already have three sets of the 2.25 mm but sometimes I need a little bigger so now I'm all set.

But I know you all really want to know about the yarn, right? Well here you go.

I got 8 skeins of Comfy Worsted in Honey Dew. My best friend is pregnant and due in November and I definitely want to knit her something. My first plan was to do something like this. But then I was browsing projects made with Comfy and I found this. I think we have a winner. I still have a long time to make this but I want to start on it ASAP so I don't have to do a knitting marathon in the Fall.

Ok, I also got this:

Stroll Tonal in Springtime. What can I say? I love me some sock yarn and it's new and I just had to see it in person. Very pretty and very soft.

Shadow Kettle Dyed in Clementine (2 skeins). It's definitely not as bright (though it IS very bright) in real life, but I couldn't get the colour to photograph well. It reminds me of orange popsicle. You can see better pics of the colour here. That colour had been on my wish list for a while and when I ordered, I noticed it was now a "last chance" colour so I decided to buy it. Plus, I sort of have an obsession with laceweight these days.

Alpaca Cloud in Peppermint. This was an impulse buy. The soft was calling me. So I put it in my cart. I do NOT regret it. It's beautiful and omg soft! In fact, my only regret is that I got only one skein, because after my order had shipped, I found this pattern that was made for this yarn, but it requires two skeins. Oh well. I'm sure I can find a cute scarf pattern that'll only use up one skein.

So, that's all for the yarn porn. I kind of felt guitly about buying that much, so I decided it was time for me to start a little yarn diet. No more yarn buying in 2010. Eeek. That's a long time! But with the house we just bought, I can't justify buying more yarn, I have more than enough to last me until the end of the year (and the next, and the next, but a girl's gotta indulge once in a while). I hope I can do it!

Bits of softness

2010-04-23T19:58:00.001-04:00

This post is brought to you by the word SOFT!

It's been 11 days since my last post (sorry!) and I got a lot to talk about. I've kind of gone crazy with my credit card (well crazy for me, I know some people are a lot worst). But before I get to the yarn porn, let me show you the current WIPs.

First, a sock of course. Cookie A. is the designer of the month for the Sock Knitters Anonymous challenge, so I figured it would be a good time to knit something from her fabulous book, Sock Innovation. I chose Kai-Mei because it's the one that had first caught my eye when I got the book. Here's the first sock in all it's unblocked glory:

Let me tell you, this picture definitely doesn't show the beauty of the sock. But I like to save the sock blocker pics for the finished pair.

Also, I'm someone who's usually late to the party and if there's a trend, I'll probably end up following it... two years after it went out of style. I find the same thing happens with knitting. In fact, I'm currently thinking that maybe I should make a Clapotis. ;) I'm saying that because my Kai-Mei are made with Socks that rock, and yes, it's my first time using it. And I LOVE it. I just love the fabric it makes, it feels sooooo good on my foot. *sigh* I'm sure that in 5 years, I'll tell you all about my love of Wollmeise... ;)

Ok, WIP #2. Believe it or not, I'm making a cardigan! I haven't made a garment in a long time and I hope that I'll finally make one that I actually want to wear. The fact that it's seamless will help. It's made of laceweight so it's not a quick knit, but here's the little bit I had done a few days ago:

It's the Honeybee cardigan and I'm using Knit Picks Gloss in Bordeaux. The yarn is very very soft and I love the colour. Funny thing: the Honeybee stitch pattern is very similar to the pattern on the foot of my Kai-Mei socks.

Ok, now I give you YARN PORN!

After looking many many times at SlackFord Studio's web page and hearing good thing about the yarn, I decided (after yet another bad day) that I needed yarn. So I present you:

Stalwart Sock in "From Dusk Till Dawn".

Stalwart Sock in "Steelyard Blues".

The yarn is really, seriously beautiful AND soft. And from what I've seen on Ravelry, they make beautiful socks. Looking at those skein makes me happy. But not as happy as when I feel this:

Nimbus Lace in "True Blood".

OMG! So soft! Of course, the fact that it's 70% baby alpaca, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere definitely helps making it soft. I love love love love it. I have 650 yards of it and I need the perfect project (a scarf, I'm pretty sure).

I've been obsessed with laceweight lately for some reason, but I've been adding the yarn to my stash without actually starting lace projects. That needs to change.

Oh and if you thought that wasn't enough yarn porn, it's not over. I got a big box from Knit Picks waiting for me at the post office (I had a 10% off coupon, I couldn't resist). Expect more laceweight. :)

Just a scarf

2010-04-11T14:29:00.004-04:00

Just as the weather is getting nicer, I finished a beautiful wool scarf. Oh well, we still have a few scarf-days ahead of us and I can always use it next fall :)

Pattern: One Row Handspun Scarf, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers
Needles: US8/5.0 mm circulars
Notes: I had two skeins of Cascade but I ended up only using one. It's a bit on the short side, but I like it.

Now that I finished the scarf, I sort of want to start a new project or ten. I already have Kai-Mei socks on the needles (LOVE!) but I also want a non-sock project. I hesitated... A cardigan or a shawl? And then I thought... Why not both? Wild, I know. I have yet to cast on but it shall be done soon. Stay tuned.

Some people drink, some people use drugs...

2010-04-08T09:07:00.002-04:00

... I buy yarn.

After a BAD day this week, I needed some retail therapy, and then I heard the Canadian dollar was pretty much equal to the US one and I knew that some yarn shopping would make me feel much better. Yarn diet, schmarn diet. Who cares? I had been eyeing the sock yarn at Slackford Studio for a while so I decided to treat myself. I wasn't too bad. I just got two skeins of sock yarn and one of laceweight. I'm not saying which colours, I'll show you when it gets here.

In the meantime, here's a pic of my latest FO:

Pattern: Ice Cream Cone Socks by Veronik Avery
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in Mermaid
Needles: 2.25 and 2.75 mm

I love them, they're pretty. I think I'll keep them in my Christmas box and give them to my sister.

Making Cookie...

2010-04-04T20:27:00.002-04:00

Today I took this:

And I cast on for Kai-Mei, by Cookie A.

I think... I know... I have a sock addiction. I want to work on something else but I keep seeing sock patterns I want to make and I can't resist.

Speaking of socks, I also finished a pair, but they're lace and blocking right now so you'll have to wait for pics.

Oh and did you guys see the new Twist Collective? I'm usually not much into Spring/Summer patterns but I gotta say the newest issue is just lovely. I have queued Poplar & Elm, Azami and Tanis because they're just so full of deliciousness. Whether or not I'll ever get to knit them is another story. The queue is, after all, 468 patterns long, as of right now.

WIPs and Wants

2010-04-02T13:47:00.003-04:00

Apparently, I only blogged ONCE in the whole month of March! Cray-zee. I know I've been out of the country for half of the month, but I could have still posted a bit in the two other weeks! I'll try to do better in April, promise!

Thanks to those of you who congratulated me on the new house! We're very happy, excited and scared (because of the OMG25yearsmortgage!) and we can't wait to move in in July. The "house" is actually a condo. We have the first floor of a duplex + basement. The frontyard and (tiny) backyard are also ours. And it's in the Notre-Dame the Grâce neighbourhood, which is a beautiful place, even though we are not *that* familiar with it. We can't wait to discover it though. It feels like we're moving in a whole other city and it's very exciting! But I'm going to miss being close to the Marché Jean-Talon and Effiloché!

But enough about the house, as this is a knitting blog, right? And I've been knitting a little. I'm almost done with a pair of socks:

The pattern is "Ice Cream Cone socks» by Veronik Avery, from the Steppin' Out Too booklet. I'm pretty sure they're going to be a gift for my sister, but I may wait till Christmas to give it to her.

I've also been working on a scarf:

The pattern is the One Row Handspun Scarf by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and I've used almost a whole ball of Cascade 220. I'm not sure how long I'll make it (I have another ball of the same colour). We'll see. I'm not too motivated to work on it right now since the weather is so nice.

I have, however, been hit by a bad case of startitis! As soon as I finish the Ice cream come socks, I'll cast on for a Cookie A. sock from Sock Innovation. I'm not sure which one... possibily Kai-mei.

I also really want to make me the Honeybee cardigan... Oh and a shawl! A little while ago, I was able to get two skeins of laceweight from Tara:

(Knit Picks Shimmer in Maple Leaf)

I wasn't sure what to make with it, so I browsed projects in Ravelry and I saw a beautiful, beautiful shawl made with this exact same colourway. And I already have the pattern. Soooo... I'll probably cast-on for it soon and tell you which one it is.

Speaking of Knit Picks, did you guys see their new Tonal sock and lace yarns? OMG! Semi-solid! Beautiful! Want!

News!

2010-03-24T21:41:00.002-04:00

I know I have been M.I.A., and it's not because of a lack of things to blog about. I've just been sooooo busy these past few weeks.

I went to Berlin...

And I went to Copenhagen...

Oh and Chris and I also bought a house!

So yeah, lots of things happened :) I'll write more about all of this when I'm not so freaking tired. I have a bit of knitting to share too (no FOs though).

I did it.

2010-02-28T21:16:00.000-05:00

Double medallist

2010-02-27T14:13:00.002-05:00

Well I got me two medals:

These mittens count for Mitten Moguls and Nordic colorwork combined. I haven't been called to the podium yet, but I guess I will sometime today. Yay!

The socks aren't finished yet, far from it. And I'm working tonight. But we'll see. Sometimes miracles do happen.

Ravelympics - Day 7

2010-02-20T09:57:00.003-05:00

We have reached the halfpoint on the Olympics and I'm happy to say...

...that I'm right on track! I still need to weave in ends (and sew the picot edge on the mitten), but I'm not too worried about that. I'm keeping that task for when I don't feel like knitting.

I expect that the second sock will be easier than the first since I won't be making stupid mistakes. But I still expect a difficult week, seeing as today is my only day off before the first of seven consecutive work days. Eeep!

(Oh and congrats to Canada's new golden boy: Jon Montgomery got us the gold in skeleton! What a crazy sport!)

Ravelympics - Days 4-6

2010-02-18T15:00:00.003-05:00

Things are still going well in the Ravelympics. Medals are won (not by me, yet!), athletes are watched and applauded and projects are knit. Fun!

Canada added a few medals to its total. Gold for Maëlle Ricker in Snowboard cross (crazy sport, but so much fun to watch!). And last night, Marianne St-Gelais got silver in short-track (500m). I was so happy for her. It was her 20th birthday too! Canada now has 6 medals. The US have 14! They have fantastic athletes. I never tire of watching Lindsey Vonn skiing and Shaun White doing... whatever magic he does with his snowboard.

As for my knitting, I'm pretty much on schedule, despite a few setbacks. In my last post, I mentionned I was ready to turn the heel... well just as I was about to start, I realised I had messed up all my increases for the gusset and had to frog quite a bit! Eeeps. I'm caught up now though, and only have a few repeats left to do for the leg + cuff.

The mittens are also coming along. I actually finished the hand part a few minutes ago. I'll try to knit the thumb tonight after work.

My goal was to finish sock #1 and mitten #1 by Saturday. I think I can do it AND sock #2 should go much quicker as I won't make the same mistake!

Ravelympics - Day 3

2010-02-16T00:14:00.003-05:00

Are you guys counting today (Monday) as day 3 or 4 of the Ravelympics? Since cast-on was so late on Friday, I decided not to count it and I consider Saturday as day 1. Therefore, today is day 3. Not that it's important.

Things are a bit crazy at work but so much fun with all the Olympic excitement. My boss asked me to work a 6th day for the next two weeks though, so that means I'll have less time to knit. Eeek. The knitting is going well so far, so I'm still hopeful I'll be able to win my medals.

Today I mostly worked on my Olympic mittens.

I like 'em. And you can see Canada's new hero Alexandre Bilodeau skiing on my TV! ;)

Now I'll try to knit on the socks a little bit before going to bed. I'm at the heel!

Ravelympics - Days 1-2

2010-02-14T22:17:00.003-05:00

I just finished watching the men's moguls competition and saw Quebec's own Alexandre Bilodeau win Canada's first gold medal of the 2010 Games. Even better, he won the first gold medal ever won by a Canadian on Canadian soil. It was a great race and all four Canadians/Quebecois in the finals did wonderfully.

I've been doing good with my Ravelympics knitting. I think if I can keep this speed up, I'll make it. And I worked all day yesterday, so I'm happy with my progress.

This is the beginning of my Firestarter socks. My first toe-up socks. Let me tell you, that pattern kicked my ass. I had trouble figuring out the toe and then had trouble with the instep. But I seem to be doing well now. I'm at the gusset and have good hope of getting to the heel before bed tonight.

The Potpourri mittens are also going well. I still need to knit one and a half pattern repeats before decreasing. Ideally, I'd knit one repeat before going to bed tonight, but that may not happen. We'll see.

It's a good thing I'm working evenings all week. I can stay up late!

Just in time for Ravelympics!

2010-02-12T13:49:00.002-05:00

I finished my Rib and Cable socks!

Pattern: Rib and Cable Socks, by Nancy Bush (from IK Fall 2005 or Accessories 2009)
Yarn: 2 skeins of Regia in see-from-space blue (I just named the colour).
Needles: 2.25 mm DPNs
Notes: I did an extra pattern repeat on the leg (accidentally!).

I'm now ready for the Ravelympics! I've decided I will knit me a pair of Firestarter. Kate the enabler reminded me that knitting toe-up socks is best for the Olympics since I can make the cuff shorter if I'm running out of time. Wise woman.

Who's casting on tonight?

Food Friday

2010-02-12T13:43:00.002-05:00

This week was weird. I was working evenings at the sports desk since all our sports guys are now in Vancouver. I thought that would give me an opportunity to cook a lot, but I never had the time. And when I did, I didn't feel like it.

I did do Meatless Monday though! I made a wonderful, delicious, Lentil Soup:

That I ate with brushetta (I had some leftovers from Super Bowl Sunday). It was good. So good, in fact, that I brought some to work that same night. And ate it again a few times during the week. Yum yum yum.

Life and Ravelympics

2010-02-10T10:15:00.005-05:00

Ok, I need to write this Ravelympics post. I've been wanting to write it for a while but just never got around to it.

As is often the case this time of year, I'm feeling myself becoming more and more depressed with every new day I have to wake up. Bleh. I cannot wait for Spring to be here.

It doesn't help that I keep getting bad news on top of more bad news. I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow to see what kind of tests I need to do to figure out while I am still unpregnant and while I should be happy that I may finally get some answers, I'm not. I'm angry at the world for being broken and I get so freaking jealous of all the women around me who can get pregnant just by looking at their partner, I feel like I should spend the rest of my life home so I don't have to hear about it and face the fact that it may never happen for me.

We also finally figured out the source of my boyfriend's back problem: a big ass hernia. Seriously, the doctor even wrote "très grosse hernie" (very big hernia) on his test results. He'll be seeing a neurosurgeon at the beginning of March to figure out what to do next.

The one little light in that tunnel: our upcoming trip to Berlin (and possibly Coppenhaguen). Because there HAS to be some good things in my life, right?

Another good thing: The Ravelympics. I do want to write about it. Sorry about the whiny ramblings above, but sometimes you need to get things out and I really don't have anyone to talk about these things.

Ok. Ravelympics. Who's in?

I did the crazy thing of signing up for two teams and two projects. Problem is: I'm still undecided on one of them.

One thing is for sure: I'll be knitting the Potpourri mittens for Team Canada (Events: Mittens Moguls and Nordic Colorwork Combined).

I will be using this:

I had already started these mittens a while ago, but quickly realized they would be too small. I'll make them again with 2.75 mm needles and it should do the trick.

My second project will be for Team Tufty (Sock Knitters Anonymous' team) and it will be a Sock hockey project of course. I'm just not sure which pattern I want to knit. Here are my choices so far:

1. Firestarter, by Yarnissima.

I would be using this:

I've been wanting to knit with it since I got it. But I've never tried a toe-up sock before and I'm already not sure I'll have time to do both mittens and socks. Maybe I should go with a good old cuff-down sock?

2. Fall Fire socks by Lucia Tedesco.

I don't have a pic of the yarn, but you can see pictures here. I've had this yarn and pattern for a while so I think it's about time I make the socks. But again, this is a toe-up pattern...

3. Barber Pole socks, by Veronik Avery

I'd be using this:

That one is cuff-down and I'd be using yarn I've had in my stash for a long long time! Plus, I'd be knitting from one of my pattern book, which is something I really need to do. I mentionned a while ago that I didn't want to buy a new sock book until I've knit at least one pattern from each of my sock books. Well it turns out Cookie A is coming up with a new book, so I need to get going!

Though now that I think about it, I've already knit two patterns from Steppin Out (the booklet that has the Barber Pole pattern). So it's a moot point.

What are YOU planning to knit for the Ravelympics?

Food Friday

2010-02-05T18:54:00.002-05:00

Hello world!

I usually try to write my Food Friday posts before I leave for work, but let's just say I'm not doing very well with my resolution of trying to wake up with my alarm clock. I need to work on that. Seriously. I've missed quite a few workouts this week because I couldn't get out of bed. I need to be more disciplined.

I won't be posting any food pics this week. Sorry! I'll try to do better next week. Things have been pretty hectic around here so I haven't been able to cook much (I have big news though: I'm going to Berlin soon! Yay!).

Meatless Monday

Lunch was pretty simple: Pea soup with a slice of whole what bread and some raw veggies. Yum.
For dinner, I had planned on making a vegetable curry BUT then the metro decided to stop working for FOUR freaking hours so it took me 1h30 to get home instead of 20 minutes. I was exhausted and not in the mood to cook anything so I ate a peanut butter sandwhich. Hey, it was meatless ;)

Slow Cooker

Last Sunday, I decided to try a roast in my slow cooker. It was OMGdelicious! Very simple too. I got the recipe here.

New recipes

The recipe above was a new one for me. I also tried this Butternut Squash and bacon pasta recipe. It turned out ok, but it didn't look as good as the one in the picture. Oh well.

New recipes so far this year: 7

Cookbooks

Once again, I haven't cooked anything from my cookbooks. Next week, I promise!

I also need to post a little about knitting. It is a knitting blog after all. Stay tuned for a post about the Ravelympics and hopefully a new FO before the opening ceremonies!

A finished pair of socks

2010-01-31T16:00:00.002-05:00

I am happy to report that I finally finished something in 2010. Yes, ladies and... ladies I guess, this is my first FO of the year, at last:

Pattern: January 2010 Mystery Socks, by Debbie O'Neill
Size: M
Needles: 2.25 mm DPNs (Knit Picks Harmony, how I love thee!)
Notes: Mystery patterns are fun! I think I should have knit the small size though, they're a little big. Also, I wasn't able to photograph the pattern well (I don't (yet!) have a macro lense for my camera). Click on the pattern link to see better version. Oh and the pattern could be knit with or without beads. I wasn't sure I'd want to wear socks with beads so I made mine beadless. But the beaded one are very very beautiful (again, check out the pattern page).

Next: Finish the Nancy Bush socks before the Ravelympics!

Food Friday

2010-01-29T09:17:00.003-05:00

I should really be getting ready for work, but I couldn't leave home before writing my Food Friday post!

This week has been a little weird. I've been sick with a bad cold and my boss asked me to work two evenings (Tue + Wed) to cover for a coworker who was in a hospital. With my schedule out of whack and my energy around zero, I just didn't feel like cooking much.

Meatless Monday

I actually cheated on Monday without even meaning too. I was really sick and stayed home from work. When lunch came, all I wanted was some chicken noodle soup and I ate some without even thinking that it was Meatless Monday! I made vegetarian pizza again for dinner.

I made up for it on Tuesday and made sure I had a vegetarian lunch.

I made salad, with mixed greens, red bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, feta cheese and lentils. It was yummy! I even made the same thing for lunch on Thursday!

Slowcooker, new recipes, cookbook

Nothing new on these fronts this week. Hopefully I'll make up for it next week!

Two forwards and one goalie

2010-01-24T11:48:00.002-05:00

After having recently met my blogger friend Tara, I had the chance, yesterday, to meet another knitting friend I hadn't met before. Brigitte, who doesn't blog enough, is my friend from the Go Habs Go group on Ravelry. She's also the owner/dyer of a wonderful Etsy shop named Les TricotLores. She sells beautiful yarn, all with hockey-related names (mostly Habs players name), and all the profits go to the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation.

We met yesterday at the Second Cup for coffee. Much to my delight (and ok, because I had asked her to), she had brought the boys:

Now, I know I'm on a sock yarn diet. But I've never NOT cheated on a diet before. And she has a yarn named after my favourite player, so what's a girl to do.

Meet Tomas Plekanec:

Now with food diets, when I cheat, I don't eat just one piece of chocolate (which explains why I can't lose weight). I'll eat the whole candy bar and then some. Soooooo.... I also brought these boys home with me:

Brian Gionta

Jaroslav Halak

It shall be noted that on the day that I bought Habs yarn, the team managed a fantastic win, 6-0, against the Rangers. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Food Friday (now with pictures!)

2010-01-22T09:00:00.003-05:00

It's Friday! Yay! AND, I'm adding something new to my food posts: PICTURES! Now, I'm no food photographer. If you want pretty yummy pics, check out Smitten Kitchen, Coconut & Lime, Confections of a Foodie Bride or some of the other beautiful food blogs out there!

Oh and I can't promise there'll be pics every week, but I'll try! Now let's look at them resolutions!

Meatless Monday

I had a lot of ideas for lunch, but when I went to the grocery store on Sunday, I couldn't find some of the ingredients I needed. So I ended up with a frozen dinner from Le Commensal. Funny, I used to love them a few years back, but I really didn't enjoy it this time. Oh well.

Dinner was easy, I made vegetarian pizza!

The crust is flatbread that I got at the grocery store. I used mock pepperoni and veggies (I remember onions, lots of broccoli and red and yellow peppers). I froze the leftover vegetarian pepperoni, but I will most likely make another pizza next Monday. It was yummy and I love pizza.

Slowcooker

I made pork that was cooked in cider. There were lots of veggies in there, as well as apples, thyme and bay leaves.

Honestly? It wasn't that good. I mean it was ok. The pork was tender and I like all the veggies. And I always like using fruits in recipe. But it lacked some flavour. Chris suggested we add more spices next time we make it, but I don't think there will be a next time.

Trying new recipes

The pork, above, was a new recipe!

New recipes made this year: 5

Cooking from my cookbooks

Again, the pork mentionned above was from a little cookbook I have, called "Je cuisine... plats mijotés".

I ♥ socks

2010-01-21T09:20:00.003-05:00

I love socks. I don't think that comes as a surprise to anyone who reads my blog. I always feel that I should really try and knit something else (and I do. sometimes.), but whenever I go through a little while without having knit a sock, I feel like a smoker without her nicotine.

I like the small needles and the tiny stitches. And there are so many nice sock patterns out there. My advent sock pattern calendar included only a small part of my sock queue.

When the "groups" feature was created on Ravelry, it didn't take long for me to join the Sock Knitters Anonymous group, but it took me a while to get involved in the challenges there. Last September, I joined my first Sockdown! challenge and I've been hooked ever since. I had to skip the December challenge because of Christmas knitting obligations, but other than that, I've enjoyed every month.

And this month, I'm knitting two pairs (we actually have until the end of the following month to finish, so that's two months for each challenge if you cast on at the beginning of the month). Since I'm a slow knitter, it means that those socks are all I've done this month. And they're still far from being finished. But since there hasn't been much knitting pics posted on here lately, I figured I'd share my in-progress pics:

The one on the right is the January mystery sock (Technique is texture! There was also a bead option but I didn't have them so I didn't use them). You see only one of the socks, but I'm knitting both at the same time. I'm currently waiting for the last clue (tomorrow!) to finish them. Unfortunately, I didn't choose the best yarn for it so the pattern doesn't show that much. Oh well.

The sock on the left is a Nancy Bush (designer of the month) pattern (Rib and Cable socks from IK Fall 2005). I looooove it. But I'm only knitting one sock at a time so I'm far from finished.

I had more to write (re: Ravelympics), but I gotta go to work. Toodles!

My cart for Haiti

2010-01-15T09:18:00.003-05:00

I wanted to make this post separate from Food friday because it's important.

I don't think I need to tell anyone about the terrible tragedy that struck Haiti this week. I know that when something like that happens, I tend to feel so powerless but I do want to help.

And the one thing everyone can do to help is to donate. I've spent the past few weeks thinking about the Ravelympics and I had a few projects in mind. Of course, anytime I think "new projects" I think new yarn so I had filled my Knitpicks cart with yarn and notions and I was thinking of ordering soon.

This morning and I emptied my cart and gave the money to Doctors without borders. I'll knit from my stash for the Ravelympics. I'm not saying you all have to do the same, but since a lot of people are thinking about helping right now, I figured I'd share my idea.

If you want to donate, here are a few sites you can go to (they're Canadian, but you can find the equivalent to most of them in your country):

Doctors without borders
CECI - Centre d'études et de coopération internationale
Red Cross
UNICEF

The Yarn Harlot's Knit-Signal

Food Friday

2010-01-15T09:08:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot about Food Friday this morning. Here's how my week went:

Meatless Monday

Lunch: I had a pear-and-brie sandwich (homemade), with veggies on the side. It was yummy.

Dinner: I made spicy rice with beans and lentils. It was delicious, very filling and I had tons of leftovers for my week's lunches.

Slowcooker

I didn't use it this week.

New recipes

The spicy rice I mentionned above was new, and it's definitely something I'll make again.

I also tried a new recipe for pork and veal meatballs and it also was a success. I halved the recipe and I still had so many meatballs I had to freeze a few.

New recipes so far this year: 4

Cooking from my cookbooks

Both of the new recipes I mentionned above were from my cookbooks. The meatballs are from Qu'est-ce qu'on mange? Vol. 3, a book from a series I've had forever. It's very traditionnal Quebec food, but I like it. The blue one (the one I've used this week) is my favourite.

The vegetarian spicy rice is from Rose Reisman Light Vegetarian Cooking (I have the French translation).

Lurkers?

2010-01-12T09:23:00.001-05:00

So apparently, this week is National de-lurking week! I'm a big big lurker myself so I'll have to make an effort and comment more! But if you're reading this: leave a comment! Anything!

SIP

2010-01-10T23:07:00.002-05:00

I'm trying to post more, can you tell? I'm not sure what I'm writing is all that interesting, but at least I'm trying.

The whole trying new food and new recipe thing is a lot of fun. I'm going to try to keep up with my food Friday posts because I think I'll enjoy writing them. But even though we're not Friday, I gotta tell you that I tried something brand new on Saturday: I ate kangaroo! We had a friend over and made chinese fondue. We had beef and chicken and we wanted to try something different and the grocery store had kangaroo so I figured, why not? It really tastes similar to beef, nothing special. But it was twice as expensive. I don't think I'll eat it again.

Also, speaking of food, I have a question for those of you who work outside of your home: What do you bring in your lunchbox?.

I like to eat leftovers the most, but I don't always have them. I get bored with sandwiches, but that's probably because I don't know how to make good ones, because most of the time when I don't pack my lunch, I go out and buy myself... a sandwich. :) But I need ideas! Especially vegetarian ideas for Mondays!

In knitting news, I've been knitting away on the January mystery socks. I started Clue #2 today and OMG! I never thought a textures socks (just knits and purls, really) could be so complicated! Well, not complicated per se, but the pattern is not easy to follow. There are many charts who don't have the same amount of rows. So two charts have 12 rows, one has 16 and two have 18. So when I'm done with the 12-row charts, I start row 1 again on them, but keep going on the 16-row one for two rows (and then I start that one on row 1) and on the 18-row ones. Follow me? I don't think I follow myself! But I managed to do two repeats of the 12-row charts so far and the pattern is very pretty so I'll keep going.

I also have another Sock In Progress: a Nancy Bush pattern named Rib and Cable. It's pretty and exactly the kind of socks I like to make. And they're BLUE!

Knitting in 2009 and 2010

2010-01-06T22:50:00.003-05:00

I usually write a post about my knitting accomplishments at the end of each year. I didn't have time in December so I'll do it now.

In 2009, I knit 18 projects, mostly small ones. My favourites include the Cable net socks:

The Waves of blue baby blanket:

And my Froot Loop socks:

.

During the year, I knit 8 pairs of socks, 5 hats, 1 pair of mittens, 1 baby blanket, 1 shawl, 1 Christmas stocking and 1 neck warmer.

Still no sweater, but all in all, I'm pretty satisfied.

I've also made a few knitting resolutions for 2010.

1. I need to make a sweater. I suck at seaming and I have yet to make a sweater I was satisfied with, but I'm hopeful I'll succeed this year. We'll see.

2. As much as I love joining KALs, I need to choose my commitments carefully. KALs are fun but when I join too many of them, I get overwhelmed and that is usually when I start to lose my knitting mojo. That is why I decided to give up on the Hat Trick KAL this january. I'm already knitting two pairs of socks for another KAL, that's enough for this month. Next month will be the Knitting Olympics and I'll want to join that for sure.

3. I'm on a sort of sock yarn diet. My objective is to knit six pairs with the yarn I have now before I buy anything new. I know I can do that. I already have two pairs on the needles.

4. I'm also on a knitting book diet. I mentionned in my last post that I've been wanting some new books lately but that I hardly ever knit from the ones I own. I've made a list of some of my favourite books and I decided I'm not buying a new one until I've knit at least one pattern from each of them. Here's the list: Knitting Vintage Socks, Folk Socks, Sock Innovation and Latvian mittens as well as two booklets: Steppin' Out and Steppin' Out Two. Yes, I'm aware all but one are sock books. :) And I've already made two pairs out of Steppin' Out but I really should make more because it's a nice little booklet.

Now, here's a pic of a sock in progress I started on January 1st (yes, they're for a KAL). They're a mystery sock pattern so I have no idea what they'll look like.

Food Friday

2010-01-05T08:45:00.003-05:00

Since many of my 2010 resolutions are food-related, I thought it would be fun to write weekly about how my week went, food-wise. Here's a little reminder of my food resolutions:

1. Meatless Mondays. 2. Master the Slowcooker. 3. Try two new recipes a month. 4. Cook from my cookbooks.

Meatless Monday

Lunch: I made a veggie soup on Saturday and brought the leftovers. It was a very simple soup made with whatever I could find. Hehe. I had onions, red peppers, green onions, garlic and carrots and I also added some frozen veggies I had. I sauteed everything, added vegetable broth and water, as well as a can of mixed beans. I can't remember which spices I added. Anyways, it was very good and filling.

Dinner: I made a spinach quiche, using a recipe for Swiss chard quiche that Tara shared a little while ago (replacing swiss chard with spinach of course). Oh and mine wasn't crustless. It tasted great and I had some leftovers for another lunch!

(I'm not mentionning breakfast because I very rarely eat meat for breakfast.)

Slowcooker

I tried my brand new slowcooker on Sunday and made a veal stew with beer and cumin. I got the recipe here but it's in French. OMG it was good. The meat was wonderfully tender and it was a great success. I would definitely make it again!

New recipes

Both the quiche and the veal were new recipes so I've already reached my goal of two new recipes a month!

Cookbooks

I haven't cooked from my cookbooks yet! Hopefully I will have by next week.

Book lust

2010-01-05T08:37:00.003-05:00

I'm having a case of major book lust. I'm not sure why. Maybe it has to do with this startitis I have? I see beautiful FOs on Ravelry and on blogs and then I wantwantwantwantwant.

I want this:

And this:

Oh and this:

Problem is: I tend to get books, look at them, love their patterns and put them on a shelf... I have two Nancy Bush books (Folk socks + Knitting vintage socks), Cookie's book and a Latvian mittens book and I haven't knit anything from them yet.

But still. I wantwantwantwantwantwantwant!

Ps/ This "getting up with my alarm" resolution rocks! I have time to blog in the morning!

2010

2010-01-02T13:04:00.002-05:00

Resolutions, schmesolutions. I make them every year because I like to have goals, but like most people, I always have a hard time sticking to them. I usually want to lose weight, stop eating sweets, go to the gym more often and well... I try... but often fail.

So this year, I'm trying to have fun with my resolutions. I'm making them food related and I want this year to be a year of discovery. Ooooh. Here they are:

1. Meatless Mondays. I'm not the kind of person who absolutely needs meat at every meal. I like veggie food, in fact, I was vegetarian for a year and a piscetarian (fish only) for three years. Funny thing though: I can't remember what I used to eat. I think I recall there was a lot of pasta and cheese. Anyways. I've already told Chris that our Mondays will be vegetarian (well he can eat whatever he wants but I'm not cooking meat). If you have a favourite vegetarian recipe (it can include cheese and/or eggs), feel free to share. No mushrooms though. Ew.

2. Try at least two new recipes a month. I want to eat new things and find new recipes that will become staples and that I'll want to make often. I figure two new recipes a month is reasonnable enough, but I can make more of course.

3. Cook from my cookbooks! I often check online for new recipes and I will definitely continue to do that (I get a lot of inspirations from other people's blogs), but I also have tons of cookbooks that I never use. I'm hoping to cook from each of them sometime this year!

4. Master the slow cooker! I got a brand new slow cooker for my birthday and I'm looking forward to using it. I already have something planned for tomorrow. I didn't like my old slow cooker and never used it. Hopefully I'll be using my new one a lot this year.

And my only non-food related and not-fun resolution for 2010: I want to get up when my alarm goes on and not press snooze a dozen times. That's going to be difficult but it needs to be done.

I wish you all a wonderful year. And if you have resolutions, please share them!

I love quickies!

2009-12-31T09:36:00.003-05:00

Today is the last day of 2009 and I still haven't written my resolutions post (sorry about that, it'll be done in the next couple of days).

I do have a FO to share though:

(Sorry about the wet hair)

Pattern: Herringbone Neck Warmer, by Craig Rosenfeld
Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky (YUM!)
Needles: US 10 / 6.0 mm
Mods: I used smaller needles and made it shorter since I was running out of yarn. I stopped knitting at 21” (instead of 28”) and then made the buttonband. I blocked it a little longer but I’m happy I didn’t knit it to 28” or it would have been too long.

This was a very quick knit, even for me. It took a week to knit and that's only because I didn't knit every day. Super easy.

Happy New Year everyone! Have fun celebrating tonight, but be safe!

Full plate?

2009-12-28T18:33:00.003-05:00

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

I just finished my Christmas knitting and I already have too much planned for January. See, as you may have noticed already, I love to join KALs and I have planned two of them for the new year.

First, there's the monthly Sockdown challenge, with Sock Knitters Anonymous. January's technique challenge is "texture other than ribbing or beaded socks" and the designer of the month is Nancy Bush (which means you can knit any pattern by Nancy Bush). There will also be a mystery pattern.

I have already chosen a Nancy Bush pattern (rib and cable socks) and I'm really tempted to try the mystery pattern (it's a knit-purl texture pattern with optional beading that I would leave out). So that's two pairs of socks. I would have until the end of February to finish them for them to count towards the challenge, but then February is Ravelympics month and February's sockdown is "Underappreciated Patterns" so I'd like to do it. Hmmmm....

Oh and I mentionned a second KAL. Puck this is having its annual Hat Trick KAL (3 hats in one month) and I had so much fun making hats last year that I sorta wanna do it again this year. Eeeps. I'm not sure I can knit three hats and two pairs of socks. Especially since one of the hats I want to make is made with sock yarn...

Oh and did I mention I also want to finish my Herringbone neck warmer? And maybe knit a shawl/wrap for when it's cold in my office?

Yeah. A full plate.

In-between

2009-12-27T15:14:00.002-05:00

This is the wonderful time of the year, squeezed just between the crazyness that is Christmas and the crazyness that is New Year's Eve (and day, in my family's case). I wish I could take this time to rest, but unfortunately, I have to work tonight, Monday and Tuesday. But then I'll be free until January 4.

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, if you celebrate it, or just a wonderful day if you don't. I was once again very spoiled, though not with anything wool-related. I had sent a link to my Knitpicks wishlist to the boyfriend, but he didn't use it. But that's all right. I had asked him for a heart rate monitor and I got it, so I'm happy. I also got a gorgeous photography book from my mom, a wok (I needed one badly), a few bottles of wine (always appreciated), gift certificates to Aldo (I need boots), a few Will and Grace DVDs (season 4&5) and much more. I also got to spend the Holidays with my family and Chris' family, which was wonderful. Great food was eaten, good wines were drank and good times were had.

The only not-so-fun thing that happened was that I got too close to a cat and paid the price. See, I'm very allergic to both cats and dogs. Fortunately, I can take Reactine and it really helps with the symptoms. Chris' parents have two cats so I'm always drugged up when I go there (the pills make me sleepy). I love cats and since the drugs worked and I wasn't having any symptoms, I decided to play with one of them a little. Bad bad idea. Somehow, a cat hair got in my eye and it immediately got all swolen. I looked like a boxer that had just lost a fight! It's gotten better since I got home, but it's still a bit swollen. I've never felt so pretty.

Ok, that was a long post. And I don't even have any pictures to share. I hope I didn't bore you too much. I have much more to say (re: startitis. And resolutions), but it'll have to wait. Toodles!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas my love! I hope Santa (or your loved ones) was generous with you and that you all were spoiled as much as you deserve. And please, if you got some wooly goodies, please do share (I'm talking about sharing pics of course! You can keep the yarn all for yourself!)

I want to thank all of you who commented all through the month while I was doing my silly little sock pattern advent calendar. It was fun! Now, here are all the patterns I mentionned during the month. All are linked to their Ravelry page. If you're not on Rav yet... well I guess now is a good time to sign up!

1. Rib and Cable socks by Nancy Bush
2. Eclipse socks by Julie P. Miller
3. Double Eyelet Rib Toe-up Socks, by Wendy Johnson
4. Holly Christmas Stocking by Annie Woolens
5. Pillars by Lisa Stichweh
6. Bayerische Socks by Eunny Jang
7. Berlin Muster, by Kristin Benecken
8. Kai-Mei, by Cookie A
9. Magic Mirror, by Jeannie Cartmel
10. Paul Atwell socks, by Emily Johnson
11. Nine-to-five socks, by Nicole Hindes
12. Better-Than-Booties Baby Socks by Ann Budd
13. Stashbuster Spirals by Janine Hempy
14. Possibility, by Robyn Grauer
15. Heart of December, by SpillyJane
16. Summer Sliding, by Jeannie Cartmel
17. Lizard socks, by Beate Zäch
18. Loksins! sock, by Cassie Thoreson
19. Herringbone Rib Socks, by Kristi Schueler
20. Leyburn Socks, by MintyFresh
21. Spring Cable, by Elinore Gray
22. Having Hope, by Diane Mulholland
23. Esther socks, by Stephanie van der Linden
24. Licorice Stick Socks, by Chrissy Gardiner

Christmas - 1

2009-12-24T13:30:00.000-05:00

This is the end, my friends. The end of the Sock pattern advent calendar, that is! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. It made me realize how many beautiful sock patterns I want to make. Too many! I could spend the next 5 years knitting only the socks in my queue and I wouldn't be able to make them all!

Anyways, here's the last one:

December 24

Pattern: Licorice Stick Socks, by Chrissy Gardiner
Licorice isn't a traditionnal holiday candy, right? It doesn't matter, it's one of my favourites and this pattern is gorgeous! I want!
You can find it for sale (6 $ US) in Twist Collective.

If you're celebrating tonight: HAVE FUN! And BE SAFE!

Christmas - 2

2009-12-23T19:00:00.003-05:00

Yay! My work week is over! We're going to my mom's to celebrate Christmas tomorrow and to my in-laws' on the 25th! I can't wait to give away my gifts (especially the wooly ones!)

December 23

Pattern: Esther socks, by Stephanie van der Linden
This pattern may not be Christmassy, but I definitely find it festive. And beautiful!
You can find it for free, on its Ravelry page!

Christmas - 3

2009-12-22T20:20:00.002-05:00

Christmas is almost here! Weeeee! I only have one day left to work (I do go back on the 27th though, no week-long vacation for moi!). I brought homemade cookies to the office today and they were a hit. Life is good.

I also have a FO. I'm not 100% happy about it, but it's ok. They definitely look better in person.

The one on the right looks weird! They really do look the same in person, I promise.

Pattern: Cabled Lace socks, by Chrissy Gardiner
Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll in Buckskin
Needles: 2.75mm

Donedonedonedonedonedonedone!

December 22

Pattern: Having Hope, by Diane Mulholland
Christmas is a time for generosity and giving. Proceeds from sales of this beautiful pattern are donated to Cancer Research.
You can find it for sale (4,95 $ US) on this page.

Christmas - 4

2009-12-21T21:53:00.003-05:00

Christmas sock status: DONE and blocking! Woohoo! I can't believe I'm done with the Christmas knitting and I can now knit for ME ME and only ME! Don't get me wrong, I love knitting for other people, but everytime I finish my Christmas knitting, all I want to do is knit for myself. I'll have pics of my mom's socks tomorrow.

So, I did go to the LYS with the boyfriend yesterday. He got something for his grandmother and his aunt. And I got a little something for myself.

Malabrigo chunky! Yum. I actually fell in love with a neck warmer I saw at the LYS and I just had to make one for me. (Chris liked it too, he bought the same yarn for his grandma). It's the Herringbone neck warmer. I cast on for it tonight. I'm in love!

December 21
Pattern: Spring Cable, by Elinore Gray
Today is December 21st, the shortest day of the year. Can you blame me for thinking about spring?
You can find it completely free, here.