Blob in waiting

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

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?

*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

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

Ps/PLEASE DO NOT MENTION THIS ON FACEBOOK

Ps2/Sorry about the upside down pic

Ps3/Details later ;)

Hmmmm yarn...

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...

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!

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!

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

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 = ♥

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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. :)