Hmmm, Fall!

Fall is my favourite season. This past weekend was so perfect. It was sunny, and just cold enough to wear a scarf and a sweater. My boyfriend and I decided to rent a car, get a hotel room and go to Quebec City for the weekend.

I knitted for part of the trip, so I could finally progress on the Jaywalkers:



I'm getting close to the toe on the first sock. I'm loving the colours.



How could anyone not LOVE fall? The leaves were so beautiful in Quebec all weekend, I could have taken thousands of pictures.



Fall is also apple season. So we went apple picking in L'Île d'Orléans.





We brought back a huge bag of apples. What will we do with all of this?, you ask.


Apple bread. It's delicious.

Socktober 1st

Socktoberfest has officially begun!

I was hoping to post a pic of my Jaywalkers-in-progress today, but I just realised I left it at my boyfriend's.

So instead, I'm going to talk about all the socks I've made in my knitting career. Don't worry, it won't take too much time.

My first socks were made of Bernat Hot Sox. Yes, acrylic. I don't wear them often (they are way too big), but surprisingly, when I do, they don't make my feet sweat. I was extremely proud of them when I made them. I used a simple pattern from the Lion Brand website.

I then discovered the wonders that are self-striping yarns and made these simple socks. I think I used the same pattern, but smaller needles.

Then, a secret pal was wonderful enough to send me some Fleece Artist sock yarn. I instantly fell in love with it. And I made a pair of feather and fan socks from Socks Socks Socks. I think they're my favourite socks to date.

For Christmas 2005, I decided to give socks as a gift. My mom's boyfriend got these, my little sister got these and my mom got the Go with the flow socks from a past issue of Interweave Knits.

That same Christmas, I gave my godfather some simple ribbed grey socks (pictured with the other Christmas socks).

I got a little sick of socks after that, but I got right back into them for the Knitting Olympics. I made the Embossed Leaves socks, designed by the lovely Mona for Interweave Knits, as well as a pair of simple blue socks. Sadly, I didn't finish them in time to win the Olympics.

The last pair I made are these, using no pattern at all, for the first time. I started them while I was on a business trip to Paris (I love to say that).

So that's it. Next post will (hopefully) have a picture of my sock WIP.

Celebrating Socks

I joined Socktoberfest!



I'll try to post about socks (I mean more than usual) during the month of October. If you love socks, do the same!

My goal :

1) Finish the Jaywalkers
2) Start to teach myself to knit 2 socks on 2 circs

Sock lusting

Remember how I fell in love with the Cable Net socks from the new issue of Knitty?

Well believe it or not, I found a sock pattern I like even more. Meet the Bayerische sock by Eunny Jang. It's so beautiful it almost made me weep.

I definitely want to make me a pair (as well as a pair of Cable net because I still love them). But before I do that, I must:

a)Finish the Jaywalkers (and considering I'm still on the leg of the first sock, it may take a while).

b)Teach myself how to knit two socks on two circs, something I'd rather do with a plain sock pattern.

So yeah, it will probably be 2007 before I make these beautiful socks. But I will.

Also, my good friend Bianka gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy (named Isaac) on Monday. I held him when he was only one day old! Of course, now I really want to knit something for him. I was thinking of making Kate Gilbert's Peapod set (scroll down the page to see it). I could make it in a six month size and give it to him for Christmas. I'll see. I've been wanting to knit this since I first saw it.

UPDATES ON MY PROJECTS

Kiri shawl: I've been working on it quite a bit this week but I keep making mistakes. I must pay more attention when I'm knitting lace, no matter how easy the pattern is. I really want to finish this for my cousin's wedding on Oct. 14 but at this rate, it's not going to happen.

FCEK blueberry cardigan: I haven't touched it since I've finished the back.

Jaywalkers: Like I said, I'm almost done with the leg of the first sock. I'm loving the yarn I'm using (Regia in one of the Canadian colours).

Knitty!

Ok, if I only knit one thing from the new Knitty, it will be the Cable net socks. Most.beautiful.socks.ever.

Projects update:

Blueberry cardigan: Back is done. Will start the sleeves soon.

Jaywalkers: I decided to frog and reknit them. So I only have about an inch done.

Kiri: Haven't touched it in weeks. I really need to get back to it. I'm using magnificent fall colours. It needs to be done now!

Wool and needles

You know, I really hate not having a camera. In one week I'll finally be able to post pictures again (and I'll get to see my boyfriend after two weeks without him!).

I'll be able to post a new Mariah pic because it finally has a zipper! Yay!

Did I ever mentionned how much I love shopping online for yarn? I'm having a love affair with Knitpicks. Seriously. Don't get me wrong, I love shopping in the Montreal yarn stores too. But I can rarely afford a sweater's worth of wool in stores here. And I LOVE to receive packages.

I received one two days ago. The Blueberry Wool of the Andes is the perfect colour for the cardigan I wanted to make. Perfect. I also got some sock yarn that I can't wait to try. I also can't wait to try my new needles! I want to do the two socks on two circs thing.

As you may have guessed, I cast on for the new cardigan right away. I have 10" of the back done. It's going to be beautiful!

Hello, I'm still alive!

I haven't posted in quite some time because I haven't had anything interesting to post about (also, I'm very busy with work).

Mariah is still zipper-less. And Kiri is kicking my ass. I realized that the spine wasn't aligned correctly and decided to start over again. I'll call it the shawl of perseverence. The most annoying thing is that it's actually an easy pattern but I can't seem to make it work. Needless to say, I won't finish it by the end of August and I WILL start something else before it's done.

I've gotten bored with the Jaywalkers after I turned the heel. I realized they're going to be too big for me so I'll give them to my mom, probably for Christmas. Even though I had told myself I wouldn't knit any gifts this year, I'm beginning to feel the itch to start making things for people. Oh well.

I bought yarn from Knitpicks to make another cardigan, this time from an old issue of Family Circle. I can't find a pic of the original sweater online, but I found one that someone made on this blog. Funny, it looks like the colour I ordered (I got Wool of the Andes in Blueberry). I also ordered some of the Knitpicks needles, some sock yarn that was on sale as well as a bunch of colour cards (I was especially happy to see they had a Wool of the Andes colour card back in stock as I plan to order it often).

Mariah!

Mariah is pretty much done and only needs a zipper. I'm not sure when I'll have time to go and buy one (and install it) so here's an almost-FO pic:



No need to tell me how bad the picture is, I know! I'm alone in the house and this is the best I could get before I got the "batteries exhausted" warning. The camera had just enough energy left for me to upload the picture. I look like shit, c'est la vie. I'll have my boyfriend take a better picture once the zipper is in.

The Kiri shawl is the other project I'd like to finish this month before I start my fall projects. I'm on the seventh repeat right now and I'll probably do 12 of them.

I got the new IK today. I also saw the new Vogue Knitting but I'll probably buy it later. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many copies there were in the bookstore (especially of VK). I remember when I first started to buy knitting mags, there would be 2-3 copies in the bookstores. More copies = more knitters. Yay!

So, in the new Interweave Knits, my favourite patterns would be Coral Crossing and the Weekend pullover. I don't think I'll make anything from that issue anytime soon though. Not that the designs aren't lovely, I just have many other projects in mind.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention that I started a pair of Jaywalkers. I LOVE THAT PATTERN! I'm using Regia sock yarn in one of the Canadian colours. They will probably be the most beautiful socks I've ever made (and I know I say that about every pair I make but I really mean it).

Avoiding the stash

A couple of posts ago, I mentionned Elann's hemp yarn that was on sale. Jeannie suggested that I buy it even if I'm not planning on using it for a long time. I'll admit I was very tempted. But I'm a weird kind of knitter.

I don't want a stash.

It's not that I think knitters shouldn't accumulate crazy amount of yarn. There's a part of me that wishes I could have my own yarn store in my appartment. I do look at people's stash pics and I drool. I'm only human.

But I don't want a stash.

Of course, having a little stash becomes pretty much inevitable at some point, unless you're the type of knitter who can buy yarn for one project and not buy anything else until it's done. I'm not like that and I tend to buy yarn thinking I'll start a project after I'm done with my current ones, but by the time I'm finished, I often don't feel like knitting the item I had planned after all. I've also received yarn as gifts and I have participated in Secret Pals exchanges. Not to mention that I have a bunch of crappy yarn that I bought when I was just starting and didn't know better.

So I do have a little stash but so far it fits into two medium-sized baskets. Oh and I also have a couple of cones. As well as a few skeins in a drawer. But that's it.

You may be wondering why I don't want a stash. It's simple. I live in a small one bedroom appartment. I have no space for a stash (and I tend to clutter and don't want to make my problem worse). So I feel guilty when I have too much. Then I feel like I should really use what I have and I end up having to knit stuff I don't necessarily feel like knitting just because I want to use up yarn.

So I try not to buy yarn unless I *know* I'll use it soon. The only exception (HA! Of course there's an exception) is sock yarn. I don't mind buying it even if I don't think I'll use it right away because I know for sure it'll get used eventually. I have some yarn (mostly the crappy acrylics I mentionned before or balls of yarn that are leftover from other projects) that I have no idea if I'll ever use. But sock yarn? I'm not worried. I still try not to go crazy and buy 20 balls at once though.

So today I went to the yarn store and got yarn for two pairs:


I'll see if I can work on Kiri at tonight's knitting meetup, but that may not be possible so I won't have any choice but to start a new pair of socks (poor little me!) ;)

Oh and I'm sure you're all dying for an update on Mariah. Well let's just say I had no idea that knitting a stupid hood would take that long. I'm almost there though.

I'll end this post with a link to a beautiful sweater pattern: Clicky!. I'm not sure when I'll have the time to make this, but I really want to!

So close!

This is where I am with Mariah. It actually looks like a sweater now!



Only 12 more rows and then I'll get to start the hood. And then all the knitting will be finished. Yippee!

I went window shopping on Knitpicks today. I don't want to order anything right now (or else I'll be too tempted to cast on for a new project) but if I did, I would order:

10 ball of Wool of the Andes in Sapphire Heather. That would be for what's probably going to be my next sweater (a very simple cardigan from a past issue of FCEK)

2 balls of Knitpicks Simple Stripe in Autumn.

Knitpicks classic circular needles in size 1 (one 24" and one 32/).

I would also order colour cards for Andean Silk, Palette, Merino Style and Shadow & Gossamer. I badly want a Wool of the Andes colour card but they don't seem to sell them anymore. Bummer.

Anyways, all of this would bring me to a grand total of 41.86$ + shipping (I'm in Canada so no free shipping for me, sadly). It's still pretty cheap.

*sigh* A girl can dream.

If everything goes according to my plan, I'll make an order in mid-August so I'll be sure to have to yarn on hand when I'm allowed ready to start a new project. Of course, by then I'll probably have changed my mind about what the next project will be so I may decide to order something else entirely. In the meantime, the virtual order will remain in my Knitpicks cart.

Month of the UFOs

As I've mentionned before, it is my goal to finish my current projects before I start new ones (though the fair isle sock doesn't count as a current project, I'm still not sure I'll ever finish it, let alone its twin). To keep me motivated, I joined this:



I invite all of you who want to finish those beautiful objects to join too!

I was hoping to post progress pics, but I'm at my mom's for the weekend and I forgot my camera. But here's an update anyways:

Mariah: Things are going well, but I have to tell you, those yoke rows are going a lot slower than I expected. Of course there's over 300 stitches on the needles (the good news is that I decrease every right side row). I'm not sure I'll finish it before the end of my holidays, but I'll try.

Kiri: I worked on it today during the hour long bus ride to my mom's. I love that thing, which is good because it's going to be almost the only thing I'll work on after I finish Mariah.

I say *almost* because of course I'll need to cast on a pair of socks (or maybe I'll go with slippers) so I have something to bring to knitting meetups. But new socks don't count as new projects (as long as I don't have more than one OTN, fair isle socks non included).

I got an email from Elann this week about a sale on this nice hemp yarn. I was very tempted since I remember a beautiful pattern made with hemp in a back issue of Interweave. I resisted, though, because I have many things on my dream knit list already. The colour I wanted (raspberry) is all gone anyways.

I'll end this post by saying that I love the orange sweater on the front of the new Knit Simple. Love it.

Go Red Sox!

The red socks are DONE. I love the colours and I'm currently wearing them even though the weather is not really one for warm socks. My appartment is pretty cool though so I'm not sweating.

I feel like I hadn't had a finished object to post in forever! In fact, when I uploaded the red socks pic in my 2006 finished objects gallery, I realized I have only completed seven projects this year so far. It's crazy.

In comparison, last year I finished something like 20 projects.

I mean, my goal isn't to knit more and more each year, so it's really no big deal. Mariah was (is!) a challenging project for me and I prefer to finish it than to knit 20 hats and scarves. I guess I was just surprised today to see so few finished objects so far this year.

I am happy to say, though, that Mariah will definitely be finished this year! My goal was to have her done by August 6th and if I don't get distracted by other projects life, there should be no problem. In fact, I finished (re)knitting the sleeves! So now I only have to join all the pieces and knit the yoke and hood. And sew the zipper.

In other news, the fall previews are up for Interweave Knits and Vogue knitting. They've actually been up for quite sometime now (especially the IK ones) but I don't think I've mentionned them yet. Both issues look promising. IK once again have great patterns by Montreal based designers : Véronik Avery, Mona Schmidt and Kate Gilbert.

Other good news (or bad news, from the wallet's point of view): KnitPicks has new yarn AND new colours for some of their old yarns. I WANT THEM ALL!

Books!

I received the books I ordered from Elann.




I love the way Elizabeth Zimmermann writes. And the afghan project is something I'd like to do someday. Will I ever get around to it? Who knows!

Projects update

Mariah:
Sleeves are going well. I'm actually a little bit further than that. My goal is to finish them by the end of next week, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. We'll see.

Kiri: I've only knitted a few row of it since the last time. I'm too much into Mariah to even think about finishing this one right now.

Red Socks: I turned the heel and am now on the gusset on sock #2.

To blog or not to blog

There's currently a thread in the Knitters' review forums on knitting blogs and the fact that there are a lot of them. The original poster thinks there are too many uninteresting ones. I guess it depends on what you think is interesting. I know some people love blogs with techniques and tutorials. I like them too, though they aren't the ones I read regularly (I usually find them when I'm googling a particular technique, and boy am I glad they exist).

I like to read about other people's projects. Mostly because it gives me inspiration (not that I need any new projects ideas right now ;) ). For instance, I have now added this cardigan to my list of future projects. Not because I like it so much on the pattern picture, but because I've seen it finished on this blog (see her 4th of July post). Gorgeous!

I also like to read blog posts on project I'm currently making. If you've made Mariah, I've probably read your blog. Seeing pictures of it finished motivates me to work on mine.

I also like to read knitting blogs simply because knitters are so damn cool and nice. Saying there are too many knitting blogs is like saying there are too many flavours of ice cream. You can choose to eat only vanilla if you want, but I like variety (and now I'm craving a mint & chocolate chips ice cream cone).

Projects update:

Mariah: I've picked it up again! I know that some people don't like KnitPicks's Wool of the Andes, but I personally adore it. I've done quite a bit of progress on the sleeves in the past week. My goal is to finish them in the next two weeks and to finish the sweater by the time my holidays are over (I'll be off from work from July 28 to August 5). I think it's a pretty reasonnable goal.

Kiri: I frogged half of it and I don't think I'll touch it much until I'm done with Mariah. But I will finish it, I promise.

Red socks: I'm almost up to the heel flap on the second sock. I love them!

Completion and destruction

I didn't feel too good and the end of last week so I ordered two books : Barbara Walker's Learn to Knit Afghan and Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I should receive them sometime next week or the one after.

Ongoing projects update:

Mariah: Still haven't touched it. That should change too cause I have a feeling I'll put the shawl aside for a while (see below).

Kiri shawl: See that pic:



That was the shawl after, I don't know, six repeats or soo. Notice the little pale blue thread close to the needle? That's a lifeline. I religiously used lifelines for these six repeats and then I got cocky. I hadn't really made a big mistake so far, so why use lifelines? I'm now on the 9th repeat and I've done something wrong that I can't identify. As much as I don't want to rip it all back to that six-repeat lifeline, I think it'll be easier to do so than to try to find the mistake and fix it. :(

Red socks: Of course, with the shawl catastrophe, I needed an easy knit so I worked on the sock.



And the rib is almost done on sock #2.

Blast from the past

My boyfriend comes from Drummondville and while we were there last weekend, we decided to go to the Village quebecois d'antan, which recreates a village in Quebec in the 19th-beginning of 20th centuries.

The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time. Of course, I spent the whole time taking pictures of yarn...







... spinning wheels...



...sheeps...





...and pretty much anything that had something to do with yarn and knitting!







In other knitting-news, I'm keeping up with my resolution not to start anything new until I finish projects. I haven't made that much progress, but I'm getting there... slowly...

Mariah: Haven't touched it since the last post
Kiri Shawl: I'm on the 9th repeat (I'll probably go up to 12 after all). I made a mistake in the last row though so I'll have to fix it before I go on.
Red socks: I'm on the foot (of the first sock)

Must.finish.projects...

No pictures in this post, unfortunately, and that's because I can't seem to finish anything.

So I decided I wouldn't participate in the World Cup Knitting challenge thing. Nope.

I'm also resisting the urge to cast on for this top.

Or for Tubey. Or for this cool cabled cardigan that I saw on Crafsters a while ago and that I have the pattern for (it's from an old Vogue Knitting magazine). I also won't start an alphabet blanket, felted clogs for my boyfriend, Madli's Shawl (using the cashmere I bought on Ebay) or a Clapotis.

Nope.

This summer, I am finishing stuff. From now on and until these projects are finished, I can only work on three things:

-Mariah. This sweater should have been done a long long time ago (if only I didn't decide to start over the sleeves, we wouldn't be having this discussion). I know I can finish it before fall comes back and I'll be happy to have a new sweater when it gets colder.

-The Kiri shawl (pattern in pdf format here). I'm loving working on this so I don't doubt I'll finish it soon. I have almost 7 repeats of the pattern done so far and I'm planning on doing 10-12 of them.

-Socks. The plain red socks that I started while I was in Europe.

The only exception to my "I'm not starting a new project before I finish these" rule is that I will be able to start a new pair of socks when I finish the red ones. That's only because I need a portable and easy project that I can work on during the knitting meetups.

Hopefully I'll be able to stick to this commitment and you guys will have FO pics to see soon :)

Back home!

I came back home last Thursday after a three weeks business trip/vacation to Paris and London. It was great. Unfortunately, though, I worked so much in the first two weeks that when my week of vacation started, I was exhausted! But I still managed to have a good time.

I only visited one LYS during my trip, La Droguerie on Rue du jour in Paris. It was a lovely shop and I was especially interested in their bamboo yarn but I ended up not buying anything. I did, however, buy this beautiful scarf in another shop.



It is not knitted but it is handmade and beautiful. And it kept my neck warm which is a good thing since apparently, Paris and London never got the memo that it's almost summer now. It was so damn cold the whole time I was there!

While I didn't buy any yarn during my trip, I did spend a bit of time knitting. I began a pair of striped socks:



I'm loving the colour!

I also started the Kiri shawl with some AmiAmi yarn. I can already tell it's going to be a beautiful thing, even though it currently looks like crap.



I can't wait till it's finished. I'm working on it like a maniac even though I really should get back to Mariah. I told myself I wouldn't start any new sweater until I'm done with this one and of course there are one million sweaters I want to start right now.

Today I went to the bookstore and was happy to see that they hadn't sold all their copies of the summer issue of IK (I got the last one!). I think I want to make the Looking glass top, except without the cable in the back. I'm also totally in love with the Icarus shawl (actually, I think I'm just totally in love with lace shawl knitting).

Ok that's all for today. I now have three weeks worth of knitting blogs to go read :p

Daisy is done!

I finished the little baby cardigan I made for my friend's baby-to-be.


Pattern is Daisy from Knitty. The yarn is Schachenmayr Nomotta Micro (100% acrylic). I got it from a secret pal quite a while ago and couldn't find the right pattern for it until now. It's pretty soft.

Here's a close-up of the duck buttons I chose:


In other news, this is probably my last post for a while, as I will be leaving for Europe this Friday. I'll be in France for two weeks for work, and then I'm going to England for a few days just for fun.

I still don't know what knitting project I'm going to bring along. So I may update before I leave if I ever figure out what to take with me (I just can't imagine not bringing anything).

Behold, ze blanket!

The Big Bad Baby Blanket (aka Damned Blanket) is done:



Unfortunately, it's acrylic and can't be blocked. It has some wool in it though I can't remember how much (not much I'm sure).

I'm not 100% happy with it (don't know about the colour). I'm thinking of also giving her a baby cardi (which would have to be done in the next two weeks or so...)

Finished!

So when I uploaded the blog yesterday, I realized that I hadn't posted any FOs since February! Eeek! It sort of inspired me to finish these:



I love new socks!

I'm sure most of you knitters have already looked at the latest issue of Knitty. I gotta say I absolutely adore the little girl cardigan and I like the Hedera socks too.

Oh and if you don't know, the IK summer 2006 projects preview is up right here. Now I always prefer Fall and Winter knitting, but I gotta say this summer issue looks promising. Dows anyone know when it's coming out?

You know you're a knitter when...

... you're going to Europe and one of the first thing you think about is "What knitting project am I going to knit?"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to Europe. The first two weeks will be spent in Paris and it's going to be a business trip (I just love saying I'm going on a business trip, especially because I look about 12 and definitely not business-trip-like). Just like last year, I'm going to the Ville lumière to help with a special newspaper made just for the Cannes festival. I'm really excited as I had so much fun last year. But I was wise this time (probably because it wasn't short notice like last time) and planned to get there one day early. I may have a little bit of time to shop (read: find a yarn store). We'll see. I'll admit that finding yarn will not be the main event of my trip (so maybe I'm not a real knitter after all). I'm going to be in Paris from May 13th (leaving Montreal the evening of May 12th) to May 28th.

I added one week of vacation to the trip and I will spend it in England. I'll be taking a plane from Paris to London on May 28th. The last time I was in England, I really wanted to visit the city of Bath, but didn't get the chance so I'm planning on spending a day or two there. And then I'll come back to London and I'll take a plane back home on June 1st. How is that for a business trip/vacation?

So yeah, knitting projects. Right now, I have on the needles a pair of socks that should be finished by the time I leave. Ditto for the Big Bad Baby Blanket (I only have a couple of inches + the border left to do).

And then there's Mariah. When I began joining all the pieces together, it just didn't work. The sleeves, despite being all wrong, looked pretty nice when by themselves. But when I started piecing the sweater together, I didn't like the way they looked. So I frogged them and started over. I have maybe 4-5 inches done. But I don't want to bring that on the plane.

So... it will be a new project (yay!). Maybe the alphabet blanket? (You can see a finished one here. We'll see...

Projects update

Since the last time we spoke (or whatever) I worked a little on the blue socks, a little on the neverending baby blanket (I'm now past the halfway mark) and quite a bit on Mariah.

I've now finished knitting all the different parts (except from the hood) and I've joined them all and started the yoke. I can already tell that this will be my least favourite part of the project. That and the seaming. And the sewing of the zipper...

So this post is picture-less, sorry, but hopefully I'll have a finished Mariah soon enough.

I'll end by saying that I want this. And a ball winder.

WIPalooza

This is a boring time to be a blogger. The reason is that I don't finish anything! It's not that I don't want to. I'm dying to finish some of these projects. But I'm a slow knitter and I'm currently working on longer projects. The exception being:



These are the still unfinished second pair of Olympic socks. Taking the picture, I realize that I should really start working on them again. They're cute.

Then we have Mariah:



You see two sleeves and part of a back. If the sleeves look weird to you, well... they are. See, I learned how to read a chart correctly (really, I did!), but then all my projects involving charts were done in the round. So when I started the sleeves, I immediately began reading the charts as I had always done, from right to left... on both sides. Eeep! I realized the mistake halfway through the sleeves, but I sort of liked the way they look so I kept going. :p

I'm almost halfway done with the Big Bad Baby Blanket:



This is taking longer than it should, because while it's lovely, it's quite boring to knit. And I'm pretty much only working on it when I'm at a knitting meet-up. But it will be done before May. That's my goal.

Finally, the socks-that-may-never-be-finished:



My first try with fair-isle. They take forever. And they will most likely be too small. I'll try to block them bigger, or I'll just frame them or something.

Hopefully, the next post will have a FO. Yeah like that's likely ;)

Yarn and Hookers

I received the cashmere yesterday. Yummy! I gotta say the shipping was incredibly quick. I like that.

The colour is significantly darker than on the picture, but I really don't mind because:

a) I expected it (it's never really like on the monitor)
b) I really like the real colour anyways

I washed some of it and it's drying right now. I wanted to divide the cone into two hanks, but after I started to "de-cone" it, it got a bit tangled at one point so I cut it. So what I have washed is only a tiny part of what I bought, but I'll get to see what it's like when it's washed before I do the rest. Maybe I'll post pictures too.

Oh yeah, and Jennifer asked me about the seller. His (her?) name is Colourmartuk. Of course, I'm in no way affiliated, just a happy customer.

This week, I also got this:



I know there are some Debbie Stoller haters out there. I also know there are some crochet-hating knitters out there. But I'm not. The first Stitch N'Bitch book is what made me want to learn to knit. I loved the kitty hats, the Under the hoodie sweater and the socks so much. Of course I haven't made any of these items :p And since then, my tastes have changed and I'm not as much into the hip stuff. Maybe because I realize that if I'm going to spend so much time knitting something, I don't want it to be out of style after a couple of months ;)

Anyways. I still got the Hooker book, because I really want to learn how to crochet and I figured the instructions will be easy to understand. It looks like they are. I'm not too crazy about many of the pattern, though I really really like Froufrou and the jacket (can't remember the exact name right now).

Unfortunately, I only seem to want to knit Mariah right now so no crochet for me for a while. I'm almost done with the sleeves now. Finally. I think I'll have them done by Sunday.

Yum

A few people on the socknitters list mentionned this seller on Ebay who sells cones of cashmere yarn. Of course I couldn't resist. So I got this cone up there. 1300 yards (4-ply), 100% cashmere for 38$CDN and that includes shipping from the UK. I'll be sure to let you all know if I like it when I get it. I've never knitted with cashmere before so I'm quite excited.

I don't think I've mentionned that I ended up not finishing the socks for my Olympic knitting challenge. I had just turned the heel by the time the closing ceremony started. I'm a little disappointed but I'm still glad I tried. The socks aren't even finished yet, I haven't touched them since the Olympics ended. I just couldn't wait to get back to Mariah.

I love that pattern. LOVE IT. I've been looking at finished Mariah online and I just can't wait till mine is also done and I can wear it. Hoping it'll look good enough. I'm more than halfway done with the sleeves. They're going so slowly, but I'm glad I started with them and not the body. I also find that I'm loving the Wool of the Andes more and more.

Once in a while, I become obsessed with a pattern and that's happened lately. I really want to make Tubey from Knitty. Maybe it'll be the next sweater, after Mariah (which means it won't happen until next year or so and i'll probably have become obsessed with a million other patterns by then).

Going for Silver, maybe?

Well here are the embossed leaves socks:



I love them.

As for the second pair, well... One sock is done. The other one only has a cuff. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make it. Damn me for trying to have a life while doing this Olympic thing ;) I'm still going to try to make it, but seeing as I have a pretty busy weekend planned, I doubt it's going to work.

I was going to post a pic of my progress but my batteries died right after I took the embossed leaves socks picture. Batteries are charging right now so I'll be able to take a pic later.

Back to the knitting. Oh yeah, and GO CANADA! Gold medal in men's curling today, yay!

Finally!

I can finally update the blog! First my computer refused to work and then the blogger site wouldn't let me update. Grrr.

Before I start on my progress, I'd like to congratulate Mr Gibson and Mr Pain, who just won Gold and Silver for Canada in the skeleton competition. GOOD JOB!



Here's sock number one. I'm at the gusset on sock #2. Which means I'm late, since I have another pair of socks to complete before the end of the Olympics. But I'm not too worried since the second pair will be a plain pair, so it should take me less time to complete it.

I hope that all the knitting olympians are doing well. I'll admit something: I miss Mariah! I'm itching to get back to those sleeves. Oh well, I'll get there soon enough and by then I'll have two new pairs of socks to wear :)

Canada : 1

Canada got the gold today, yes!

Just a quick update now that I can. I was computerless for a couple of days so I couldn't say that I modified my Olympic knitting challenge. I'll be making two pairs of socks instead of one. Funny thing is, when I finally was able to get to the computer today, I noticed that Jo also doubled her challenge. Great minds think alike (except her projects are quite more challenging than mines I think) ;)

The first embossed leaves sock is going very well. The pattern is very easy to follow. And it looks absolutely gorgeous.

More later, I gotta run. Good luck to everyone!

Missing the socks

I was so sick of knitting socks after I finished the Christmas pairs, I didn't want to touch my small DPNs for a month. But now I admit that I'm missing my sock knitting.

And I really don't know how I'll wait until the beginning of the Olympics to begin the Embossed Leaves Socks. I just googled the name and saw many finished pairs (not to mention a pair in person made by the designer herself last Wednesday :) ). They're so beautiful, I want mine now!

Meh. I'll wait. At least I was able to swatch and I think I'm all set now. I have really small feet so I usually try to get gauge and then I use needles one size smaller than what I got gauge with. It has worked very well for me so far.

Ok I'll go work on my sweater now (does the fact that I'm actually happy to be knitting on a Friday night instead of going out make me a loser?).

Olympics!

The other night, I dreamt that I was knitting the Embossed Leaves Socks for the knitting olympics (yeah, I dream about knitting sometimes). So that's what I'm going to make.

New yarn, new yarn!

Today's knitting meetup was great (as they all are of course). So many people, including lots of new people, showed up. I think there were 15 of us at one point. It was very nice. We even got to meet Kate Gilbert's daughter, who is the most adorable thing.

Jessi sold me a skein of Fleece Artist merino that she didn't want anymore:



Then, Kiyoko from AmiAmi came over with bags of yarn and I couldn't resist. I got this:


The yarn is called Faith and I will use it to make Veronik Avery's Short Row Hat.

And I got this:


I think the name of the yarn is AHS Slub Kasuri and I have something like 900m of it. It's incredibly soft and it will most likely become a shawl.

***

Also, I'm crazy and I'm thinking of participating in this:



Even though I shouldn't start a new project. But I can't resist a challenge so I most likely will. Now, I only need to choose a project, and that's when YOU have a role to play.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE!!!

I have a few ideas.

1. Mona's socks from the last issue of Interweave Knits.
2. Clapotis
3. The Peppermint Twist shirt from Stitch N' Bitch
4. Kyoto (I'm currently in the process of frogging the one I started in the hope of maybe starting over after rechecking my gauge).
5. Madli's Shawl, from a past issue of IK. I'd love to make that but I doubt I'd be able to make it in 16 days (same with #3 and #4 actually).

So if you have a suggestion, let me know. I just would rather not buy any yarn and I could make the above projects wiht yarn that I already have so it would be good.



***

I was tagged by Kadi (that is, if I'm the Caroline she tagged!), so here we go:

Four Jobs You Have Had In Your Life:

1. Journalist
2. Translator
3. Technical Writer
4. Communications Agent

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:

1. Lord of the Rings (the whole series)
2. Harry Potter (all of them)
3. Amelie
4. Shallow Graves

Four Places You Have Lived:

1. Montreal
2. Hull
3. Sherbrooke
4. Cowansville

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch:

1. Tout le monde en parle
2. What not to Wear
3. Les Bougon
4. 24 (got Season 1 for Christmas, now I'm hooked)

Four Places You Have Been On Vacation:

1. Germany
2. Paris and London (one trip)
3. Cuba
4. Columbia

Four Websites You Visit Daily:

1. Hotmail
2. Livejournal
3. Atforumz
4. Knitter's review Forums (not daily but often)

Four Of Your Favorite Foods:

1. Lasagna (with my own spaghetti sauce)
2. Homemade pizza
3. Tuna or smoked salmon paninis
4. Penini Romanoff

Four Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:

1. Out
2. Of
3. The
4. Country

Four Bloggers You Are Tagging:

1. Jo
2. Mona
3. Julie
4. Elisa

***

I'm ending this with a pic of the progress on my sweater's sleeves:



I wish you could see it better, but it'll have to do.

Hey what's up?

I just realized that I haven't blogged in half a month. Eeep! Thing is, I kept on meaning to take pictures but never really got around to do it until now, so...

But here they are! First, my last finished object of 2005, a hat for my boyfriend. I made it with Noro Kureyon (colour 51) and this pattern after seeing a post on atforumz (thanks Maureen!).



And I've made two things in 2006. First is the Basic cables hat from Stitch N' Bitch Nation. It was my first time making cables. I was actually hoping to use the yarn to make Veronik Avery's short row hat from the latest Interweave Knits, but it didn't work very well with the pattern. I also made a very basic garter stitch scarf with chunky yarn to go with the hat.



As to what I'm working now, well...

Other than the two projects (socks + a bag) that I already had on the needles, I casted on for the Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch N' Bitch. It's for a pregnant friend, and since the baby is due in June, I have plenty of time. I'm using some Patons Decor yarn that I had in the stash. I'm not too crazy about the colour (I loved it in the skein, but I found out it has too much brown), but I think it'll look nice enough as a blanket. We don't know if the baby's going to be a boy or a girl and I think the colours are neutral enough.

I also decided on a sweater. Hopefully, it'll be a success and I will end up actually wearing it. I chose Mariah, from Knitty. I love the pattern but it's quite a difficult one for me. I'm only on the sleeves (I'm making both at the same time) and I can already tell it's going to take me forever to finish. Oh well. I'm using Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes for the first time. In Cranberry. It's lovely.

2005 in knits

It's funny how I was so looking forward to finishing my Christmas gifts so I could finally knit something for myself. Well after Christmas, I started two projects: a hat for my boyfriend and a baby blanket for a pregnant friend ;)

I actually finished the hat and will give it to the giftee when I see him on January 2nd. I'll post a picture then because I'm currently camera-less at my mom's house until Monday.

So I think 2005 was a pretty good knitting year. I finished 20 projects. I made my first sock (and many others) this year. I tried fair isle (though I have yet to finish a project with that technique). I've done a bit of lace too. But the best thing about this year is that I had the chance to meet other knitters. And they're all fantastic.

Hopefully, 2006 will also be filled with knitting goodness. I'm hoping I can finally make a sweater that I'd want to wear. And I should really try cables. I'm not scared of them at all (doesn't look really difficult), so I don't know why I haven't done them before.

Currently on the needles: fair isle socks, a bag and a baby blanket. Mona has really inspired me to try to make Veronik Avery's short row hat. I'm itching to start it now (I brought yarn for it at my mom's). And I want to make felted clogs for my boyfriend and for me. And many other things.

I wish you all a very happy 2006!

Done, done, done, done and DONE!

The gifts are knitted and wrapped. Two of them will be given out tomorrow, the other three will be on the 25th.

I wish you all happy holidays. Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it :)