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. :)

Just a scarf

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...

... 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...

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

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!

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.

Double medallist

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!