For the love of lace...

I am addicted.



I started the Gnarled Oakwoods stole from the Twist Collective (AMAZING new online knitting magazine!!! I want to knit it all!!). At first the yarn (mmmmalabrigo lace) was not cooperating so I frogged the first couple rows but now it's rolling and I cannot stop knitting it! I had to restrain from knitting it at Woolly Bullies this week because I just know I'll make some huge error. So far so good though! I think this is a knitting-all-alone-on-my-couch kind of project.

I can't wait til my holiday by the lake this fall so I can really sink my needles into it!!! mmmmmm malabrigo.... soooo soft.... I wish you all could feel it through you computer screens...

I think the race between cables and lace just got a whole lot more interesting.

Odds and ends and too much sun!

Wow, it's been almost two months since I last posted! How time flies when it's summer!
I've been doing one of my favorite things lately: summer field work! I'm a botanist and this summer I'm surveying rare plants.


(I know this is a knitting blog but I think the seeds of 3 flowered avens look like something you could knit with don't you? :)

All this time outside has given me a tan. Normally I have a farmer style tan... back of the neck, arms tanned starting at the mid bicep, and maybe a sandal tan for good measure! But this year I've noticed a different sort of tan that I haven't seen before:



I'm coining a new term for it: Knitter's tan. Note the darker shade of my index finger and thumb. I must be from all the knitting I did while camping and at the Winnipeg folk festival.

Speaking of knitting, things are coming along.

Central Park Hoodie: DONE



Sheeples socks: One done, second almost to the heel.


Love love love Sheeples!!! (we went on a field trip to a sheep farm called Sheeples to pet lambs and see how they make yarn and learn how to spin... fun fun fun!!!! of course some yarn followed me home...)




Socks for Hubby: One almost done (but I may have to frog some of it or else I'll run out of yarn.... big feet...... :P)

Starting next: Rogue Hoodie in mmm Alpaca.... Photos to come!

I'll try not to wait so long to post again.

Cables vs. Lace

I think you all know that I love cables. (see my cabled sweater.) I especially like intricate cables of the celtic variety.


My version of Samus, my very first completed knitted sweater.

But recently lace has caught my attention. At first I didn't like the holey nature of lace (same reason I prefer knitting to crochet). But then I started seeing the organic nature of lace... lots of leafy plant inspired patterns. And I'm a leafy, plant inspired person so it seemed to be a good match!

Then the bamboo yarn I just bought was crying out to become these embossed leaves socks (from Favorite Socks)...



One other thing inspired me to try lace...


mmmmmMalabrigo Lace Baby Merino...

Need I say more??
(I think the baby merino wants to be this.)

PS which do you prefer? Cables or Lace? see Poll -->

Man Socks

My husband is finally realizing that I'm actually a pretty good knitter, and also that the things I knit are a) useful, b) not cheesy and c) pretty cool.

When I was knitting my lovely green socks, my hubby would come into the room and say "When are you going to knit me a pair of socks?!"

First off, finding a sock pattern for a man that is manly enough, but not boring, is a challenge. Fortunately, I like a challenge!

I finally chose the Foxglove architecture from Cat Bordhi's book (love it, just love it), measured my hubby's feet, did the required calculations and cast on with a manly black tweed sock yarn from Knit Picks (Essential Tweed).

I've barely cast on and I've noticed a few rules I should have followed...

1) When knitting man socks, knit on big needles. I chose the smallest needles I own (2mm).

2) Worsted, or at the very least Sport weight yarn is key. Not super thin sock yarn (thinner than my last socks!).

These two items are key because my man has big feet (I love him :) therefore lots more stitches and rows (even if one and two are followed).

Yup, these might take a while! Labour of love though!

Another mishmash of projects

I've actually been making significant headway on my projects. I've come to the realization that it's projects get done when... gasp... you don't have as many on the go at once! :) I currently have:

A sweater (Central Park Hoodie)


(coming along nicely, might even wear it before fall!!)

A hat for my friend's baby (due end of May)


A prayer shawl (there is a group of ladies at church who get together and knit them for people who are ill. Awesome.)


A moebius bag... Just working on the pocket and then it will be ready to felt!! :)


I need to start one more project to replace the lovely pair of "Ridgeline socks" I finished (from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways in Sock Knitting with by the way is my new favorite book!)


I must take a minute to say that I really really love knitting socks. You can make them in bright crazy colours (I wouldn't ever wear a shirt with those stripes) and you can do the most intricate pattern of lace or cables without feeling overwhelmed by the size of the project or embarassed to wear the end product. I've always liked cool socks so now I can knit my own! The only problem is which sock pattern do I start next? What do you folks think?

Looking back on that list it does seem like a lot of different things... but variety is the spice of life you know!

Moebius kitties

My kitties love their new bed...

I think I may have to make another one!

(this didn't last very long ;)

P.S. I liked how Knitpicks Wool of the Andes felted but the edges don't stay up on their own... Ah well, the cats don't care :)

Spring (yeah... sure) cleaning

As spring tries to arrive (the blizzard we had yesterday did not really give me confidence) my winter knitting is wrapping up. I basically knit for 4 days straight over the Easter weekend. And now I have an extra day because this cold virus I've got is getting worse before it gets better.

I finished the socks for my grandparents. They ended up being an Easter gift instead of xmas! lol

(my feet)

(Grandpa's feet)

Both patterns were from Favorite Socks, a lovely sock book. G & G were thrilled!

And I achieved something huge yesterday:

I finished my sweater.



If you go back to my very first post last April, you'll see it when it was only a bit of ribbing. Aw those were the days ;) It has grown up into a very very thick, warm sweater. Maybe if, heaven forbid, winter sticks around a wee bit longer I'll be able to wear it and not sweat to death!! I love it anyway and I know it will keep me warm when those -40 days hit again next year.

A momentous thing happened as a result of this sweater. My hubby, upon seeing my completed sweater asked me if I would would make him a sweater. To put this into context, every time I've asked him if I can make him one, he gets this disgusted look on his face and says "No that's ok", like he's envisioning the ugliest sweater imaginable, in his least favourite colour. My sweater must have really impressed him!! Little did he know he's got me started down that treacherous trail that leads to feeding my addiction with more knitting... I'm thinking maybe a Cobblestone Pullover would look nice on him :) Now what yarn shall I choose.... hmmm

But first things first ...

Yesterday evening a new little bundle of yarn was born (I won't bore you with photos of its innocent little ribbing). It's called the Central Park Hoodie in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. I know, I'm insane for starting another sweater... maybe I'll finish this one before winter... one can always dream right? :)

Random projects

I think I've got a system for starting new projects, a bit of a groove if you will. I've decide that I'm only starting one sweater per year. I really like sweaters but this all-over cabled, dk weight yarn deal is taking way too long... I have started the second sleeve though!! hooraaaay!

I like completing projects. I have finished one sock from each pair of socks for my grandparents. (photos to come when I finish the pairs).

I also finished my moebius cat bed. The cats already know what it is! :)



She walked onto it herself.


It still needs to be felted so that it stands up. I think I'm going to start a moebius bag next. Stay tuned!

And I tried out Cat Bordhi's newest book, New Pathways in Sock Knitting, the little coriolis sock. I'm going to give it to friends of mine who has a little girl.



They were a challenge but I like a challenge!!
I want to start an adult sized pair from that book but I need to finish the other socks... all part of trying to ration my projects so I don't get overwhelmed.

SOCKS!!!

What do you buy your grandparents for xmas? They're very difficult to shop for. I decided to give them an IOU for something everyone needs!
Socks!
I was really overwhelmed when started looking at sock yarn- so many colourways and fibres to choose from! I had to call Grandma and ask her what colours she and Grandpa liked. She said blues and that she liked pastels. Then the she was like: "You'll make them the same right?" She's not a knitter, bless her heart. :) I picked out a pattern for each of them from my new book "Favorite socks".
Here's what I have for Grandma's pair so far (Regia Silk) :




And Grandpa's,

This one is particularly nice because it's made with Patons classic merino!

I'd probably be finished but I'm waiting on double pointed needles from knitpicks. Speaking of knitpicks, I got my first of three orders this week!!! YAAAY :) I'm now a yarn-oholic..... *jumps up and down excitedly* This batch will be turned into various moebius projects.... tba ;)


One last exciting thing: I found this amazing site called Ravelry. It's a knitter's dream!! It's a knit/crochet community and it's a billion times better than facebook! A billion.

Christmas Knitting

I've been a busy knitter this xmas season and now that everyone has their gifts, I can post the photos. I think this xmas marks a new phase in my addiction ;) I've now busted out of knitting just for me and started to feel confident enough in my knitting to make gifts. :)

I started out by making Knucks for all the men in my life (hubby, dad and bro). Chris was kind of my guinea pig. He loved the idea. I was a little unsure but in the end my dad (below) and bro loved them too.



I also decided to knit gifts for my two office parties. The one gift exchange had a nocturnal theme so I decided to get a little creative. I found this cabled owl motif on a dish cloth and decided to make a hat with it. I knit it with Bernat Wool Blends. The woman who picked my gift was a knitter herself and loved it!!


For my other exchange I made a Pocket Creature which warms your hands in winter. :) I really enjoyed making the hair!

It's so satisfying to make gifts, especially for little kids. I made the most adorable hat for the daughter of our friends Mike and Anna. She's two and just the sweetest little girl. When she tried it on, she kept looking in the mirror and grinning. I wish I'd gotten a photo of her but I only have one of the hat. It's knit in Patons Canadiana (as is Uni, above).


I was weaving in the ends on the hat one evening and I found out that I have one of the most well behaved, patient cats a knitter could ask for. This one (Ella) and my other cat both know that playing with my yarn is off limits!


I also have an update on the sweater I've been working on since last spring!


Just one sleeve to go!!!!

I got a lot of cool knitterly stuff for xmas so look forward to some cool projects in the future. I've very very excited to start knitting moebius projects from Cat Bordhi's second treasury I'm waiting on yarn and needles from Knitpicks (my new favorite site!) right now for those projects. Also watch for SOCKS from various pattern sources including Knitty and Favorite Socks by Interweave. Socks are going to be my new thing. I just found this site called Simply Sock Yarn. Can't wait to try it out!!

Yup 2008 looks like a very promising year of knitting!!!!