Coriolis effect...

So when I got New Pathways in Sock Knitting last winter, I skipped the little sky beginner sock and dove straight into the little coriolis. I loved it. It's such a unique way to make a sock. Then I read all about the fit issues people had with the "big" coriolis and waited a bit to try it, out of fear. I don't usually get scared off by a challenge in knitting (example: my first cable project was a celtic braid).

I experimented with the other sock architectures and found my groove (read: figured out that I was measuring my midfoot as half an inch bigger than it really was, therefore making all my socks half an inch too big around...miserable). I just bought some Mirasol Chirapa and it told me it wanted to be a coriolis, with a nice wide band. I finished the first sock in less than a week. I'm addicted, I love love love this pattern and it's fitting like, well, a sock :) super cozy!


In fact I'm thinking of ripping another sock (it's a little small) and making it into a coriolis too! :) maybe with yarn over increases to make "bubbles"?

I don't know why I waited so long...

Knitting Prayer

My grandma gave me this a while ago. I thought it was cute :)

The Knitter's Prayer

I pray when risen from the dead,
I may in glory land.
Perhaps a crown upon my head,
But four needles in my hand.
I never learned to sing or play,
So let no harp be mine.
From childhood to my dying day,
Plain knitting's been my line.
And so accustomed to the end,
In plying useful stitches,
I'll be content if given to knit
the little angels' britches.

I wonder what kind of yarn they would have for the angels' britches? Probably malabrigo...

Finally spring!!!

I'm sitting on my balcony, soaking in the sun. It's finally spring.

Admittedly, spring in manitoba isn't the prettiest thing you ever saw. Kind of dusty and brown and drab. But the blue sky and the warm sun really make me believe that summer is just around the corner. And I just saw a couple of butterflies flitting on the balcony just below mine! Hooray!

Spring also means time for spring knitting! Woo!

I've got a pair of "Spring Forward" socks on the go.


And I just bought some 100% silk yarn from the newly reinvented Ram Wool Yarn Co-op (much appreciation goes to my former co-workers who sent me off with a gift cert! I currently have no other yarn money...). It's going to be a lacey "Delphine" top from French Girl Knits (also in IK Spring 2009).

I've never worked with pure silk before. This will be fun!

Maybe the pool will even be open soon... that might be wishful thinking though...

Zipper conquered!

Back in February, I posted a photo of the yummy yarn I got from Sheeples Fine Fibres. Well I really couldn't hold back and I started knitting it up right away. It was going to be Estes Vest from Interweave Knits Magazine but I soon realized that the pattern called for way more yarn than was needed. I wasn't about to let my lovely handspun go to waste so I decided to add sleeves. (I used top-down seamless set-in sleeves, which rock btw!) I finished knitting the cardigan in the middle of March which is might fast for a sweater!!

Then I stalled... Why you ask? Well I thought that a zipper would look better than the buttons the pattern suggested... But zippers are my nemesis. I sewed a skirt once and it took me 3 or 4 tries (read: sew up, rip entire seam and repeat) to sew in the 4" zipper with my sewing machine. And it still wasn't perfect. The memory still haunts me.

Also I have a bad habit of making something really great and then ruining it with the finishing. I've been trying very hard to overcome my lack of perfectionism in my knitting... with occasional success... but it takes a lot of effort.

This sweater has turned out so well though. I was petrified of ruining it's perfection by messing up the zipper. So I stewed for a couple of weeks. Finally, this week I figured enough is enough! I found a really good tutorial for hand sewing in zippers (did I mention I'm really bad at hand sewing?) and...


After three painstaking days...


Allison: 1 Zipper: 0


I'm on a roll! Maybe I should go fix the buttons that are falling off my Central Park Hoodie...

Dear Mother Nature,

I would like to say that I feel winter has gone on too long. I realize that winter weather is good weather for knitting. It's very kind of you to make more snow and cold so that the people I knit mittens for will be able to wear them before summer arrives.

Yes I also realize you gave us some nice weather last November but, really, that was 5 months ago. I know that March is your favorite time of year and you probably get a little chuckle from making it nice and warm and melty outside and then blasting us with -30 windchill and snow the next day. Ha ha. Hilarious. Guess what? It's April now. Just take the snow away, ok?

I'm hoping that perhaps this is an April Fool's joke (if it is, it's not very funny!) and that I'll wake up tomorrow morning and spring will be here.

Sincerely,
Allison

PS. My cats would also appreciate going out on the balcony without getting their feet cold and wet! K, thanks!