etc.

Remember the DC sock? Meet her sister, the BC sock, named thusly on account of knitting the lion’s share in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia. The mountains were brilliant, the hot tub was exhilirating, the Institute was transforming. I’ll stop now for fear of waxing lyrical but if you’d like to hear more about NEL, drop me a line.

As you know, this is Lorna’s Laces, a lovely, lovely yarn. I have a skein of Cherry Tree Hill on tap for the next pair of socks and, since I’m feeling somewhat adventurous, I’m planning on trying my hand at this pattern. Snazzy but suitably simple (I like a simple sock).

This weekend we celebrate Thanksgiving and plans include eating, knitting, reading, sewing, and visiting this exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre. I have plenty of mountain pictures to upload and I hope to get around to that too. Anticipate!

Yes, more socks. In response to my plea for sock yarn recommendations, Carolyn mentioned Mountain Colors Weavers Wool, which gave me pause. Mountain Colors? That sounds awfully familiar! I’m sure I have some Mountain Colours in my stash. And I did! One skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Pheasant which, upon discovery, I immediately wound up and knit. And I’m pleased to report that this yarn knits up a soft, warm, substantial sock & is an absolute delight to work with.

Right. On to your sock yarn recommendations. Thank you! Did I forget to say that? I think I did, how terrible of me. Many of you came out in favour of Lorna’s Laces, and a few mentioned Cherry Tree Hill, so, off I trundled to eBay and happily did I stumble upon one seller who had both on offer (amongt many others, to tempt and woo), and here’s what awaited me on my doorstep last evening:

Sorry for the terrible pictures. I broke my rule of no pictures in artificial light because I needed to get this yarn wound and cast on and I knew there would be no waiting till morning (and the keyboard circa 1911 in this pic, juxtaposed with the keyboard circa 2005 in the first, was entirely unplanned). That’s one skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Old Rose and two skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shephard Sock in Seaside. I cast on the Lorna’s Laces last night, and can I just say divine? I think I can.

I am smitten with socks all over again. Once I finished my sister’s second sock (I finished it, I really did! I forgot to take a picture of it though!) I just had to keep knitting them, so I whipped through this pair, made with luscious Fleece Artist merino. I like this colourway just fine but I’m not so sure I like the way the colours pooled in some spots and stripped in others. But, whatever, they’re the most comfortable socks I own and were a dream to knit.

I’m ready for more socks, but I’m fresh out of sock yarn, so I’m on the hunt. Tell me, dear knitting readers, do you have a favourite sock yarn? Something that makes you swoon as it feeds off your needles? Something ridiculously luxurious? Something silken and buttery? I need to know about it!

Feast of St. Valentine, patron saint of love. But you already knew that. Did you also know that Valentine is the patron saint of greeting card manufacturers? I wish I was joking.

Also, feast of the innaugural issue of Spun Magazine, go have a look.

I did not get a trip to the ROM on Saturday after all, for which I blame the threat of a cold. The cold did not materialize, thankfully, which I attribute to a lazy day spent on the couch knitting & watching season 3 of MI-5, thank you PVR (BUT! Tom! Zoe! It cannot be!)

But there was a new cardi (click for a slightly larger picture):

Pattern: Weekend Jacket, Knitting Pure & Simple.
Yarn: Wendy Pampas in Cream (#201), 30% wool 70% acrylic, 7.5 skeins

All told, this cardigan took about 8 hours to knit. The pattern is a top-down raglan so there is no seaming at all, just some ends to weave in when it’s all done. The pattern provides three options for closure: zip, buttons, snaps. At first I thought I’d go without closure, but it looked rather unsightly when I tried it on. So I have decided to have a go at a zipper. I’ve never zippered anything before, but it should be good practice for the Ribby Cardi, for which I cast on yesterday.

And so, into the breach. I’ll report back as progress, or lack thereof, warrants.

For any of you who may be wondering where all the knitting has gone:

Pattern: Silk Tweed Sweater
Yarn: Estelle 100% Silk Tweed, 10 balls (and a bit)

This might well be my favourite sweater pattern yet. As I expected, the front and back are knit as normal, and the shoulders are joined with a three-needle bind-off. The next bit was new to me: the sleeves are knit by picking up stitches between the two armhole shaping bind-offs (once the front & back are joined). Ergo, very neat sleeves & no sleeve to body seaming. The only seaming this sweater needed was up the sides and down the sleeves, with simple mattress stitch (the only seam I can pull off with relative ease and satisfactory results).

Forgot to mention: as you may or may not recall, I’m a bit of an overzealous sleeve knitter (I enjoy an oversized sleeve). Thus far, this has mostly gotten me sleeves of ludicrous proportions, forcing the roll-up to make the sweater wearable. This pattern, with its pick-up-stitches sleeves, circumvents the problem — since you’re starting from the shoulder and knitting down the sleeve, you can stop when you’re happy with the length! Did you see those sleeves? They’re perfect!

When I first picked up this yarn, I was not unduly impressed. It felt coarse and twiggy and had that special mustiness reserved for 100% natural fibres. However, while it knits up as a slightly coarse fabric, it has a surprising drape and is remarkably robust (and is the warmest fabric I’ve ever worn). I don’t know how else to describe it other than to say that it seems to knit up as a fabric with “memory” – i.e.: crunch it into a ball and it wrinkles; smooth it out and it lays nice & flat. To wit (and a wee confession between you & I): I didn’t block this sweater. I was certain that I’d have to, given all the stocking stitch, but when it was all done, I unrolled the edges, spread them flat, and stood back to marvel at how they stayed flat and didn’t bounce right back to where they were. At that point, I thought maybe I could skip the blocking and seam right away, and that’s what I did. With remarkably little frustration.

Feast day of Anastasius the Persian, patron saint of headaches. Also, Francis Bacon’s birthday.

There is at least an inch of fresh snow on the front walk, with more falling still, and I am inside with loose leaf Earl Grey tea steeping in a little brown ceramic pot that the mister brought home from China a few years ago. There is no better tea than that which is brewed in this particular pot.

All the crafting I had planned for the weekend was done before 1 pm yesterday. I stopped in at a craft store on my way home from work on Thursday, bulked up on various supplies, and when I got home I laid it all out on the dining table and planned the weekend’s projects. By the time Friday morning rolled in, it felt a little like Christmas morning — I knew what was waiting for me downstairs and I couldn’t wait to get started!

First, I made a set of wine-themed marble magnets for my sister’s birthday (which is in two days, and the only reason I feel it is safe to unveil them now is because she doesn’t come around here on the weekend, and by the time she does, it will be Monday, and she will already be in possession of her marble magnets & all the other little gifties I’m about to fill you in on). I used Megan’s marble magnet tutorial and was so very pleased with the results that I made a batch for our fridge too (the theme for these was unplanned, but emerged as Fashion Fabrics for 2005, since I got all the pictures from the January issue of a fashion magazine, and all those florals are actually dress fabrics. And the crying baby was just a silly graphic that I couldn’t pass on).

Also completed yesterday: a set of potato-stamped note cards. These were a bit more involved than the marble magnets (on account of the sharp instruments and precision carving), but still a lot of fun and quite rewarding. I photographed this exercise in a bit more detail, here’s the start-to-finish.

And finally: a scarf in Classic Elite’s La Gran Mohair, in Pumpkin (#6585), made using this pattern. I like the way this scarf looks now that it’s done, but knitting with mohair was an experience I am not looking forward to repeating. It wasn’t the knitting really, it was just the dry hairball I felt like coughing up after a few minutes of working with this yarn, and also the orange fuzz that adorned me, my couch, the rug, and quite often, one or both of the cats, if they happened to be within a two-foot radius of the offending yarn.

So with all that crafting out of the way, I have the rest of the weekend (which has only just begun!) to work on a bucket hat, read, and pack away our Christmas tree & decorations. Yes, it’s all still up. And yes, that might account for why every morning feels like Christmas morning (which is not such a very bad thing).

Well, I dare say, I have never photographed a single piece of knitting as much as I have photographed Clapotis. Would you like to see a close-up? Or how about an extreme close-up? Or how about an extreme close-up that turned out a little fuzzy but is still a pretty interesting picture?

Then there’s the picture of Clapotis in an odd pinkish light, and also the picture of Clapotis being modelled by a stairway post, and let’s not forget the picture of Clapotis reclining on the back of the rocking chair.

There isn’t much I can say about the pattern that hasn’t already been said. And there isn’t much I can say about this yarn that I haven’t already said. You might recognize it from a few other failed projects (a poncho, a cardi), but we both knew that it was only a matter of time before this yarn found its true purpose. I’d say it finally has.

I might be poky about delivering on my promises, but you can’t accuse me of not delivering. This here is the completed Big Sack from Stitch n’ Bitch (the first) that I finished about a month ago and have already worn about a dozen times. I used Natural Wool in a pretty standard brown; I opted for a wee roll neckline rather than the turtle (pictured in the book); I mattress-stitched the hell out of those raglan sleeves (and it looks great — thanks to all who suggested it); and cabling just beats the pants right off of stockinette.

Would I do anything differently? Oh yes. I’d probably start by making a smaller size (I made the large when I should have made the medium), and I’d increase the length of the body and shorten the arms. Did you see the fold on that sleeve? Here’s what it would look like if I unfolded it. Regardless, this is probably my favourite sweater. Warm, roomy, and very cozy, not much to complain about there.

Because I need to assuage my own guilt for all the knitting I haven’t done for the mister, allow me to show you what I have done. First up was a pair of Fuzzyfeet to keep his toes warm in our very cold house. Here’s a picture of the slippers in their pre-felted state, here’s one post-felting, and here’s one of the felty-goodness doing its job. I used the yarn the pattern called for (in a tweedy brown shade called Sable) and was quite pleased with the end product (my first felting outing). Our washing machine, however, is not a good felting machine since the “hot” cycle is merely lukewarm, which resulted in me having to pour steaming water in myself, making the process take about 4 times longer than it should have. The mister assures me that it was worth it.

Also, just in time for the deep freeze that set in about a month ago, a toque. I used two strands of Stahl Sche Wolle Green-Line and a barely modified version of Stephanie’s Silk Garden Beanie pattern.

Who loves ya, mister?

In the unlikely event that you have recently found yourself asking, “does she even knit anymore?”, I am here to let you know that, yes, yes I do. Proof? Remember the mitt-kit the generous Melanie sent me weeks ago? Well, I finished knitting them while I was in New York (also, weeks ago) and have been teribly lax about showing them to you. These are wonderful mitts — cozy & warm, and they’ve already come in handy (pardon the heavy-handed pun) during the cooler Fall days we’ve had (again, weeks ago. The weather has been oddly temperate lately). Here’s a bonus sideways shot of a pair of disembodied, yet appropriately-mittened, hands. Thanks again, Melanie!

And I’m not sure what sort of foolishness made me think that, admist all the birthday and Christmas knitting I’ve undertaken, this is a good time to try out a new technique, nevermind a whole new sweater. I’ve had five sizeable skeins of brown, tweedy, chunky, New Zealand wool in my stash earmarked for the Big Sack Sweater from Stitch n’ Bitch, and late last week, I pulled out the book and did a little practice-cabling to get my feet wet. I had no idea that there was so much tugging and wrestling involved in cabling, but I soon got over the bizarrely unnatural feeling of fighting with my yarn and needles when I saw the results. That picture (clickable!) is the practice cable. This one is the practice stitch pattern for the Big Sack, and this one is the completed front. I’m half way through the first sleeve and hope to have the second done this weekend. Then I’ll be back to ask you for your favourite raglan-sleeve-seaming technique.