Facing Reality

I've been thinking about how to manage my stash. It's seriously out of control. I've got yarn for 14 sweaters alone. Don't ask me to count sock yarns, odd balls, hat yarn or laceweight. I know there are bigger stashes, I know there are smaller ones. What I want is the just right stash.

Mary Jane made an excellent point when she told me "You can't think about what NOT to do. Your brain just won't grasp it." I understand this from what I learned about dealing with my children. Barbara Coloroso gives the example of telling children "Don't touch" in a china shop. When you say that, you put the idea of touching into their minds. Instead, she says to tell them "Put your hands in your pockets or behind your backs." In this case the little hands have a choice to make that has nothing to do with the breakables and therefore keeps them safe.

So I need to find something else to say to myself besides "Don't buy more yarn." I've decided that it should be "Knit more sweaters." But I don't think that's going to be enough because my brain automatically finishes the statement to be "You can't buy more yarn until you knit up all the sweaters." It could take me years to knit through what I currently have and we're back to the can't.

I used to have a yarn budget, in which I gave myself a certain amount of money each paycheck. But when Jim lost his work, I felt I had to stop that. Since he's picked up some work this summer, I guess I felt the pressure was off and hence we had yarn purchases. So, to keep the output of FOs greater than the input of new yarn, I've decided to reward myself with a certain amount of yarn money for each finished sweater. I figure I'll have to knit two or three sweaters to "earn" enough to buy new yarn.

I don't know if it's going to work, but I'm going to try. One thing I've learned, everybody does things differently. You've got to keep trying till you find out what works for you.

Somehow this is all tied in with losing my car. Take a look at this picture. This is never going to drive again.

The insurance company's payout will not be sufficient for me to afford a new car, so I'm making the hard decision to take the bus to work for a while. It seems a simple no brainer, pay off debt or take on more debt; especially with Jim's income so uncertain, and the economy still recovering.

But man, reality bites.

The Crash and the Fall Out

Fall came in with a bang. Literally.

September 8, first day back to school, Jim was in an accident with my car. No one was hurt. The other vehicle was a truck and Jim was the only person in my car. He was badly bruised and shaken but no worse. My car, however, will not recover.

All week I've been telling Jim how delighted I am that the car got crumpled because it protected him beautifully. It's only a car, my husband is irreplaceable. I've been fondly reminiscing about the good times we've had in that car. It feels like this vehicle did me one last good service. I'm almost in mourning for my first, practically-new car.

It was a 2002 Intrepid that we've had for six years. At this ripe age its chief accomplishment was that it was paid for. We suspect that the insurance company will write it off, but I am currently in a state of limbo as to what vehicle I will be driving next. I do have a rental for now and it has no charge mileage on it, so after a stressful week I felt I deserved a trip to the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair.

I met up with LisaRae and off we went into the blue horizon. The Fair has such a festival atmosphere and we saw a ton of London knitters there. I thought I'd take in the free classes, but I was seduced by the two ballrooms of vendors.

Over my last summer vacation I had browsed through three different yarn stores without buying a thing, so I thought I'd be safe to go to the fair. I really have no need of more yarn. It's been my mantra "I don't need more yarn." But I claim fall out of stress because I fell.

At first, I only bought a Chibi, a pattern, and some Lantern Moon DPNs, all on sale. But by the end of the day I was pacing feverishly through both ball rooms looking for the Headwater Wool booth where I'd stashed the glorious red lace weight behind some greeny-yellow. In my search, I passed the Yarn Harlot twice, and I never even thought to kinnear her. Of course I wouldn't stop to say Hi because she's famous now and we Canadians leave our celebrities alone. We feel sorry for the poor dears.

(A co-worker told me a story, about how he and his wife had spotted Rick Mercer in a restaurant while on vacation. They asked his waitress and she confirmed Rick's identity. I wanted to know if they'd got an autograph and my co-worker said, "Well no, the man was having lunch.")

I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures for you all, except here's a picture of my sin:

And the red that I snatched out of Lisa's hands when I saw her coming towards me with it. I hope I haven't traumatized her too badly, because she was an awesome companion to take to the fair. She likes linen and cotton and I like wool.

Really, I promise, I'm not going to buy more yarn.


Aw cripes, I just remembered that alpaca I bought at the Harrow Fair. Isn't there a cure for this disease?

Something Funny Going On

Yesterday I went to the Harrow Fair to pick up my entries in the knitting section of the homecrafts division. Harrow is a really lovely little fair, with lots of categories to enter including adorable kids crafts, gorgeous photography and art, and breathtaking quilts. I had only entered two pieces, my white mohair Irtfa'a and my Noro ten stitch twist. I do this for fun, and to hang out with my good friend Mary Jane who is one kick-butt knitter.

Mary Jane had entered a beautiful lace tunic, a black cobweb lace piece (couldn't tell if it was a shawl or a stole because the display was so bunched) beaded socks that won Shall We Knit's sock design contest last year, and a pair of Estonian socks she knit under the tutelage of Nancy Bush at Sock Summit.

We were both surprised at the judging. I went to see Mary Jane before going to the fair and she didn't say a lot about it. No wonder. A sherbet orange acrylic cape beat out both our lace pieces and her Estonian socks lost to self-patterning sock yarn and some worsted weight acrylic knit into long lace stockings.

You know, it was just so ridiculous that we both were laughing our heads off. My suspicion is that the judge wasn't knowledgeable enough to appreciate the nuances of our work. That sounds like ego talking which is why both Mary Jane and I were glad to have someone else confirm this opinion.

Oh well, it was still a great day at the fair, hanging out with Jim and have a gut-busting laugh with my knit-pal. Let's do it again next year!!

Dye Jobs

It finally feels like summer, never mind that the calendar says September. Jim and I are both on vacation this week and the weather couldn't be better: sunny and warm without a cloud in the sky.

We're having another staycation and I had planned all sorts of knitting projects, but instead I find myself dedicated to churning out a pair of white lace socks. So relaxing! But there has been more color in my life, in the form of a couple more dye experiments. Here's what the kids called my Fruit Loop color way:

I tried the cold paint method, where you get the dye on the yarn cold, then heat the yarn set it. I wrapped the yarn in plastic wrap and put it in the crock pot with some water to warm it up. The dye leaked out of the plastic but the colors didn't mix. I'm learning that once the color goes on, it pretty much stays where you put it. I guess I thought there would be more transfer of colors within the yarn, like mixing paint on paper, but there's not. I also experimented with re-skiening and I like the effect. I'm very curious about how this color-way will knit up.

Today I dyed what I think looks like Summer Berries:

I find I go in with one plan of dying and end up doing things with colors on the fly. In this case, I used a spritz bottle to spray some blue on parts that I thought were too light. I don't know if I like the effect. The colors are a bit pale and muddy in places. Not in a bad way since at least I stayed on one side of the color wheel. The important thing is I'm learning about the way yarn and dye behave together.

I was wanted to see what the Kermit in a Blender yarn would look like knit up so I cast it on for my next traveling sock:

This green must have been beginner's luck because I think it is by far my best dye job. Perhaps I need to get away from the kiddie food color shades.

And lookie at this. A yarn prezzie all the way from Sock Summit! Aren't I a lucky duck?

Boy, I've got a lot to learn.

A Time to Learn

It was a busy week, not only because work was busy, but also because I was putting the push on my knitting at home, hoping to get the front of my latest sweater done up for weekend finishing. Unfortunately, it didn't happen and by Friday I was feeling frisky and ready for some fun. So I bought some food coloring and following a Knitty tutorial I made this:


It was so much fun! And I love the results. I learned some things too and am already planning on doing another batch based on what I learned.

But my dye session had to be cut short this morning as Jim received a phone call that his mother was dizzy, ill and heading to the hospital. We sorted out our business and jumped in the car to be with her. She was very happy to see us and looked quite chipper considering where she was. It wasn't long before a doctor came to see us and he made a simple and very happy diagnosis: BPPV or Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo.

Note that word: benign. It made me happy even though I know it must very annoying to experience. Essentially, calcium build up in the ear canal creates tiny rocks that cause mixed signals to be sent to the brain resulting in dizziness and nausea. It's common in the elderly or people who have experienced head trauma. I'd never heard of such a thing, but I'm glad I know about it now.

I think this little emergency may serve as a wake up to Jim and I to visit with and cherish his mother a bit more. And now, another yarn shot, because it makes me happy. I think I shall call this color Kermit in a Blender.

Sweaters

It's weird, but I don't seem to enjoy knitting sweaters much. Too much emotional baggage perhaps. All that work knitting, planning, calculating and even if the danged thing fits, you still won't know if it will look good on you until it's all put together.

I've made good progress on my V is for Violet, but I'm so ready to be done with it already. The second sleeve is almost done too. Then I just have to work the front. I like to divvy up the work this way, because knitting two big pieces feels like such an accomplishment that still needing to work sleeves afterwards seems like a low blow.

To break things up a bit, I started a chunky cabled sleeve:

I love smooshy, chunky cables. So squishable! Funny how I can be fed up with one sweater and yet ready to start another.

Tent Sale!!

The Spinrite Factory Outlet tent sale started today and I was there with bells on!! Here's what the inside of the tent looked like:


Here's what the lineup outside of the tent looked like:


And here's what I look like anticipating a super-bargain:


Honestly, I know quality is more important than quantity, but the deals that are available are amazing. And the sale is on until August 22. But I needed to get there early because I wanted to nab some Kroy. And I did! 40 balls of pure white for $60. Retail cost would be almost $240. They didn't have the color I wanted, but at that price, I'm going to take up dying!

But I should show you what all I bought. Here it is (dog for scale):

Oh! that's not nice, you want to see the actual yarns, don't you? Well fine then, here they are:

Now I must confess, I picked up a little bit of yarn for my best beloveds. That would be my mom and my mom-in-law. Mom agreed to split a bit with me before I went.

The yarn for my MIL will be a gift. She is 86 years old now, on a limited income, but still likes to knit for the church and for fairs. She only likes to knit acrylic and comes up with the most interesting color combinations. In other words, she's easy to please on the cheap. So she's getting mill ends and yarn from inside the store at 22 cents an ounce. I hope that when I'm 86 someone will bring me yarn to keep me in my habit. That is if I haven't knit through all this by then.

A good bit of that yarn is chunky and bulky weight. I don't normally work with such thick yarns, but I have specific projects in mind. For one, I want to knit this for Jim:

And for another, I still want to work a Cowichan sweater during the winter Olympics and there was a perfect super bulky roving at the sale. There were six huge balls in a bag and each bag was $8. Buy three get one free. I got a black, a grey, a white and a red which is probably enough for 2 sweaters or more.

This picture shows the chunky yarn for Jim's sweater at the top (100g ball) and the bulky roving at the bottom.

The yarn is actually bigger than it looks in the picture. Please refer to the stash picture for scale. The blue yarn is supposed to be an alpaca blend and is lovely and soft. I've no idea what fiber the white is. I'll have to do a burn test.

I got home before lunch, and even though I was slightly over budget, Jim was thrilled for me. He could see that I got some awesome deals, I didn't go too much over budget and he loves the yarn I picked for his sweater. He's such a sweetie!

Man! I had fun. I'm still grinning.....

Knitting Large

Irtfa'a is done!! And she's a beaut. (On Ravelry.)

It came out just as I'd hoped. The fabric is light, soft and yet warm. I did a full on wet-block, giving it a nice bath in some Soak and it seems to have lightened the color. It looks much whiter in these images than it did before.

I didn't have enough pins to pin out each point individually, so I pinned two together as you can see in the above photo. I don't think you'd notice it if I didn't point it out, so I'm okay with it.

The size of it is perfect. I'm tall, at 5'9" so many shawls come out short on me. Using the mohair/silk blend yarn allowed me to go up a few needle sizes from the recommended 3.5mm to a 4mm resulting in a larger shawl.


The pattern is perfect. I loved the flow of one lace stitch into the next. I didn't change a thing, except to fudge my boo-boos. It's going to be hard to find another project I enjoyed as much as this one.

Rediscovery

First, an update on the shawl. Thank you to everyone who weighed in with their opinions on fixing the color. I read all the comments, did further research on the internet, and I have come to the conclusion that it's not worth the effort to try and whiten this fiber. I don't want to ruin the lofty softness of the mohair and I believe that the yellow color is caused by a change in the fiber itself, not dirt or oil.

The point is moot because I have yet to finish the first half of the edging. The Irtfa'a pattern started off a bit tricksy, lulled me with peaceful knitting in the middle, and is now keeping me on the edge of my seat with the edging. But it's lovely to see it come off the needles. There's a generous wingspan and a fabric that floats on the breeze. This shawl is going to be a treasure.

And speaking of treasures, today I watched a video called The Story of the Coast Salish Knitters and it helped me rediscover one of Canada's national treasures. The movie let the native knitters tell their story in their own words, as they washed wool, carded, spun and knit. It was fascinating to watch these women work so swiftly with what seemed to me to be very chunky tools. For example, the spindle's whorl was the size of a dinner plate. Other juicy tidbits included an ancient carding machine, spinning machines made from an old treadle sewing-machine, and archive images of sweaters and knitters.


I tend to prefer fine gauge projects for their delicate details and in the past I had dismissed the Cowichan sweaters as being clumsy and kitschy, but this film has changed my mind. The women showed true artistry in their pattern placement, innovations and adaptability. I was astonished by the garments and moved by the stories of hardship. For many of these women, knitting was all that kept their families from starving. There is so much more to Cowichan sweaters than I had ever imagined!

In doing some research for writing this, I discovered there's been some talk about Canadian athletes wearing Cowichan sweaters at the winter Olympics. This gives me the idea that it might be fun to knit a Cowichan-inspired sweater during the Olympics. Here's a link for a free pattern written by a Salish native, Marjorie Peters, as a replica of the ones she knit for Charles and Diana when they were married. Or it would be pretty simple to knit a toque.

If you're in Canada, go borrow The Story of the Coast Salish Knitters from your local library.

Oh Boy!

This week our new neighbours moved in next door. They seem like nice people and Dexter has been very interested as they have two dogs. But the extremely curious thing about them is what they have done with the pool. Tuesday night we went to sleep to the sound of water splashing into the pool as it started to fill. Our bedroom window looks right over their backyard, so when I woke up I checked to see how much it had filled. Boy did I get a shock! There were fish in the pool! Huge Koi. I've counted more than 10. I really like them. I peek often to see them doing laps or flipping their fins.

Sorry the picture's not so great, but it was taken through the bedroom window.

I've no interesting knitting photos either. Lace on the needles always looks the same. I've been really enjoying this project, staying true to it all week.

Irtafa'a

As I near the end I'm beginning to get excited about the finished product. I'm curious about how big it will be, and how lofty the fabric will end up.

In natural light the yarn, which is a mohair and silk blend, is a yellowish cream, but I thought it was more of a white. I was thinking of trying to dew bleach it to whiten it after re-reading Anne's House of Dreams. But a little internet research has persuaded me not to. Apparently, it's the damp and sunlight that will cause the white wool to go yellow and damp and sunlight are the whole premise of dew bleaching.

I guess my choices are to live with the yellowed color, or try hydrogen peroxide. I'm not keen on either of those. Ideas, anyone?

Good Vacation

You know you've had a fun time when the back of the car looks like this coming home:

We took the boys to Bingemans for the day and it was great! Not too busy plus new slides equals tons of fun. I got to test drive my new Monteagle string bag:

I finished this project a few weeks back and it's much more fun to use than it is to knit. Stylish looking too. It's worth the process to get this product.

Also this week, we made sour cherry jam:

There's nothing better than homemade jam made from fruit you picked off the tree that day! I'll be enjoying a taste of summer all winter long.

I've declared these last two weekend days of my vacation to be time to wrap up a few chores, such as wash a stinky dog, relax, and knit. The only thing I finished knitting on vacation was some traveling socks for Luke. I think he likes them. I like the contrasting toes.

Busy Relaxing

I've been on vacation the past week. Or I should say, a STAYcation. It's been an incredibly busy week. We've had two family gatherings already, with another one today. Yesterday we had a family fun night at the Palasad, which I managed to get at half-price through coupons and deals. There's been trips to the library and video store, and so lots of books to read, games to play and movies to watch. There's been long dog walks, a bunch of baking and even some stewed cherries from my mom's sour cherry tree. Lucky me, I get to do it again next week!

I even took a break from the knitting at first. I struggled with finding a project to work on. Two different sock projects have been scrapped and abandoned. This Norwegian sock is too tight for Jim to pull on:

I had started with the recommended needle size, thought the result looked too loose and so I went down a needle. Stupid me! All that work and now it's time to frog.

Honestly, I don't think the Briggs and Little sport works well for color work. Too rustic. I have four skeins, in three shades of blue and a white, that I think might work better in a shawl or blanket.

Then there's the almost completed Cat Bordhi sock:

It fits, but it bugs me. I don't like the pattern, design style, stitch.... but I love the yarn. It deserves to be something better.

I bought New Pathways for Sock Knitters thinking it would broaden my sock horizons, but it just doesn't work for me. Something about the designs and the way they are presented to the knitter just goes against the grain for me. I know a lot of people really like Cat Bordhi's designs and so I think this book should go somewhere it would be appreciated, so it's up for trade. Anyone interested?

Eventually I did settle in on a knit project, Anne Hanson's Irtfa'a worked in a mohair silk blend. While the start was complicated, I'm already into the second lace motif and finding it to be a fun knit. Anne's Bee Fields Triangle shawl was much more difficult to work.

Kitten Report - Sad News

I phoned London Animal Care Center today to get an update on the kitten. There was much searching on the other end of the line which should have given me a clue. But I was still shocked to hear that the rescued kitten had been euthanized. Apparently, there were two puncture wounds in its neck and the veterinarian felt that the animal was suffering.

I'm sad. It's good that there's a place to take a rescued animal, but I wish they could have done more for the kitten.

A Tug on the Heartstrings

Monday morning I rose early and leashed up Dexter for a walk. We hadn't gone far when I spied an animal, huddled against a wall. It was a kitten, and I could tell right away that something was wrong. At first I thought it had an e-collar on. But when I looked closer I realized I was wrong.

I tied Dexter up tight to a metal rail and told him to stay while I went to scoop up the kitten. It didn't make a fuss or move a bit. The poor thing had a plastic lid around its neck from a McDonald's McFlurry. I wrapped the kitten in the bottom of my shirt, untied Dexter and took the poor beast home.

With Dexter in the crate, we took a closer look at the kitten. It was crawling with ants, had raw open wounds and feces matted its fur. But oh! It was still such a sweet little animal with lovely tortoiseshell coloring and a pretty little face. I took a couple of pictures which I will post at the bottom of this message. Please don't look if you are squeamish.

So we cut off the nasty plastic lid, and I managed to get a bit of milk in the kitten. I had to dab the milk into its mouth until it swallowed. Once it got that first taste it licked the milk off my fingers and then took some from turkey baster. I was so pleased to hear that gulping sound of a baby drinking milk.

My heart just went out to the little critter and I would have loved nothing more than to keep it and nurse it back to health. But, as I wrote yesterday, we live in a loud and busy house which I didn't think would be a good environment for a convalescent kitten. Plus, there is the dog. Would you trust this face with a sick kitten?

I called up London Animal Care Center and Jim brought the kitten in first thing this morning. I'll be calling back in a few days to see how my little friend is doing. I have just two appeals. Please, if you are thinking of getting a pet, please consider if a rescued animal would be right for you. And second, please, please! dispose of your garbage. I'm seriously thinking of sending this kitten's pictures to McDonalds.

And now the kitten pictures. Don't go further if you don't like the sight of blood or open wounds.



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This little one has such a sweet face.


My best guess is that the kitten stuck its head into the cup to lick up the ice cream, but couldn't get its head out again.

In an effort to remove the lid, the kitten scraped the inside of its neck raw. This picture was taken between milk feedings. Just look at those trusting eyes!

My Home is a Frat House

A dog, two teen-aged sons and their friends have turned my home into a haven of video games, thumps and yells, endless snacks and clutter. Patrolling this chaos is my husband Jim, who greatly deserved his modest Father's day celebrations. Jim has always done laundry and week day cooking, but since being out of work he has also taken on extra chores, he helps me with the grocery shopping and has even learned how to bake. This past week he made bagels! And they were very yummy.

I'm so proud of him: of the great role model he is, of how he has grown since I have known him and how he still can surprise me after almost twenty years together.

Happy Father's Day honey!

As a Father's day gift for both Jim and my dad, I knit the ubiquitous Fiber Trends felted clog:

Sort of looks like I was knitting for the dog...

Tag Team Works in Progress

The Kauni progresses. I'm now at 13 inches of body.

Dave, you were right, the color progressions are working out fine on their own. Though I'm seeing even more slip as I progress. This could be because I've found very subtle knots twice now. These knots matched up the colors, but changed the length of the color progression. Sneaky! I've decided to let it go. Call it an artistic feature and roll with it.

This is a very intense knit, having so many stitches and such bright colors. While I do have the pattern of the leaves memorized for the most part, I still have to pay attention or I'll pay the price in mistakes. Ripping is not fun, and don't relish trying to duplicate stitch with this yarn.

Plus, there is further intensity from the fact that I'm designing this on the needles. I'm getting to the point where I will have to decide where to put the steaks for the arm holes. I've pretty much decided to make this a pullover, even though I have no idea how I will finish the edgings for the neck, hem and cuffs. Did you see the provisional cast on in the picture? I couldn't decide when I started either.

To take a get away from all that intensity, I'm giving myself a break with this soothing, simpler knit:

The pattern is V is for Violet, from Knitter's Fall 2006. The design has really grown on me, I think the stitch patterns are perfectly executed. I have plans to modify the sleeves to a three-quarter length because I think it will look more stylish. The yarn is Rowan Cashcotton from last week's sale and it is just gorgeous. Together the pattern and yarn are a perfect match.

I want to savour this knit, so when it starts to feel like a slog, I just tag Kauni back into the ring.

The Story of a Yarn Sale

Whoo, boy! did I have fun this week. My mom and I went to the Needle Emporium's annual tent sale. Here's what we bought:

Three of those are mine and the one on the right is my moms. Hey! I stayed within my budget so it's all good.

There were lots of knitters there, but I didn't remember to take any pictures until we were checking out and my mom took this one:

Looks busy, right. Well, this is after it had calmed down. Here's a busier shot over on Flickr.

This year the pricing scheme was new. In past years you paid by the bag and stuffed it as full as you could. This year, the prices were $3 for a 50g ball of yarn, $6 for 100g and there was a section of $1 odd balls.

Going into such a huge sale, a knitter has to have a strategy. Mine is to grab everything I like, and then cull. Oh, and I warned my mother before we arrived, every woman for herself. She was totally on board with that (love ya mom!). Things I culled were some alpaca in a sport weight because it's so warm and almost too drapey and some manos that I thought I'd make into a scarf. I also culled a couple skiens of Rowan Chunky Tweed because they were 100g skiens and I only wanted them for a hat.

What I bought was (with links to Ravelry):

20 skeins of Baruffa Merinos Otto
14 skiens of Rowan RYC Cashcotton DK
6 skeins of Regia Silk

The culled alpaca was replaced by these beauties:

5 huge skeins of JJ's Specialty Yarns montage collection. Should be enough for a sweater for Jim.

At this point, my mom started asking me if I wanted to leave. I think the long lines were making her nervous. Or maybe she was scared she'd buy more yarn if she stayed too long. But I said I waited all year for this I wasn't leaving yet! I wandered over to the $1 section and found a great collection of odd balls. Can't go wrong for a buck!

You had to stand in one line to be counted and then in another line to pay debit or Visa. What do you think knitters do, standing in line at a yarn sale? Grab more yarn! I found a beauty of a skein of laceweight while I was waiting:

The white is another $1 oddball and it's Kauni laceweight. I also checked out what the knitters were wearing while in line. There was a great lace cardigan made from Noro Silk Garden sock yarn. And a totally unique design of Kauni. You can glipse another cool design in this pic. I wish I'd taken pictures! But no, I was totally focused on the sale.

Mom caught a snap of me during the moment of purchase.


And after all that, you know what we did? Head over to the Needle Emporium yarn shop! I'd stayed well under budget and had enough money to buy another ball of Kauni for my sweater in progress.

So happy.... Can you tell I had fun? Oh good. Cause I did. Loads.

Always Coming Back to Socks

I'm always returning to socks because I have a heavy rotation of loved ones who love their hand knit socks.

There's my mother-in-law who likes socks in bright colors with just a touch of ribbing in them to help them stay up. She just got a pair for Mother's day. Now Luke started wearing my socks just this past winter because he found them warm and comfortable. He likes plain patterns and green or muted colors. These two types of sock aren't terribly exciting to knit, but I do it for love. I get great satisfaction out of knowing that my loved ones' feet feel great because I found scraps of time in which to knit a sock.

Here's one such traveling sock, so-called because it travels with me every where:

The yarn is ONline Supersocke, knit in my standard 72 stitch pattern, but on a smaller needle than usual, a 2mm. I used about an inch of k1 p1 rib at the top and then did the rest of the leg and foot in k5 p1. I like the look of the wide ribs, it works in this type of yarn.

Remember a while back, I was asking about what sort of ease you knit into your socks? Most of you said you prefer to knit your socks with negative ease because they bag out with wear. Well this pair was my first attempt at tightening things up. It didn't work too well, because the smaller needle size made a sock that's a bit too snug. I wanted to give them to Luke, but he had difficulty getting them on and declared he wouldn't wear them. Jim was willing to tug, so he gets this pair.

Jim is one of my favourite people to knit socks for because he's willing to wear just about anything. Like lace and bright colors...

This is Nancy Bush's Gentleman's Socks for Evening wear, knit out of Kataish's handpainted yarn. Aren't the color's gorgeous? I love that they didn't pool and that all the shades and tones are so beautiful. She used KnitPicks Gloss Bare as a base, so these socks feel quite decadent too.

Next to Jim, I am my favourite person to knit socks for, because I can knit myself whatever I like! Plus, I save all the best sock yarn for myself. But my sock drawer is pretty full, but Luke and MIL only have a few pair, so I predict it will be a summer of dull-colored and plainly knit socks for me.

I'd better go stock up on some more podcasts....

Minor Adventure

Yes Saturday was lovely, and it seems like many others around blogland enjoyed their Saturday too. Sunday, wasn't too shabby either. While walking Dexter through the ravine in our neighbourhood we came across a big snapping turtle! We hurried home for my camera and I snapped the snapper:

I've never seen such a big turtle out and about like this. I've only ever seen them in zoos. I knew enough to keep Dexter well away. The turtle pulled its head in when Dexter and I came along, so we stood back a bit and the turtle started walking. Using the zoom on my camera, I shot this video:

I'm such a nature geek. I find it very exciting. I only hope the turtle got safely home again.

A Beautiful Day

It's lovely in southern Ontario at this time of year. Everything is so green and fresh and it's not too hot yet. Lovely weather to sit outside and knit. Doesn't this look inviting?

What you see here is the bridal wreath bush in bloom, a nice cup of tea, a cute ceramic sheep that was a gift from my mom, Cast On and Sticks and String on the i-Pod, two cushions on the chair, and yes! my Kauni is back in progress.

I procrastinated on returning to it all week, knitting some very boring socks instead. I'm glad I waited because when I picked it up again, I decided I like it. The hiatus did me some good. I believe I've been over thinking this thing. Today, I decided to just knit it. And a very enjoyable knit it was too.

Here's what was going on just behind my back at the other half of the yard:

Jim is re-laying the patio stones so they'll be level and to take out all the dirt that was supporting a good crop of weeds. Dexter is gnawing a fresh marrow bone we picked up for him as part of our Saturday errands. Luke is reading in the chair and Alex is lazing in the hammock.

What a great Saturday!