Time Flys

I generally try to blog once or twice a week, but I've missed the last couple of weeks entirely. Life became a cacophony of teenage angst, health concerns and stresses rather than the pleasant symphony I'd prefer. My policy for this blog is to always remember that it is a public space, and so for that reason I'm not going to go into a lot of details here. I can say that the teen angst, while painful to watch, seems like a good thing since it indicates emotional growth. And I can also say that the health concerns are minor, since we are monitoring things at a very early stage. As for stress, who doesn't have that in their life?! My challenge is to remember to nurture myself and maintain my connections through it all.

Most certainly there has been knitting. Just this morning I finished Durrow. But it deserves a post of it's own. Instead, here is some more gift knitting completed. A pair of super big socks for man-feet:

And a pair of Fetchings, modified for a different gauge:

I don't like them much because of the curl, so I'd do them differently the second time around. I still think they're gift worthy though. A non-knitter might not care, and a good blocking might sort out the curl.

These Three Gifts

After the excitement of the Knitter's Fair, my brain was buzzing with ideas for my Kauni yarn and I think I've figured out what I want to do.

I really like the Kestrel's Alight motif, but I don't like the kimono design. I don't think it's one I'd be comfortable in or would suit me. What I'm thinking of instead is a pullover, with maybe some side shaping, and a very simple treatment of the edges using the purl when you can method. I puzzled over the side-shaping part for quite some time. I've decided to use a panel, as in the Sandy cardigan, and fill it with the leaf chart. As it decreases to the waist I'll prune out the branches and then grow them back in when increasing.

It's clear in my mind now, and I finished up some gift knitting so what do you think I cast on next? Yeah, not the Kauni. I started Durrow, a sweater for Jim. It was against my first impulse, but Jim's birthday is in November, and he really needs some more sweaters, and it seemed smart to knit grey wool while there's color on the trees and save the rainbow yarn for the dark days coming.

I've got three possible gift items knit up. My favourite, and least likely to be a gift, is these mittens:

Pattern: Komi Mittens by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: various sock yarns, all superwash with nylon
Needles: 2.5mm

I used sock leftovers of Trekking and Doug's hand dyed. I just love the color combo! It clicked. But I ran out of the Trekking so had to sub in some leftover Knitpicks Essential.

I still love these mittens. If I'm desperate, I'll use them for a gift. But even better would be for them to go in the family stash as a back up pair so no one in my house will go mittenless this winter.

I also knit a one-skein wonder scarf:

The ends aren't sewn in so you can see how close I made it. It's a shortish scarf, but the blues are pretty and the pattern is light and airy. See?

I have no idea what the yarn is as I threw it in my bag at the Needle Emporium's Tent sale sans-label.

I also made a Monteagle bag. It was fun, but... Let's just say, mine came out a bit different. Here's my advice to anyone trying this pattern using dish cloth cotton instead of linen: Go up a needle size! Or several! My bag is squat. Still serviceable, oh yes, but wide and not deep.

It looks like someone's idea of a crop top, yes? I screwed up somewhere because I had way too many stitches left at the top, so I totally improvised the handles. It's a working bag though. I loaded it with six big cans plus four regular sized cans and then shook 'em all about to lengthen the stitches. Nothing fell out (thankfully, because a can landing on my foot would have hurt!) Here it is loaded:

It just might be gift worthy.

In other news, some how the handle of my ball winder broke off. I have only myself to blame since I should have put away my toys when I finished playing with them. The good news is that one drop of advanced Crazy Glue seems to have mended the break. I wound six skeins of worsted tonight and it held. Whew!

What I Bought at the KW Knitter's Fair

This year, I took my mother to the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair and we both had a great time! Like many mothers and daughters, we used to be too enmeshed and over the last several years we struggled as I carved out my own space and identity. However the experience was worth it because we've both grown. This trip to KW felt like graduation to me because we both had a really good time.

Buttons by mom.

On our way there, we got a little mixed up and my mother said that she was having trouble being the "NAGivator". Ha! I had such a laugh. Freudian slip much? I have a feeling this term is going down into the family vocabulary.

The Knitter's Fair this year was held in two ballrooms at Bingemans and both were filled with vendors. The crowds weren't so pressing, so it was very pleasant. They had a much better set up for food too, but mom is diabetic so we had brought our own lunch.

We shopped, ate, took in the fashion show and shopped again. Here's what I bought:

This Briggs & Little Sport was on sale for $1.50 a skein. Ridiculous! I'm thinking stranded socks. My mom bought a bunch of the Briggs & Little two-ply. Enough for two sweaters for herself. She's got a very deep frugal streak in her, mom does.

But I was on the look out for the Needle Emporium because I had a coupon burning up my pocket and a long-held dream to fulfill.

That's 720 grams of Kauni Effektgarn. I was going to buy 7 skeins (each one is either 140 or 150 grams) but the nice sales ladies told me I wouldn't need more than 5. So I put two back. Which left me a little more money to spend on:

Yeah, I need sock yarn like another hole in the head. But I love the vintage labels on the Kroy and it was only $3.50 a skein. I need plain sock yarn for those lace and cabled beauties. The Noro was on sale for $11. Too good a price to leave behind, even though I still have extras from the other balls. I have an itch to see what this stuff would look like in a stranded mitten pattern.
The Soak is exclusive to the Sweet Sheep and it has a light citrusy scent. I usually use Eculan in lavender, but Jim doesn't like that scent, so this will be good for washing his sweaters.

It was nice to see friends both near (Nadine, Isa, Kat, Lynn, Catherine and Janice) and far (Connie) and maybe I made a new friend. (Hi Pat from Michigan!) The Knitter's Fair feels like Christmas to me, including the Christmas aftermath of cleaning and recouping. Monday comes too soon.

I Made This!

The Sandy Cardigan was a fun knit and the result fits great! I'd recommend it to any big girl with a big calculator.

I'd read online that people weren't happy with the fit of this sweater and I think I understand why. There are some rather complicated numbers to crunch for this baby. She was a head-scratcher for sure. I had to read the pattern through several times to get the gist of what was going on. Plus, there's the errata to follow.

The other thing I did was to knit this a little tighter then the recommended gauge. I'm assuming that the garter stitch will stretch out. It's a safer bet than hoping it won't. I have less ease than the pattern called for too.


There are some really clever moments in the pattern. I particularly enjoyed the sleeve cap shaping and the neck, where short rows are used to good advantage.

I loved working with the purple acrylic. It's soft, has a lovely heathered tone, and it behaved well during the knitting (which you know the Noro didn't). It looks great in garter stitch!

My mom made me the ceramic buttons and we're both very pleased. She's happy to get a request and I'm happy with how they turned out. They've got embossed flowers, and two shades of purple on them. Thanks Mom!

More on Raising Teens

This past weekend we had some company over and the woman was describing some difficulty she was having with one of her teenage sons. The lad had taken to wearing all black, with the hip chain and dyed his hair jet black. She told us how she put him in his place.

"I told him how he and all his friends are trying so hard to be different that they all end up looking the same anyway!"

It's an innocent enough statement, but what struck me was the tone of contempt in her voice. She seemed proud that she had struck a telling blow on the teen.

Another mother was describing how her 17 year old daughter had spent the summer lazing around, wouldn't follow the rules and was now trying to move in with one of her friends. One friend had bailed on her, so she was trying a different one. This mother told me how she was coming down hard on her daughter.

"I told her, if this doesn't work out, then she'd have to come back home and live by the rules. It's time she straightened up her act!"

Now my boys are only 12 and almost-14, so I have hardly any experience raising teenagers, but both of these cases saddened me. They feel hard, and cold. In the first case, I feel that the boy's need to figure out who he is should be respected. In the second case, the girl should have an opportunity to negotiate what her rules and responsibilities at home will be.

I recently had a talk with Luke (Mr. Almost-14) because he kept acting contemptuously of me because I didn't know his favourite cereal, or which books he'd already read. I told him this:

"Luke, you're right, I don't know you. You're growing up and discovering who you are. I won't know about you unless you choose to tell me. So please don't disrespect me if I don't have all the answers. Instead, talk to me."

Luke understood this and he agreed with it. Though he kind of laughed at the idea of talking with me. ;-)

I read Barbara Coloroso's Kids Are Worth It! when my children were babies and I think that's where I get my ideas about how to raise my teens. My role as a parent is to guide them, not make their choices, to protect them from their own lack of judgment, and to give them responsibilities to live up to in proportion to the freedoms they earn.

Check in with me in 4 years. Let's see if I can hold to it.

A Slice of my September

It's been stressful having the kids back at school. There are so many papers to sign and details to look after. But Luke has settled right into highschool and he seems to be happy. We're so relieved and hopeful too, that he may finally bloom. He's writing, he's interested in after school activities and he seems to be taking a proactive interest in his homework. Of course, as soon as one kid gets his act together, it's the other one's turn to kick up a fuss.

Alex is extremely resistant to water these days. Which is unfortunate, because at twelve, his need to shower has increased. Apparently, I'm an entirely unreasonable mom for expecting him to shower two days in a row. I was quite surprised to get so much resistance on such a trivial topic, but we've hammered out an agreement; if you stink, go shower.

My thrill for the week came from my co-worker Carl. In July we were discussing our pending summer vacations and when I heard he was making a trip to Iceland I naturally mentioned Icelandic yarn. He volunteered to pick some up for me and asked me what kind I liked. I asked for naturally colored laceweight and lo! behold what Carl delivered:

I was gobsmacked, speechless and just about ready to squeal. What a thrill! I wanted to repay Carl his money, so I asked him how much it cost. 920 kroner which he tells me translates into about $12 Canadian. Dudes, Schoolhouse Press wants that much for one ball, plus shipping. What really makes this yarn special for me, is that Carl went through the trouble to get it. Thanks again Carl!!!

I think the Icelandic yarn wants to be a sheep puppet. (Likely held double.)

My Sandy Cardigan is almost done, but I have to wait yet for the buttons. I want to save telling you about it for a future post, but let me just say: It is good. Very good.

I finished a pair of socks.

Pattern: Knotty Pines, from a vintage Patons book
Yarn: MadelineTosh Highland Sock
Needles: 2.25mm

I had no idea one sock is darker than the other. It doesn't matter in the least. The yarn was lovely to work with, and I really enjoy how the color worked up. The pattern was simple to memorize and work. Even though it's a lace pattern, it's not excessive. This pair will be going to Jim. My sock drawer is quite full.

In the cheap thrills department, I found this at my local Goodwill:

I got two for 49 cents each. There's a nice soft halo to this yarn that would be lovely on a pair of mittens. There's something romantic about red wool mittens with a soft halo about them.

Next week I'm looking forward to going to the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair. I expect to see a fair number of Londoners there. I'll be watching for you; give a shout out if you see me. I'm pretty sure I have readers in the London area that I've never met. Please introduce yourself. I'd like a chance to say Hi!

And just to round out this rambling post, I give you vegetable sheep:

A Fair Report

Yesterday was the final day of the 154th Harrow Fair and it was well worth the drive to go see it. The fair has a very strong rural and agricultural background which was evident in the exhibits, events and displays. They had many categories to enter and a lot of creative classes. The children's entries were delightful. There was a great turn out of entries in all categories. Here's what the knitting section looked like:

Yowza! I had entered 5 items and came away with 4 ribbons. The following picture shows my two firsts, one for the Rainbow Lopi sweater and the other for a boy's aran hoodie (it's hard to see the red ribbon over a red sweater).

I took second for the Shetland Garden Faroese shawl and third for my Noro stranded socks. The shawl lost out to a poncho that must have taken a great deal of will power to knit. Its in a chenille yarn and it's just huge! I was told to keep knitting lace because next year they wanted to have a separate category for lace. They thought it was like comparing apples to oranges trying to judge between these two.

Mary Jane, who guided me and helped me through the whole entry process, entered 7 items and came away with 5 ribbons. One example is this beautiful little baby sweater:

Lovely, isn't it? Makes me want to pick up some baby yarn.

On a sad note, the Western Fair is only offering knit classes for children 7-10 and 11-15. I don't understand the rhyme or reason behind these decisions. There's a article in the Londoner that sums up my feelings about the situation, but the article doesn't offer any explanations. It seems that the Western Fair is now an urban fair, with the focus on entertainment, business and products.

Thank goodness for good old-fashioned country fairs. Keep up the good work Harrow Fair!

Telling Tales

Yesterday, my shipment from Knit Picks arrived, containing a set of Harmony DPNs and lace blocking wires. The DPNs are all I expected them to be, but the shipping tube for the blocking wires had been crushed and then taped. I took a little peek inside and the ruler had been broken. So I called Knit Picks and their customer service rep said they'd send me a new set right away. Yippee! And I was only complaining of the ruler. When I opened the tube, I discovered that the wires themselves are bent. Jim thinks it would be impossible to ever get them truly straight again. But kudos to Knit Picks for doing the right thing, right away!

Tonight, while walking the dog, my brain was wandering and I had an idea. I have 20 balls of natural colored, aran weight Jamieson's Shetland marinating in the stash. I realized that one of the reasons I haven't worked it up yet is because the color doesn't suit anyone in the family. I do love natural colored yarns, but cream is a color best used for richly colored complexions. So why not dye it? What would be really cool is color progressions such as Ruth was showing today. If I could do ten in blue and ten in red, perhaps I could do something interesting with the charts from Kestrals Alight, from American Knitting. I realize that this is an extremely ambitious dream, but I just have to write it down. I know from experience that it won't amount to much, but ah! what fun in the dream!

Hmm.... or I could save my money for some Kauni yarn....

Oh! If you live in the US and you'd like some beautiful buttons, check out Crazycakes on Etsy. I love all her buttons, but I particularily wanted these for the Sandy Cardigan:

Oh woe is me, she doesn't ship to Canada. Good thing I've got a crafty mom to help me out.

A Good Start on a Fall Sweater

Vacation's over, at least for me. I had a lovely two weeks that included our trip to Ottawa, my high school reunion and last week the Olympics kept me entertained at home. Plus the weather was beautiful, so I went on some super long dog walks. Then on Saturday, we all went to the Port Stanley beach. The day was hot and the waves were strong which was great fun.

Today I felt that summer was saying good bye, but I consoled myself with the thought of the many fine days still left to us through the end of summer and into autumn. A new sweater for fall is a big consolation too.

The Sandy Cardigan is a sweater that will not photograph well lying flat. That is because of the strategic shaping knit into the sweater to mimic my curves, of which I have many in contrasting proportions. That rippling at the top of the sweater is due to the 4 extra inches added to the length of the panels to accommodate my contours. But it looks good on! I owe you a modeling shot, but I can't until I get the other side panel done. The knitting is unwieldy at this point, since you've got to flip it around and back to work on 30 odd stitches for one side.

Yes, I'm using the acrylic. Something in me was deeply satisfied with this combination. It just feels right. Also, I've asked my mother to create some ceramic buttons for me. This sweater needs something extra to give it that personalized touch. That is, in addition to the major screw up that made. A screw up that I've decided is a feature. Here's a shot of the back:

Can you guess what the screw up is?

Great Garterstitch!

It's all Brooklyntweed's fault. His glorious photography of humble garter stitch finally pushed me over the edge into casting on for the Puzzle Pillow Blanket, a pattern that I've been intrigued by for quite some time.

And you know, it was really a lot of fun! There was plenty of easy knitting and occasional bits of thinking required. It was sort of like sock knitting, and now I want to knit some more. This is the medium size (42sts) and it will just do as a lap blanket or a child’s blanket.

The puzzle part of the blanket, is that you knit a pocket on one corner into which you can fold the blanket, if you can figure out how. (Meg Swansen provides the instructions.) This aspect of the blanket makes it portable, and handy as a cushion too.

The yarn is Sandnes Garn Alfa, of which I had only 14 skeins. I was worried I wouldn't have enough, but the project took just over 10 skeins. The yarn is a mohair/wool blend which gives the blanket a bit of a halo, but makes it very cuddly. My only concern is that whomever I give this too will have to know how to care for natural fibers.

Maybe I'll have to keep this one and knit some more for Christmas presents. I'm so hard done by.

Vacation 2008 - Treasure Hunt

Without intruding on my family's vacation, I did manage to sneak in a fair amout of fiber adventures. All it took was a keen eye (which my obsessed mind readily provided). For example, while looking for lunch in downtown Ottawa I spied a Celtic shop selling these:

It was a good start, but these sweaters are all machine made. The prices reflect this, they'd be sinfully cheap if they were hand knit!

Coming home from our Parliment tour I managed to hit two yarn stores since they were both on our way to Rockland. The boys had bought a video game at HMV and so they were quite happy to stay in the car while I had a look around. The first store was Yarn Forward & Sew On, an tempting combo of yarn store and quilt shop.

It's a lovely shop, roomy and bright with helpful and friendly staff. There was a wide range of yarns available. Jim was struck by the alapaca blend sock yarn and commented that he thought it would be quite warm. So, I told him to pick a color for me to make him socks. Here's what he chose:

Bright, eh? I'm thinking that this would look gorgeous in some color work. Then I found some Lucy Neatby sock yarn and once I put my hands on it I HAD to have it. The price was rich, but I was powerless before this yarn. I didn't even stop to read the label. It wasn't until we were driving away and I was petting my pretty that I read the label and discovered that I had bought a cashmere blend yarn.

Yes, I had to knit it up right away. This is a Monkey, but it is soon to be ripped since there is no way it will fit me and there's also no way I will be giving this yarn to anyone else. It's all mine!!

Wool N' Things was also on the way home so we stopped there too. I wasn't going to spend money, just look. But the first thing I saw was this beauty:

It was lust at first sight. Then I picked it up. Egads! But you have to buy the Handmaiden or Fleece Artist you love when you find it because it's always different. Wool N' Time had some new sock yarns in from Regia. This one is furry:


And this one has little bobbles all over it:I think they are both just awful! I've heard rumors that Regia has discontinued their silk blend sock yarn. I can't believe they would replace a quality yarn like that for this junk. Bleh.

I also picked up some Tuffy and needles to teach my sister-in-law Cathy how to knit socks. Then, just at the cash register, they had this little gem which was an impulse purchase:
Laceweight soy-silk. Like I need more laceweight, but it was only $16. Curiosity killed the cat. Me-ow! Or do I look like the cat that swallowed the canary?

As you can see, Cathy was pretty happy learning to knit socks. She knows basic knitting, but this was her first time with DPNs and purling. She's a quick study!

As a last cap and glory to the trip, we stopped in at Half Price books in Oshua where I pored over their knitting section and there I had my magic moment. A copy of America Knits for $10. I've borrowed the hardcover from my local library several times and fell in love with this book. To find it new, and inexpensive was such a thrill! I bought it and One Skein Wonders.

These are my souvenirs of a fabulous trip!

Vacation 2008 - Parliment Hill

We left London Friday right after work and stopped just after the 407 express way for some dinner. Luke ate very little and we discovered that he's been so stressed about going away, that he hasn't been eating much for a while. This was worrisome because he's growing so fast, his joints stick out all over.

We stopped in Trenton to stay the night, and were on the road again bright and early. We made it to Rockland before 11. We stayed with Jim's brother. Gord is married to Cathy, they have two children Evan (19) and Josie (16). Also in the house was Evan's girlfreind, Josie's boyfreind assorted other teenagers as well as two dogs, two cats and one rabbit. But all was harmonious! Luke had a computer in a quiet spot where he could read and de-stress. I enjoyed sitting out on the deck, chatting with Cathy and even swam with Alex a couple of times.


Visiting Parliament Hill was my favourite of our touristy travels. It was just so impressive! You can see we had a very overcast day, and while we did get rained on a bit, at least it wasn't horribly hot. There are a lot of interesting things to see on the grounds. Restoration work was underway. It looks like they've put a sweater on to this tower:

There are statutes of famous Canadians all around the grounds. Alex was having a lot of fun taking pictures of them and playing in, around and on them.

We toured the grounds while waiting for out turn to tour the interior of the buildings. When we got tired, we stopped and I knitted.

You have to pass airport-type security to get into the building and my boys were very worried for my knitting needles. "It's only knitting" I told them, "I'll get it back." But they needn't have worried. After a brief consultation, which I couldn't understand because it was spoken in quick French, the security guards let my knitting through. I wonder if having a 75% complete sock on the needles increased my odds.

Right at the beginning of the tour, we were waiting in a hallway that was covered with plaques carrying the roster for the various parliaments. For a lark, I started reading the names. What a thrill when I found mine!

Actually, the member of parliament listed here was Léopold Corriveau, but still a thrill for me.

The building is rich with art, in stone, glass, metal and paintings.


The best part was the library, but we weren't allowed to photograph it because librarians are actually working in the building. The library is the oldest and most beautiful part of the whole thing and it's worth trip to see it.

There are more pictures up on Flickr, if you care to see them.

Safe and Sound

We're back. We survived vacation with a teenager and what's more, the teenager survived too! It was the furthest and the longest we've ever been from home. A laid back style of vacation suited us all perfectly. There was so much more we could have done, but none of us had the stamina for more than we did do.

We stopped in at Trenton, Rockland, Ottawa, Kingston, Oshua and Toronto. We saw the Science Museum, toured the Parliament buildings, explored Fort Henry, and visited the Ontario Science Center. In the fiber department, I made some discoveries and brought home some treasures. Half the fun was hunting things up.

A full report to follow....

And Away we Go! (Almost)

Just a quick note as tonight we are cleaning and packing and generally bustling around so that we can leave on our vacation tomorrow. Ottawa is almost an 8 hour drive from London and with Luke's temperament we have to take it in stages. The plan is to leave late in the afternoon, drive a couple hours, then stop for dinner. After that, we'll drive a few more hours then stop and stay somewhere with a pool. A swim is just the thing to de-stress everyone and stretch us out.

We've just vague plans made for what we want to see and do because it's impossible to tell if a given attraction will fall within Luke's tolerance or not (for example, big crowds are not tolerated). Also, if Luke gets too tired, his tolerance level goes down. But I'm content. I think that we know the ropes by now and we know what we need to do to have a fun vacation.

The gift knitting is all done. Here is the mitten picture I promised:


Ah, I hear the dulcet tones of my family calling me back to work! Must run!

Weekend wrap up.

I've spent my weekend preparing to go on holidays. We're leaving Friday night (August 8th) for Rockland to visit Jim's brother and tour the Ottawa area. So lots of cleaning and shopping and organizing to do. Plus knitting! Our hosts and their children will be getting knitted gifts and I've knit almost an entire mitten this weekend. It's a big one too, 92 sts around. Whew! But I've just the thumb to do and I'm done.

What with all the planning I've been speculating on what knitting I should bring on the trip. I've narrowed down the field to a sock with a simple pattern and possibly the Icarus shawl. The project must be light, small, moderately interesting, yet easy to do. Two projects would be good in case one doesn't pan out.

For a break from power knitting, I'm discovering how to get StumbleUpon to give me knit-related sites. Some things it turned up were no surprise, but KnitPro is a nifty new tool and I especially liked the blanket knit with a quote from Richard Rutt in The History of Hand Knitting. Then there's a UK version of Knitty called Knit on the Net, and some wild and crazy knit pics. Stumbling through the web is very addictive. Proceed with caution.

BTW - I spent my Friday evening with the Twist Collective. What a smart magazine, in all senses of the word. If you haven't seen it yet, you must go look. Off with you now! Nothing to see here, I'll have mitten pictures next time.

Blow your mind

Have you heard of Stumble Upon? I just tried it out and my mind is blown. In just a few minutes I've seen live trees shaped like people, a mesmerizing graphics display, and some wicked street art that makes you laugh and makes you think. Go try it.

It's a good thing it's a long weekend, so I've got some time...