Day Dreaming of Lilacs

In the deepest dark of January I started knitting this floral shawl in a lovely shade of fuzzy purple that reminded me of lilacs. It was a cozy project, the fuzzy yarn warmed my lap through the blustery weather but as spring returned I realized I would have to get the project done before it was too warm to work on it. And now, in bright spring sun, with the scent of lilacs in the air, I have finished the project.

The Dayflower Daydream by Eugen Beugler was a deceptively big project. I used almost five hanks of my mystery yarn, of which I had six. There is over one hank of yarn in the border alone. I thought it would be a quick dash to the finish, once the main body of the shawl was done, but that border was like crossing a desert. Every time I thought I must be getting close to done, I would assess and find that I'd hardly moved at all. It took me two full weeks to knit the border alone.

But wasn't it worth it? I think this shawl pattern is just perfect. There's not a thing you could take away or add to it. I love a design where all the pieces fit perfectly together.

This shawl is over 5 feet in diameter. The brushed acrylic yarn let me use a large needle (5mm). The result is a full-sized blanket that is lofty and light. Ravelry details.

Mistaken Identity

I don't have any knitting to show you though I've been working hard on my Dayflower Daydream shawl. Last weekend I finished up the body of the shawl and was excited to start working on the border. The shawl had been swelling on the needles like a flower bud and it felt just ready to burst into bloom. So excited, that I took it with me on Monday for the Ravelry group meet-up at Coffee Culture (first Monday of the month, at 7:00, at the Dundas and Wellington location).

I'd been telling everyone that the yarn was silk and mohair. But Mary Jane took a careful look and said quietly, "I think that's acrylic." She pointed out that the fuzzy fibers were rather kinky and that mohair fibers are straight. I couldn't remember if I'd done a burn test. I was so excited by the color, quantity and source of the yarn, it was quite possible I hadn't.

So guess what I did when I got home?

And in case you'd like to watch it flare up, I posted a little video on YouTube. This yarn actually burns with a bright little flare for a bit and leaves behind a melted blob of plastic.

I'm very grateful to have found this out now, before I went through all the effort of pinning it out for a full blocking. I AM going to finish this shawl. I still think the color and fuzz of the yarn is beautiful and now I understand why it seems to sparkle a bit. Actually, knowing that it's acrylic opens it up as a gift option because I don't have to worry about a muggle trying to care for the lace.

London Artists' Studio Tour

The London Artists' Studio Tour was on this weekend. Jim and I and our friend Laurie B managed to visit 9 studios all in one afternoon. It was a whirlwind of gorgeousness.

If you want to take the tour, you just get the map from the brochure, and drive to the house of the artists that interest you. No fee, no schedule. The artists must apply to be part of the tour and are selected for quality of their work as well as their studios being able to accomodate visitors. The artists benefit from exposure and a chance to sell their work. I heard they had a great turn out today, probably because the weather was just perfect for driving.

As much as I enjoyed looking at the art, I enjoyed seeing the artist's creative spaces even more. They reminded me of my knitting room so much, I felt an urge to nurture my space more than I do now.

I was also surprised at what fired me up. While I do enjoy visual media, the work that spoke to me the loudest was by a metalsmith who wasn't even part of the tour. I was so enthralled with his pieces, I just wanted to dive right into them. The artist (Richard Sturgeon) described them as experiments in negative space and that made me think of knitting lace.


It reminds me of a ball of yarn, or a mobius and I want to touch it, trace it, and warm it in my hands. Think of the colors it could reflect and the shadows it would throw. What a fun piece! His other pieces were trees, figures, and flowers, but the tangles thrilled me the most.

The tangle is sitting on a coffee table that I seriously lusted after, made of spalted maple by an different artist. (I didn't get the name, and I'd be ashamed if it weren't because I was so enthusiastic about the work.)

And that's the only picture that I have to show. I couldn't do the art justice with my photography skills. But I highly recommend checking out the Studio Tour website which has links to the artist's websites. There's a lot of talent in London.

Spring Love

The weather has gotten much warmer which has started everything popping up spring. The forsythia is in bloom, the birdies are chirping and the frog chorus has started again. It's so soothing to drift off to sleep to the sound of their music, wave upon wave of amphibian love song.

Yesterday morning a pair of ducks landed again in our neighbour's pool. Mama duck was giving short sharp quacks. Five quacks, pause, more quacks, pause... And when she'd start in on it, papa duck would bob his head, as if to say "yes dear". I think she was telling him off about the crummy accommodation he'd brought her to. Her quacking worked, because the pair of them were gone today. No doubt to find a better honeymoon suite.

Things are looking up. Jim won a bid on a job, which is very encouraging. Plus, we'll be getting a little bit of money back from filing our income taxes, and that has been designated as mad money which makes me very happy. I miss having disposable income, ya know? :-)

I've been working my lace, but it's not photogenic. It's going slower too as it takes me over half an hour to complete one row. But I've been working on socks. Of course! Here's a completed pair.

Paton's Kroy, Moss colorway, on 2.25mm needles, 64 stitches round. It's amazing how much faster the socks knit up with 8 less stitches in the round. This pair took me a week. They're just a titch small on my feet.

When you wear hand knit socks, do you prefer them to be a bit tight (have negative ease) or to fit just perfect? I usually make mine to fit just perfect, but find that at the end of the day they're all baggy on my feet. So I've been experimenting with socks that are a bit tighter, but some people (ok, it was Luke) complain on the initial try on that the sock is too small. I've yet to try wearing one of my snugger socks all day to see what I think.

Even though it was a pretty warm weekend I did manage to bake a bit. Luke's only fourteen, so spring love for him is a double batch of Chewy Cherry Coconut Tarts.

Life goes on..

With very small variations but no great excitement, life goes on. After the obsession, and Easter, I reverted back to a purple lace piece I started back in... February! Whew, it's been a while. I had to splice in a second ball of yarn and I'm almost finished the third repeat.

Debbie over at Live and Let Learn! sent me some new stitch markers to try out and I've been using them on this project. They're glass rings. This is the largest size to fit over my 5mm needle.

I think it's gorgeous. The glass is thicker than most stitch markers, but it's fine for a lace project like this since there are so many holes anyway. I like it better than a bead on a ring, which is what I was using before.

Debbie's husband is the beadmaker and he does some incredible things with glass. Look at this adorable thing.

You should check out their Etsy shop. They've got buttons and earrings and more cute sheepies and piggies. Wonderful stuff! The prices are very reasonable.

Kauni is on hold for a while. I had sort of decided to try carrying on to see what the yarn did with the color changes. But I believe that I'll need more yarn to do the sweater the way I want to and I just can't afford that right now. Still, I'm hopeful that Jim will be working again soon so I've tucked it away for the time being. Fortunately, wool doesn't spoil.

I've been thinking about how having less disposable income can be a good thing. Certainly it's an opportunity to knit through the stash. There are some projects I have yarn for that I've longed to do for a while that I've just never got around to. As much as I love blogs and Ravelry, sometimes I think they contribute to a sort of knitting ADD that leads to startitis.

A Bright and Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!! It's going to be a lovely one. The sun is shining, friends and family are coming over and I have emerged from my knitting obsession. And here it is folks, the Ten Stitch Twist!!

Honestly, it doesn't look this bright in the house. I've used up almost all my Noro leftovers for this project. I eagerly ripped back my failed Lizard Ridge squares.

When I started with this obsession, and I was thrilled and excited and had so much energy for this project. In the middle I struggled with doubt and insecurity but I pushed on. Towards the end, I was tired, but I had started to regain that old thrill. Now that it's done, I feel slightly drained. Like I need a good break from knitting for a while. After all, I knit up approximately 13 skeins of Noro in 8 days. Also, I think that by not sharing this project with the blog I learned to deal with my own self-doubts a bit better.

I really enjoyed watching the colors play in this project. Certain sections of color play together and jump out at you. And when you fold the blanket on itself, you can put new color combinations together. Very fun. I was aiming to start with the deeper tones, move to the greyer ones and end with the brights. But I don't think this progression shows up very well. Another thing I learned is that Noro uses a fair hunk of neutrals in their yarns, which is very good because it helps to make the other shades pop.

I failed to measure this when it was finished, though I did during the knitting. It should be over 40 inches, though a good wet blocking may stretch it out. I'm kind of hoping it does. In the mean time, strictly for perspective's sake, here's how big it is on a medium-large dog:

Dexter loved wearing it!! His little stumpy was wagging so fast, but that could have been because we were all laughing so hard.

I hope you all enjoy a bright and Happy Easter, with load of color and lots of giggles.

A New Obssession

This is so exciting: I got bitten by a pattern bug. I saw the pattern on Thursday and Friday morning I woke up with the irresistible impulse to cast on. So I did. I'm about 6 balls into the project with 8 more to go. No guilt, no worries, the other projects will still be there for me when I get done with this. It's thrilling to have the creative pull come over me so strongly.

But I can't show it to you. I can't even tell you the details. I know, I'm a horrible tease, but I've been wondering lately if blogging helps or hurts my creative projects. I really do appreciate the encouragement and advice, but sometimes my own creative impulses get mixed up by the input. So I'm trying an experiment here, by not blogging about my latest obsession. Also, I have a vision of what this will look like and right now, the work in progress doesn't look anything like what I envision the end to be.

So for now I'll show you socks. Again. Good thing we love socks!!

Pattern: Cachoeira
Yarn: Wild Fire Fibres BFL Sock
Needles: 2.25mm and 2mm

It took me two weeks to knit these. The pattern is interesting, but I never managed to memorize the center lace panel, which is odd for me. The yarn was lovely to work with, soft with just a little variation is texture. The color is very nice for spring, but I found that it rubbed off on my fingers. I'll wash these in plain water before wearing.

A Time for Transitions

The shift in the season is reflecting the drama in my life. While we've been enjoying warmer, windier weather, Jim has learned that he will be getting no more work from his employer of 25 years. It is a blow, but it's also an opportunity for him to strike out on his own. Our family will be fine, but transitions are always stressful.

These sorts of stresses affect what I want from my knitting. Right now, I feel a yearning to bake treats and knit socks. This weekend, I baked some fruit and nut cookies and a chocolate carrot cake. I've also been working on socks the past week. Specifically, Cachoeira from the latest Knitty. I've one sock done, and I've just turned the heel on the second sock. I'll show you pictures when there's two. In the meanwhile, here's pair of stash buster spirals I finished up a while back.

The Schaefer Anne yarn was too good to let lie. I do find that it shrinks a bit, perhaps because of the mohair content so I've made these a bit big. There's three left over skeins in this pair, and still got a fair bit leftover of the main colors. The red is entirely used up.

My Kauni has stalled out. To get an even transition, I decided to switch the foreground and background colors for half the sweater. In other words, one half is orange leaves on a blue background and the other half is blue leaves on an orange background.

But somehow, it's not quite working out. I'm transitioning too fast in one color and two slowly in the other. If you look at the color on the needles in the above picture, I'm already into the orange, but the other color is purple and it should be blue. I can't decide how to proceed so it's stalled out. It's tempting to just do the boxes and stripes cardigan that so many others have enjoyed knitting. I seem to make it harder on myself when I try to get creative.

I've been focusing on the socks while I try to decide what to do with this. I may just switch to something entirely different! Like a nap.

A Good One for Dad

Yippee!! I did it! I knit a gift sweater that fits. My father requested the following:

• royal blue color
• a pullover
  
• but one with a placket so he could loosen the collar if he gets too warm
• no drop shoulders!
  
• sleeves that hit the wrist bone (the sleeves on store-bought sweaters are always too long on Dad

And here's the result:
Pattern: It's on the Tab (on Ravelry)
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Wool
Needles: 4 mm and 5 mm
Modifications: raglan sleeve shaping, button band instead of tabs

I knit the small size and it fits like a medium. I did get gauge. I think the discrepancy is that a drop shoulder design is often knit baggy, but Dad didn't want a loose and floppy fit. He's quite happy with the way this turned out on all accounts. He and my mom came for a visit today and my Dad put the sweater on first thing. They stayed for lunch and to play cards and he wore it the whole time he was here. That's a good sign!


The buttons are kind of fun. They're replicas of the American buffalo nickel. My dad used to collect them when I was a kid.

It's weird that I keep finding buttons like this for my Dad. Last time there were moose on his buttons. This time, the first store I hit had these buttons. I don't know what it is with my dad and the ungulates. I don't care. I love my Pop and my Pop loves me!

An Epiphany

I had a such a huge learning experience last night, that I feel the way I did when I was five and I first learned to tie my shoe.

Jim has been having a rough time of it, being out of work, and I wanted to cheer him up. So we decided to go to the movies and I let him pick the show. He chose the Watchmen, of which I knew nothing other than that it was about superheroes. The movie turned out to be very dark, violent and gritty. I could feel my self curl into a ball and try to pull away from it all. I don't like to have my armor come up like that, but I knew that Jim really wanted to see the show. So I told him "I'm leaving. I'll go do something else and come back for you. Just stay and enjoy the show." He was concerned, but understood and made sure I had the car keys.

To put it in context, this was a big step for us. In the past, I might have demanded that we both leave. Or I would have stayed and been miserable, and then angry. Jim would have felt guilty, then angry. The night would have ended in tears.

Instead, I went to Chapters, and treated myself to a book that fed my soul. A book I ordinarily wouldn't have bought, but felt that I deserved this night. I also went to the manager and got a free movie pass since I wasn't watching the show. And when Jim came out of the movie, I could smile and ask him if he enjoyed himself. And he did.

Grab your Shades

Whoops! I lost my camera last weekend, so no blog post. You wouldn't have liked me very much anyway. I didn't like myself. It rained the entire weekend and I felt as flat and lifeless as the grass looks after being buried under snow the past four months. Nasty.

But we're being paid back for it double this weekend. The sun is shining like it means to stay. And since Jim found my camera for me, it was a great opportunity to get a couple of pictures for you. But I've got to warn you. These images may require you to wear sun glasses, they are that bright.

First up is the Kauni that many of you inquired about. Don't get too excited though. This one's a bust.

It certainly looks pretty enough. It's very nice to see the yarn subtly shading itself. But notice how in this very small amount of knitting, the purple has shaded through blue all the way to green, but the orange has merely shifted from yellow-orange to red-orange? This is bad. It means that the color work isn't evenly distributed between the foreground and background.

I've studied many Kaunis and the ones I liked the best used the contrasting colors of the yarn together: orange-blue, green-red and purple-yellow. With the foreground color moving so slowly, I'm going to lose the contrast. So this must go to the frog pond. But what to do with the yarn?

Many people love the Damask Kauni, but I don't think I'd enjoy wearing or knitting it. Jim thought the original Kauni cardigan was too gaudy and I think I should stay away from the horizontal stripes. Plus, I'm perverse enough that I don't want to make what everyone else has done. I've got some other ideas percolating, but I've already gone on long enough about this. Suffice to say, it's dropped for now.

I did finish Dad's sweater this week, but it's still blocking. I'll get Jim to give us a modeling session as soon as it's dry. In the mean time, here it is flat out.

Having finished this, and wanting something exciting to knit this weekend, I started a sock for me and here's were it gets bright again.

Isn't it awful? The yarn looked much better knit up as a Monkey sock, even if it was too small. Oh well, the yarn held up very well to ripping last time.

Merry March!

Do you realize that we're only one week away from returning to Daylight Savings Time? Wow! I'm sooo happy to see the backside of February. Besides the return of the sun, and the demise of the snow, there are new fish and insects to catch in Animal Crossing. I've been playing this game since we got it as a Christmas present.

During the work week I stayed faithful to this project, a sweater for my Dad:

The pattern (Ravelry) is a drop shoulder design, but Dad wants something more fitted, so I'm going to join these pieces up and make up some raglan shaping on the needles. I'd rather work all the raglans at once, then try to knit each piece separate and sew them up. I feel pretty confident about this knit after what I learned from working Durrow last year.

Anyway, by Saturday I felt like cutting loose, getting wild and going crazy. It must have been all the sunshine we had this weekend. So I cast on a bright new project:

The colors are wild, the pattern is my own design, and there are 384 stitches on that needle. How's that for knitting on the edge? And, further to tooting my own horn, there is no twist in that join. I've checked it multiple times and had Jim check it with me just to be extra sure.

Oh! but there's more... this is my second go at this. The first time I mis-read my gauge swatch and cast on 440 stitches, joined them without a twist and actually knit 3 rows. But then I noticed that my color progressions were going in opposite directions, which means that at some point, I could very well end up knitting this color work design with two strands of yarn the same color. No good, that. After I ripped out the needles, I pulled the thin loop of knitting over me and immediately noticed that I had about six inches of ease. Glad I caught that error! I recalculated my gauge and saved myself 56 stitches per row.

To fix the color progressions I decided to wind all my balls of Kauni so I could make sure they all proceeded in the same direction. I wound two and they were going in different directions. I was about to grab one to rewind it and Jim stopped me. He said, "Wouldn't it be better for you to wind them all to find out which way the majority go?" Smarty pants. He got such a big hug and a smooch for that save, I'll tell ya.

And that is the story of why I have such terrible photographs for you today. I was so excited to see how the new sweater was shaping up that I totally forgot to get any pictures during the daylight hours. I only stopped to blog because I was starting to get bleary eyed working the fine yarn in contrasting colors.

Well, back to the work week, and Dad's sweater for knitting. The Kauni will have to wait. But at least what's waiting for me is really pretty.

Happy Coping Strategy

Today, while walking Dexter, I had my head bent into the wind and yet I was still blasted with painful spikes of ice crystals on my upper lip. This felt like an wanton cruelty after the brief thaw and sun of last week. The streets had cleared of snow and ice, and I was walking in sneakers, with my head up. It was a revelation! Ah! I really am this tall, there are wonderful trees and houses to see. But now it is back to walking with my head bowed to be sure that I don't slip on the ice and to get a bit of protection from the wind.

It's good knitting weather, and yet I find my creative energies are low. I'm a solar-powered creature and I need the sun. I have been working on a sweater for my father and have completed the body almost to the arms. So I started a sleeve. Not exactly a thrilling or original tale. I have something much prettier to show you than a sweater in pieces. New sock yarn:


These beauties are from Wild Fire Fibres, an Etsy seller whom I found through Joli House. Three of these skeins are superwash Blue Faced Leicester and I'm very curious to see how they will knit up and wear. The fourth is a merino/bamboo blend. Regardless of the fibre, I'm in love with the colors. Oh and the price was very good and the shipping was swift. I can commend this shop on those accounts.

Anyone else up for some retail therapy?

Issues with Blogger

Finally! A workaround. I've been trying to create a blog post since Sunday but haven't been able to log into the blog. I've navigated through the troubleshooting help pages and blogger forums and finally found a hacky work around. This is the first time I've ever had a problem with blogger. So I'm not complaining, but I do hope the issue gets fixed soon. My frustration has sort of overwhelmed everything else. I was going to show you socks... that's right.

After knitting socks for Jim and his mother, I had a hankering for a pair for myself.

These are Fancy Silk Sock for a Child of 5 or 6 years by Nancy Bush, from Knitting Vintage Socks. I used Apple Laine yarn but made them a bit big, because I've noticed sock yarn with mohair in it tends to shrink a bit. It actually wasn't too bad knitting black lace socks. There's a high shine to this yarn that increases the visibility of it. I think these socks will be lovely to wear with my black work pants.

I recently bought Cat Bordi's book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters and had some fun this week turning out the class socks.



Okay, gotta run. Hopefully a better and more interesting post next time, when I'm not so frustrated with blogger.

Passing out Awards

If life is a highway, then my weekends are like the telephone poles. You no sooner approach one and it's gone.

A nice gift this weekend was to be awarded a Creative Blogger Award from Debbie at Live and Let Learn! Seems appropriate to do awards while the Grammys (sic) are on.

Does anyone know where this one started from? I can't seem to find it at all. But I did find the rules:

1. The winner must copy this Award to their own blog.
2. Link to the blog from whence you received the Award.
3. Nominate a minimum of 7 other bloggers
4. Link to the nominated on your blog
5. Leave comment about the award on the nominated blogs.

Here's my list of Creative Blogs:

1. To Amanda at Joli House, whose blog I just discovered. Her photographs are top notch.
2. To Iza at Vegamite, Violets and Knitting, a local chum, for fearless knitting.
3. To Ruth at Wooly Headed who still manages to knit and be creative through the perfect storm.
4. To Anne at Knitspot for making creative designing look so easy. That's the sure sign of a virtuoso.
5. To Ruth at Knitting on Impulse for sheer creative power. It's a torrent.

So it's not seven, I'm creative enough to roll with a different number.

Things are picking up

I am so glad to see the end of January. We've had a lot of snow and cold in the past month and it is very nice to think that there will be an end to it. Of course, some don't mind deep snow in the least.


Today the sun is shining brightly, as if February is trying to tell us that the weather will get better. It was a good day to take pictures of handknits.

Last weekend I finished up my Noro scarf (Ravelry link):

I'm happy to call one of these my own. By now, these scarves are so well known on the internet that wearing one is sort like a badge of identification. I've also finished my mother-in-law's very simple, special-request socks:

I'm very happy with them. In the ball, the yarn (OnLine) wasn't anything special, but knit up, they are colorful in a sophisticated way. I knit in a tiny stripe of rib down each side of the sock. Just a P1, K1, P1, that I hope will give a little extra stretch to these socks that will help them stay up without binding. Also, to keep the pattern sequence traveling down the foot, I knit the heels using the other end of the ball. I especially like how one heel is in the brown/grey sequence and the other is in the blue/green sequence.

I had started knitting a sweater for my dad, but the fabric is so dense at gauge that the knit was not enjoyable. So I'm holding off till I can show my dad and we can figure out what to do. It's interesting that he doesn't just want me to knit him something else. He wants to see the sweater design first. While I'm happy he's taking such an interest, it's a bit annoying that I can't just knit what I like and I wonder if he doesn't trust my judgment.

In the mean time, I cast on for something I do like.

Oh happy bright soft and fuzzy! I love this thing! The pattern, Dayflower Daydream, is very interesting to work, the yarn is a lovely color, and it is so warm on my lap. In part I picked this pattern because it's by Eugen Beugler. He also designed Frost Flowers and Leaves, which I loved knitting so much, I did it twice. So far, Dayflower Daydream is just as fun. I appreciate that it's in the round because there are no purl back rows. Ah, just writing about it, I'm itching to get back to knitting. Catch ya later!

Going in Deep

It's been a rough week. Several people at my company were laid off this week. Some had been with the company for a long time. I work in the TechPubs department, with five others, and three of us were laid off. I'm very grateful that I wasn't one of them, but very sad to see my coworkers struggle with this unexpected shock and its inevitable repercussions.

One nice thing this week was that Jim has a house to work on. We don't know if there are more in the immediate future, but for now, this one job is good enough. That's all you can do really. Is take it one day, one job at a time.

That's what I've learned recently. To exist in the now, to live just this day. It came to a point with a single profound thought.

We'd been watching Lord of the Rings last weekend and I got to thinking about what really happens to us after we die. We humans tell ourselves a lot of comforting stories, but what logically makes sense? And I thought "What if it's just nothing?"

That's a scary idea at first. I'm sure many people would rather not think about it, I know I didn't want to. But I stuck with it. What if, after I die, I entirely don't exist any more? No suffering, but no pleasure either. I think it's the thought of no love that scares me most, no loving God, or light or presence. But I wouldn't care, because.. well.. nothing can't care.

Then I realized, if there is nothing (and it seems that this makes the most sense) then it means that every little thing I do while I'm alive is just that much more important. Every act is a one time opportunity. Every sensation is a treasure. I felt a renewed appreciation for my life. And yet, could all the stories be wrong? There are some very smart people holding some very strong beliefs that life after death is a fact.

I read a children's book this week called Holes. It is an excellent book that made a very good point about belief. In it, the narrator describes a highly poisonous lizard that can kill a person with just one bite. And he says:

"A lot of people don't believe in yellow-spotted lizards either, but if one bites you, it doesn't make a difference whether you believe in it or not."

It's the same for life after death. If it exists, whether I believe in it or not, it will still be there. Presumably I will get to enjoy it because I'm a good person striving to be better. At least that's what most of the stories agree on. If it doesn't exist, and I live my life with the idea that there is nothing more than this life, then I will strive to appreciate and do well with every moment I have. It's really a win-win situation.

So now I'm not scared that there might be nothing after death. I've explored the worst and it wasn't so bad. Plus, I've still got hope that there's something better.

How do I love thee? Let me Knit Socks.

For my dear husband, who is going through a rough patch, I knit alpaca blend socks in vacation souvenir yarn. Jim has been feeling slightly ill for a few months now. He has been undergoing tests for several months, but so far, all the doctors could find was a vitamin B deficiency. One of his symptoms is numb and cold feet.

Also, when he went back to work on after the Christmas break, he found out that there was only one more job to do and no work in sight. Jim is a sider (he installs siding on houses) and between the economy and the weather there are no new housing starts. Given his health situation and the bitter cold we've been experiencing, I'm actually glad. But it does put a kibosh on the great, get-out-of-debt resolution of 2009.

For my lovely mother-in-law, who will be celebrating her 85th birthday in February, I'm knitting some socks to specification, using Online purchased on sale.

While she loved the lace socks I gave her for Christmas, I knit them too loose and they won't stay up! Drat. Of course she's keeping them, but she requested a pair of fancy yarn ones for her birthday. I was actually bummed because I've been hankering to knit some fancy lace or two-color socks. My mother-in-law is a knitter, and one of the ways I show my love for her is to knit her really special socks. But I guess the most special socks are the ones that are knit exactly as you asked for them.

Homework

Found Luke's homework on the computer tonight after the kids had gone to bed. (Spelling corrected for readability.)

My house, like all others, is seemingly normal on the outside. And it is what a surprise. Anyways I'll tell you about it room by room. The living room - hell with it what's in the rooms is more important. Anyways the living room isn't really much it has the main TV but usually its my parents watching it, not me. The kitchen performs exactly what its supposed to and is linked to the dining room (well actually more like area). But the biggest thing is the men's den. The place where I enjoy my video games. In it we have a Wii, a PS2 (often occupied due to the release of Persona4) and a computer. I'm usually on the computer, what I'm doing on it is hard to predict, easy to find out. It can be anything from Shin Megami tensei -imagine, to Team Fortress 2, to reading fan fictions. While I'm on the topic of my house I might as well mention my family. My mom is very responsible and, like everyone else in my house, a little weird. She likes things to be clean, but doesn't go so far as enjoying cleaning.

Can't hide the truth!

A Breath of June, in January

The Bee Fields shawl had a slow finish because I was ensnared by a can't-put-down book. But as with all lace, it was well worth the wait because the results were just as thrilling as the tale that captured me.

It's like the leaves are back on the bush with this springy, fresh shawl draped over the bare branches.

I've nothing extraordinary to report about this knit. I bought the kit, knit the pattern as directed and ended up with a shawl that looks pretty much the same as the original. It was fun, the results are great, but somehow its not as satisfying as some of my other, more creative projects.

Two issues. One, I made a lot of mistakes that I just fudged over. I believe you can get away with this in lace knitting because the eye sees the whole pattern, not one small part of it. In two-color knitting, it's much harder to fudge this way because the eye is immediately captured by the small error. At least we have duplicate stitch in that circumstance.

Second issue. I find it hard to use blocking wires. I was terribly excited to start using blocking wires, thinking it would simplify the process, but I find them annoying. Once you've threaded one wire in, threading in the next one becomes awkward. At least the way I do it, which is in my lap. If I lay it out on the floor I tend to have the lace slip off the wire. And the shawl is damp and cold in my lap as I try to thread it on the wires. This shawl had a long top that required two wires to span it. I got frustrated and just used pins at the bottom.

I believe in a firm blocking to open up the lace to the maximum. I've seen some pictures on Ravelry where I think the lace wasn't blocked severely and I don't think it does the knitting justice. Well, I block tightly enough that the wires were bending in the middle. I had to support them with pins. Is that typical? I'm wondering if I blocked too tightly. The stitch pattern for this shawl puckered quite a bit in the pre-blocking, and I wanted it to be flat.


I knit the tall size, since I'm 5'9", but the pattern called for a 3.75mm needle and I went down to a 3.5mm, so my finished shawl isn't quite as big. It' will still make a lovely little summer wrap for me, but not a cozy winter one.

The kit came with a generous three skeins of yarn and I used only two. I have a pretty good idea what's going to happen to that third skein.

Oh, and the book? It was The Power of One, lent to me by a co-worker. It's a very dramatic and powerfully written book. It started off stronger than it finished, but by the time I was half way through, I just had to know what happens to the main character. It was a great escape!