Wait a Second, Isn't This a Knitting Blog?

I should either post some knitting photos, or start, um, peeing around my stash to mark my territory.*

I've not had the most productive summer for knitting. It's been so bloody hot here that I spend my evenings sweating on the couch and squinting up at the thermostat. I keep hoping to bring the numbers down through sheer force of will. During the week that we painted the bedroom, I have a photo of my "remote" thermometre showing that it had cooled off to 21C outside but was still 30C inside at 11pm. It was disgusting. You want to see it?

Shocking, eh?

Last week, however, I was very productive at the cottage as it was much cooler there and swimming really whets my appetite for yarn! I managed to knit up a bunch of Wendy Gross' Little Monster Bears:

I was intending to finish these in time for our party on the weekend, but time ran out on me. Instead, I'm going to give them away as presents this year; My niece, R, has already claimed the hot pink one. (I'm not really sure what they're doing in this photo, it's a little creepy.)

Here are the pre-bear beans dryland training for their upcoming swim meet in the washing machine:

Next project! When the Ninja's Mr. Munchkin chose, from her stash, a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk as my birthday gift, (did I mention how much I love that kid?), I knew I had to knit something nice for myself. I knew I wanted lace, but I wanted there to be less "air" and more fabric. After cruising Ravelry for a while, I settled on The Shetland Triangle:

I've been calling it Shetland Skies because it reminds me of the skies at the cottage where I started making it. I'm knitting this on 3.5mm needles and am crossing my fingers that I have enough yarn to make it as large as I would like it to be.

I've also been working on Rusted Root from Zephyr Style. I've stalled in my progress as I struggle with the eternal question: Will this be too big for me? Will this be too small? Why didn't I swatch?

(The colour is called Lapis and the photo is not at all representative of the way it looks in real life. In fact, none of the pictures in this post accurately represent the colours of the projects. I took them all after supper tonight and they really just don't do these jewel tones justice.)

I've yet to finish a sweater for myself. My Imogen is 15 rows from completion, and there it sits. Yargh! I think I need a kick in the pants.

I hope this suffices as a knitting entry for this blog. I've got a long weekend staring me in the face right now. Both Mr. Happy's mom and Pippin are staying with us this weekend, so I suspect there will be lots of walks (for Pippin) and lots of treats, (uh, for all of us). The only thing that Pippin won't be getting is a front row seat to the fireworks this weekend. He absolutely hates them.


*we had a party on the weekend and I thought I might have to mark my territory when all the knitters were standing next in the dining room eyeing the cabinet that holds the majority of my yarn stash.

Procrastination: Old Habits Die Hard

When I was in university, it didn't take long for me to realize that I was a first class, grade "A" procrastinator. No one I knew could procrastinate quite like I could.

Given the choice between writing a paper in advance or writing it at the last minute, I would actively avoid writing the paper until the last minute... Mind you, while I was procrastinating I was productive in every other area of my life.

My bed sheets would be clean, my laundry all folded neatly and put away, a pot of coffee would be brewing. I have entire pieces of art which sprung from avoiding essays:   Sketches and creative writing and roommates that went slightly insane living with me. I like to think of one of those roommates in particular as my finest "installation piece" ever!

In my last two years of University, I had the whole essay writing thing down to a science. I would set up at the kitchen table, spread out all my notes, my dinky little laptop (dinky now, then it was an amazing piece of equipment) and would start tapping away at the keys, starting at precisely 11pm the night before the paper was due.

Yes, my friends, I would write 2000 to 4000 word essays with an 18 hour time limit. I would work until 3am, crawl into bed wearing my faithful vintage longjohns, get up in the morning, finish the essay, edit it, print it, throw on my overalls over the now stinky longjohns (it was the '90s - grunge was in) and pass the whole thing in before 5pm.

This is not a practice that I would recommend to any university student, but it seemed that back then, I excelled at it:

I never scored lower than a A- on any of those papers.

I'm not sure if that says a lot for me or if it says something bad about the institution where I earned my degree. I like to think it is the former.

These papers, by the way, were all for the suspicious number of English literature classes I took while earning a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Go ahead, ask me how that BSc impacts my job today...

All this is to say that I have recently taken on the task of knitting a sample for a local knitwear designer.

And neither of these socks are that sample.*



*I am not leaving it to the 11th hour, I've got a fair-sized chunk of knitting done and I have until April 20th to complete the project.

It seems I have a bit of blogger's block these days. I think it's my yearly case of the blahs, which leads to me sulking my way through February and March.  The good news is, the clocks "spring ahead" this weekend.  I'm very much looking forward to that!

In other news, we're doing a little home renovation here at the Happy Household. 

We've been planning to spruce up the front room for years, with the intention that it would become my space for arts and crafts... We've put it off for so long that I had started to lose hope, especially since I cleaned out the room last August so that we could set to work.* Many months passed and the room remained untouched. (OK, OK, I may have made a hole in the wall to check out the situation with the insulation. The wallboard was pressed paper, so it was quite easy to do!)

This winter, I've been really longing for a space to work on my projects, so I had a long talk with Mr. Happy a few weeks ago. I explained how many things I have planned to do, but without a space designated for crafting, well, I always feel hindered by the fact that I must dig out and find all of my supplies before going ahead. My beads are in the dining room cabinet, my sewing machine is upstairs, my yarn is in the hallway and the living room, my fabric is... well, I'm not even sure where it is right now.

Much to my delight, my new personal hero - Troy the Carpenter - arrived and started work on the room. The name of the space has been upgraded from craft room to "studio". And we will hopefully be painting this weekend.

In the meantime... please feast your eyes on my latest sock project:

*Mr. Happy's job may seem glamourous to some, but in truth he works long hours with little time off... in fact, when we went to Mexico last May it was the first time he had taken a vacation in a couple of years.  This kind of schedule doesn't bode well for home repair or a social life.

Knit The Stash - January & February Tally

Super Mittens for Angie:

Skull Isle Hat:

This is done, but needs to be ripped back to the stage that you see here as I need to lengthen it a bit. I can't bring myself to do it yet, so for now, the hat is finished

Super Mittens for Tammy:

Technically the yarn for these mittens came from someone else's stash, but hey, I knit it. 

Felted Gauntlets for my nieces:

Sweater for Miss Munchkin:

Hats for Mr. Happy

Tally:  

4 pairs of mittens

3 hats

1 baby sweater

Projects started in February 2008:

1. Lady Eleanor - I'm not 100% sure about this one.  I think I may rip it and reknit it as a blanket as I'm using Kureyon. 

2. Vesper socks - as mentioned two posts ago

3. Azure socks - Deb Barnhill's design - Sweet Georgia

Projects I've worked on that were started before January 1, 2008:

1. Baby Matinee Sweater from Debbie Bliss

2. Um, ok, that's all... 

Here's hoping that the next tally sees the end of some old projects. 

Forgive Me, Blogland, For I Have Purchased Wool

Ahem. It would seem that I must make an addendum to my self-imposed rules of Knit The Stash 2008.

I will say that I have been very, very good (for the most part). I have been to the yarn shop numerous times and have left each time without yarn for myself.

Since swearing off yarn purchasing for a year I have refrained from buying the following:
1. Silk Garden Lite (even though I've dreamed about it for years)
2. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (ON SALE, PEOPLE, ON SALE)
3. Glorious, glorious sock yarns of varying shades, weights and price ranges.

There has been a high emotional cost to not buying this yarn. I have cried longingly over the Silk Garden. I have visions of dancing socks... and have been told by Mr. Happy that I cry out, "CASHMERINO! ON SALE!" in my sleep.

It would seem that I have had a very hard time not giving my money to local yarn store owners. However, I have had two circumstances arise that have required me to purchase yarn.

Situation #1: I needed yarn to make a gift.

The Ninja has gone and had herself a baby girl. A baby girl who may turn pink when she wears this sweater:

Pattern: Plackett Neck baby sweater from LMKG
Yarn: Serendipity tweed from Brown Sheep

During wash/rinse number three I called Jak and told her that the colour was running like crazy. She asked if I had used vinegar in the wash like the yarn lable suggested.

I had not.

Ninja? I did use the vinegar in the end... but this colour might still run a bit when you wash it. Please, just hand it over to me and I'll wash it when the time comes. That being said, I think there is a better chance that Miss Munchkin will outgrow this sweater before she has a chance to spit up on it!


Situation #2: I had a felting accident.

Countless times I have chastised Mr. Happy when I have found his hand-knit hats in the wash. Luckily, I wash everything in cold water and have always managed to find his hats, no worse for the wear, before they reached the dryer. A couple of weeks ago I threw his hat in the wash and thought to myself, "I'll just grab that before it goes in the dryer." Did I pull the hat out this time?

I did not.

His hat is so small that it looks like it would fit an orange. Why yes, I will take some ice cream with that humble pie.

I went to the yarn shop the next day to get some yarn to make him another like it:

Details:
Pattern: Mr. Moe - the original version from Moe's blog.
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino (50% off!)


So, as you can see, I had no other option than to create the following Addendum for my "Knit The Stash 2008" list of rules:

Addendum #1: I may purchase yarn if it is to be immediately knit into a gift.

Addendum #2: I may purchase yarn if I accidentally felt another of Mr. Happy's *$&#(-ing hats.

Blogland, I hope you can forgive me. I know that you had such great hopes for me and my bank account. Now that you know the truth I will move ahead with a clear conscience.

Stephilocks and the Two Hats

Once upon a time there was a girl named Stephilocks. (Look, if Goldilocks can be a name, then so can Stephilocks.)

Stephilocks was a determined girl and after reading a book about knitting, decided to knit a fair isle hat for her nephew.

The first hat she knit with Wool Gatto from Lana Gatto.

It was, sadly, too small.

Rather than rip it out, Stephilocks decided to knit another hat.

For the second hat, she decided to use the yarn specified in the pattern. She bought Baby Ull (in 2007) and then she cast on 200 stitches. This should have given her a size between the 22" and 23" inches, like the pattern said. But Stephilocks was a foolish girl and decided to knit the fair isle on needles that were .25mm bigger than what the pattern said to use.

Stephilocks knit and knit and knit on the second hat. She ate porridge of questionable temperature, then she knit some more.

She sat in chairs of varying degrees of comfort while she knit and knit and knit.

She slept in a bed that was just her size and then she got up and knit some more.

Then Stephilocks tried on this hat:

and she cried out, "ARGH! What is this? Some deranged interpretation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Am I going to have to knit THREE hats to get it right?"

Stephilocks then put down her knitting and fixed herself a good, stiff drink.

The end.

Knit The Stash - Project 2 Update, Project 3 Started

Project 2: French Child's Socks
This morning, on the bus, I managed to knit quite a bit more on the HEEL. I'm already on the heel! Wheee! These socks go soooooo fast once you get in the rhythm of them.

Project 3: Do-Over - Skull Isle hat for my nephew
The Skully hat for my nephew, E, was tooooooo small for his head and mine. I've cast on again, this time with 200 stitches and Baby Ull - which is what the pattern calls for. I'm working on the million inches of 2x2 ribbing. Ugh.

Another thing I'm trying to do with Knit The Stash, is to intersperse old, unfinished projects with new projects. We'll see how long that lasts!

Knit The Stash - UFO Project 2

Back in the fall I was knitting a nice pair of "French Child's Socks" that I had decided to give to a fellow knitter and friend. The first sock was completed with nary a hitch, but the second one... well, apparently I didn't do enough increases after the ribbing and didn't notice until I got to the heel. See here for the sad tale.

On Saturday afternoon I took that second sock off the needles:

And ripped it back...

All the way back to the ribbing.

And now I'm knitting again. I've got 4 pattern repeats done already. Only 7 more to the heel. WHEE!

I'm feeling really good about the decision to Knit the Stash. Let's see how long this feeling lasts!

Knit the Stash - New Project 1

My first new project for Knit the Stash 2008 was a nice quick knit -

Green Super Mittens
Wool: Araucania Nature Wool Chunky
Pattern: Super Mittens from Weekend knitting

Modifications: None yet, but I'm thinking about knitting a lining for these. While the yarn is nice and thick, these mitts are somewhat "airy". I think a nice lining would help - however, since I'm not buying any yarn, I have to think about what I have that I can use for the lining.

I'm also thinking about embroidering the back to give them more "visual interest".

Despite the modifications I would like to make, these mittens are, according to their pattern, DONE. Therefore I'm counting this as my first completed NEW project of Knit The Stash 2008.

My Grandmother, the Yarn Temptress

My dear Grammy has been sprung from the hospital. She is currently staying with my dad and Ivy - who are trying to fatten her up with scallops and homemade rolls. Or as Grammy said, "I had as many scallops as I wanted to eat."

I gave them a call tonight and Grammy took some time out from her crossword puzzle for a nice little chat. (Well, really, she told me that her hearing aid broke while she was in the hospital, so I bellowed as best I could into the phone and she got to talk in her normal voice.)

Grammy feels much better, thank you for asking. I passed on the get well wishes from all of you and she was quite pleased.

She told me that she had just turned the heel on a sock she is making for a friend. Then I told her about the photo of the stash and how I wasn't going to buy any yarn this year.

Grammy replied, incredulous, "I can't believe it!. You're not going to buy yarn this year?"

Doing my best to remain true to the cause, I said, "Well, not this year."

Then Grammy, in an wistful voice, said, "Oh, Stephanie, there are so many nice kinds of yarn now."

I was shocked, " Grammy! Are you trying to tempt me to buy more yarn?"

And she laughed.


Of course, she didn't mean to tempt me. She was just commenting on the state of yarn these days. But it does make for a good story, doesn't it?

I Use Yarn in All of My Decoraaaaaating!

During my last two years at University, my roommates and I spent a lot of time hanging out with a banker and a lawyer, both of whom we met at church. They were both from New Brunswick, as am I. For the purpose of this story, I should tell you that the banker was originally from a tiny village in New Brunswick and grew up hunting and doing outdoorsy stuff as NB boys often do.

Both of these men were older than my roommates and I (7 and 9 years respectively older than me, the youngest of our group) but it didn't seem odd at all for any of us to be friends. If it weren't for the church part, you might make assumptions about our relationships with these gentlemen. Our friendship with them was very innocuous - we would get together for lunch or dinner and movies and spend the entire time cracking jokes and laughing. We were all "from away" and as such, didn't have family in town. We carved a little family out for ourselves during those two years.

This story is about the Banker... the good son of New Brunswick. For his banking job our friend wore dapper suits, well-pressed shirts and coordinating ties. He lived in a respectable, secure, downtown apartment building that had a pool. On our first visit to his apartment he gave us the grand tour. It was a great spot, centrally located - he could walk to work in a few minutes - nicely decorated and spacious.

We teased him about his "neutral" coloured "Man couches" - they were light beige and we thought that surely his mom had helped him choose them - but it wasn't until we peeked into his room and saw his "tie rack" that we knew his secret.

The secret? You can take the boy out of New Brunswick, but you can't take the New Brunswick out of the boy. How did we know this?

He had a deer head hanging in his bedroom and the poor thing was being used as a tie rack.


It was then that we started calling him "Gaston" - the beefy character from "Beauty and the Beast" who sang,

"I use antlers in all of my decoraaaaating!"

We teased him mercilessly about the poor tie rack. He took it good naturedly and laughed along with us, but I've often wondered if he minded the teasing.

If he were to walk into my house today, though, he would be teasing me.

After "outing" my stash on Saturday, I've reorganized it and put the majority of it where I can see it - so as to remind myself what yarn I do have:

I think it looks quite nice in here. It gives my dining room the look and feel of an eclectic yarn / antique store.

This nice bit of stash out in the open means that there is no longer any yarn hiding behind the couch. I've organized my baskets into:

1. leftovers (a relatively small basket)
2. UFOs (shockingly large basket)
3. Mitten yarn - I do believe that this is the Winter of the Mitten.

I've also organized the drawers in my green desk. The top drawer isn't quite perfect, so I'll just show you the other two:

Briggs & Little and one skein of Avril yarn.

10 skeins of Malabrigo and a ripped sweater that I dyed with Kool-Aid a few years ago.

Huh? What's that, you say? Where did all that Malabrigo come from?

Well, my friends, it came from The Ninja. I believe it is the last of her Advent give-away yarn. Mr. Happy and I visited the Ninja family over the holidays and as soon as I walked in the door, she started shoving yarn in my back pack. I protested, saying, "No! No! I don't need more yarn! Give it to someone else!"

Then she muttered something in my general direction that made me realize that you shouldn't argue with a pregnant woman... especially if that pregnant woman has a black belt in kicking my arse.

So, thanks alot, Ninja, for loading me up with more yarn. (Oh, there's no sarcasm there, really. Trust me.) Although I protested, I'm really quite grateful for your generousity... and for you.

Those of you who were following the Ninja's Advent Give Away know that the rule was that you had to do something nice for someone else if you received the Ninja's yarn.

Ninja - I gave the Koolhaas hat to my neighbour. She tried it on tonight and it fits her perfectly. And it's her favourite colour!

2008 - Year of the Stash

This is my 503rd post on this old blog. I unknowingly posted for the 500th time on December 10th when the Knitting Pharm landed herself in the hospital. (She's feeling much better, thanks for asking. I talked to her on Wednesday and she mentioned that she's knit something like 72 pairs of socks this year. I KNOW!)

Anyhoo, moving on... I'm afraid my blog is suffering from a combination of neglect and winter doldrums. I'm hoping to remedy that with some pretty photos, sunshine and a personal challenge.

You see ladies, and perhaps gents, I do believe that 2008 will be a momentous year for me and this blog as this year I'm planning to "Knit The Stash". Stop laughing. I'm serious about this!

While my stash of yarn is not nearly as sizeable as some people I know (I won't name names here... I wouldn't want to encourage yarn thieves), it is starting to overwhelm me... and when I consider the size and the $ invested in it, well, I'm a lot ashamed. Here's the other problem, my house is not big enough for the two of us. My stash has become like "The Blob"... it is has begun to take on a life of its own and has started invading my space.

It no longer fits on the shelves and in the drawers of my wee green desk:

It has started invading the antique pharmacy cabinet:

Where it hides in chaffing dishes:

It has stuffed itself into bags and has begun hiding behind the couch:

(Finally, a use for conference bags!)

It is piled high in baskets:

and is building a fort around my knitting spot on the couch:

So this is it. This is the stash:

Go ahead, gasp. I did.

Dad, before you tut-tut and shake your head, I would like you to take a moment to think about the tools, toys, engines and cars in your garage. I think we both know where this tendency came from. My stash is wool - yours is metal.

Whoops, I almost forgot this:

My Christmas gift from Mr. Happy - an Imogen Kit.

So, that's it. That is all the yarn I have to knit with this year until it's gone. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine until, at least, December 24th, 2010.

In view of my weakness for stashing, I've created some caveats to help me get through the year:

1. I may not buy yarn from any source no matter how good the deal, no matter how rare the yarn, no matter if the owner of the yarn will starve to death without my purchase (while I don't expect this to happen, yarn destashers and LYS owners are wiley - that's how they get you to buy their merchandise - melodrama and lies, people!)

2. I may accept yarn given to me by another party as long as I have not slipped them an envelope of cash in a dark alleyway.*

3. I must finish all UFOs, even if I hate the FO. Seriously - I MUST!

4. I may purchase needles if they are required in order to complete a project.

5. a. I may not accomplish the "knit the stash" goal by giving it away... however, if you see anything you like, I may be persuaded to sell it.**

5. b. I may not accomplish the "knit the stash" goal by storing it at someone else's house and pretending I've forgotten it was there. This is cheating.

6. I will do my best to rid myself of all leftovers. I suspect that there will be quite a few more of those "Sweet Baby Caps" in my future as it is perhaps the best use of leftover sock yarn!

7. I will consider a chronological knit-through of the stash... but I will, upon consideration, abandon this and knit the stash willy-nilly. (sorry, that's more of a prediction than a caveat)

8. I will do my best to avoid new pattern books and magazines, which make me get all excited about yarn I don't own.

9. I may not stash vicariously by encouraging my friends to buy yarn they don't need just because I really want it.

10. I will try not to break down and cry when all my friends are buying new yarn and all I've got is this crap. (heh heh)

That's the plan. I may come to you, dear internet friends and family (hi Auntie Ruth!) to ask your opinion of what I should knit with various yarn, but I suspect that Ravelry will a great help to me through any struggles I may have.

Now, if you'll all just stop laughing about how hard it is going to be for me to avoid purchasing yarn, I'm off to knit some mittens.


*I have agreed to do some test knitting for a local designer, so I suspect I will need yarn for this. I have also agreed to knit some mittens for my boss's daughters. He's buying the yarn.

** I may sell some of my yarn - in particular, the Rowan Kid Classic intended for a Turtleneck shrug. i can't face the thought of all that 3x3 ribbing. Yoi.