This Took Forever

Last summer, in a fit of unprecedented generosity, I agreed to knit a baby sweater for my hairstylist's niece's baby. I must have been drunk or delusional because doing so goes against one of my only two rules of knitting:

1. Never knit with yarn that makes my teeth hurt (anything 100% synthetic).
2. I only knit for people I am
       a. Related to by blood
       b. Related to by marriage
       c. Absolutely adore
       d.  Sharing a bed with (which includes, at this time, my husband and my son)

Now, I do absolutely adore my hairstylist, but I don't know her niece from Adam. It could have been that this was the kiss of death for this project, but alas, that was not the only reason this project was cursed.

Little did I know, that when I cast on the project, I was just barely pregnant. Pregnant at 38 with a 3 year old at home. Which, if you have prior experience with pregnant women, you will understand, brings on about three months of vigorous napping, extremely early bedtimes and brain fog.

So, I cast on Roo, the absolutely GORGEOUS baby sweater as designed by the extremely talented and lovely Kate Gilbert. And within the first bit of instructions, I was certain that this pattern had been brought to me by some evil villain bent on discrediting me as an experienced knitter.

 

 Here are the things I learned while working on this sweater:

1. It pays to have two paper copies of a pattern - one for writing in all the chart notes and the other for balling up and throwing at the wall in frustration.
2. Never make assumptions.
3. Always write shaping instructions on your charts, event if you are a confident knitter who "knows what she's doing" hint: hubris is a bitch.
4. Always hold the fronts of a cardigan up to the back to ensure you didn't miss, oh, a full chart of knitting on both fronts. Hint: you should do this before stitching everything together and knitting the hood.
5. Never agree to knit something with a deadline when you are pregnant.

All that being said, this is still a beautiful pattern. It was a series of unfortunate stupidity that dragged out the process of knitting it. It definitely pays to look up how to Kitchener stitch various kinds of stitches together (garter, purl, knit) as the join in the hood looked so much better when I did this... You know, the second time around.

Would I knit it again? Well, considering the number of things i ripped and reknit, i swear, it feels like i did knit this sweater twice!

As for actually making a second sweater, well, I'm not sure. I really love the final result, but I fear the frustration I felt knitting  it the first time might not dissipate even with time.

I would like to publicly apologize for all the private cursing of Kate Gilbert's name I did while working on this project. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this pattern that not being a dumbass while knitting it wouldn't have fixed.

Yarn: cascade 220 Heathers
Details: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/stephvw/roo

Still hanging in here

I just realized that it's been ages since I posted. This is the start of my third week of "leave" - officially, I'm on vacation right now - and it's amazing to me how quickly the time has gone.

I must say that I am relieved that I finished work when I did. My ankles and feet swell up if I'm on my feet or if I'm sitting with my feet down for very long. My doctor has told me to keep them up as much as possible. I was attempting to do that at the office, but it was very hard.

I find that sitting with my feet up is quite frustrating. I'm so accustomed to being able to do anything and everything on my own, so this stage of waddling, struggling to sit up and cursing every time I drop something on the floor, is definitely NOT my favourite. I knelt down to get something the other day and wasn't sure if I was going to get back up. I thought Mr. Happy was going to come home and find me on the floor! Luckily, I managed to pull myself up.

I've been keeping myself quite busy with knitting! I have to say, if it weren't for knitting, I would have to take up some sort of illicit drug use. How on earth do women who DON'T knit stand going on bed rest? I remember my great aunt Jean telling me about how, when she was on bed rest after surgery, her MIL came to her bedside and taught her how to tat. Aunt Jean knew how to knit, but it was too heavy for her, so if it weren't for the tatting, I think she would have gone stir crazy!


Here are the projects I've been working on:

Gryffindor the Second:

Back when I was optimistic about such things, I bought enough of Brown Sheep Nature Spun to knit TWO Gryffindor scarves. My intent was to knit two scarves for my two nephews for Christmas one year. I finished one.

Cruising through my stash, this winter, I came across the remaining yarn and decided to knit up another - my coworker's daughter is a big HP fan - so I said I'd do it for her, if he wouldn't mind paying for the yarn. He agreed - YAY! Now the yarn can stop taunting me from my stash. I just need to embroider her initials in the scarf and attached the fringe and I'm done!

I took the scarf to KOL last week and was asked if it was a sweater for a snake - the entire scarf is knit in a tube. It seems it also resembles a very long stocking cap:

Soakers:
I've started making soakers (we're going with cloth diapers - woo hoo)

These are made with Peace Fleece that came from a swap. I had about 10 inches left over when I was done.

Once those were done, I started another pair:

This is Custom woolen mills yarn. I'm quite pleased with the amount of yarn in this skein. I'm using a contrasting yarn (Mr. Happy is only a little horrified that it's a coral colour) for the waistband and the cuffs on the legs, but I could have made the entire soaker with the one skein.

I may have to track down more of this yarn as it is affordable and has a nice amount on the skein.

Bib:
After I made the denim pants for the Mogrunt, I had lots of leftover yarn. I used the leftover to make a bib using the instructions in Mason Dixon Knitting (a book recently purchased 2nd hand from Ms. Frozen Extremities - thanks!)

I need to wash this and sew on a button and we're good to go.

My other great aunt, Mary, and my cousin Denise (really my dad's cousin), arrived the other night with two parcels - a gift from them and a gift from Aunt Jean and my grandmother.

The Gift parade:
Auntie Jean knit a beautiful beige blanket for the Mogrunt - I don't have a picture, but trust me, it's gorgeous. Also, in the package were these little booties:

I have to call them to be sure, but I think this is my grandmother's handiwork. They are made out of fleece. Pretty cute, eh?

You may have noticed by now the background in these photos is a quilt. Mr. Happy's cousin, Diane, sent this to us. She bought this quilt either in a Mennonite or an Amish community - I'm not sure which, I'd have to check the card which is upstairs (and we all know about the swollen ankles). It's beautifully made and I love the vintage look about it.

So, I'm still here. Still hanging in. Still building a person.

Finishing, finishing, finishing!

It seems like lately, I'm obsessed with finishing projects. Hmmmm, I wonder what ever could be the cause of that?


Example 1: Baby Blanket

Just over 3 years ago I started a blue baby blanket for my cousin's son. It was to be one of TWO blankets as they were expecting twins. The pattern, "Prairie Blanket" from Oat Couture, was lovely.  But somehow, I felt like throwing the entire thing out the back door when I worked on the blanket as the pattern was quite involved and not really a "quick knit".  A quick knit is something you definitely need when making blankets for TWINS!

During the making of this blanket, I visited my cousin's house. His wife took me on a tour of what would be the nursery. Upon opening the closet, I quickly realized that these children would be set for blankets for the REST OF THEIR NATURAL LIVES! It seemed like every lady from their church had knit or crocheted blankets for the twins. (Mind you, there was a lot of acrylic in that closet, but with twins, I'm pretty sure that ease of washing is more important than anything else.)

Seeing that closet was all the incentive I needed to put the blanket in a time out. A time out that lasted up until January, when we discovered that we would be having a boy.

I pulled the blanket out of the basket where it had been gathering dust for 3 years and found my place in the pattern before I changed my mind.

Yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton

I'm very happy with this blanket. It does have a bit of a skew in it as my tension has changed, but I'm hoping that it will come out in the wash.

Note:  We will not discuss what wonderful knitted things these children received from their cousin, because stress is not good for the baby.

Example 2: The Kermit Klogs.

I can't even remember when I started these clogs from the Fiber Trends pattern, perhaps in the last year or so.

I do know that it wasn't until I was casting off the SECOND clog that I clued in that the cuff was meant to be folded over and bound off with stitches from the start of the cuff (if that makes sense). The first clog was neatly bound off without being folded and I had already stitched up the seams.

After letting the clogs sit in silence (I think they were silent, they may have been crying in shame) for quite some time, I dug them out and with much determination, managed to find and pull out the ends that had been woven in. Then I bound it off correctly.

Yarn: BSLP - Kiwi

I just have a wee bit of seaming and these puppies are good to go in the washer. I've been calling them the Kermit Klogs. My SIL was here for supper last night and her feet were cold, so she had these on in their un-felted state. She looked like Kermit.


Example 3: Imogen

Last night, my Imogen cardigan became the next victim of my wrath.  Imogen was knit from Handmaiden a kit which I'm not sure they carry now.

Even before getting knocked up, I was not happy with the fit of this sweater. I think I bound off too early on the collar, so it was never quite big enough to overlap comfortably in the front. I probably should have made it a little TEENY bit bigger, but I'm not so nuts that I'm pulling out the entire thing!

After our company left last night, I pulled out the bound off edge and grabbed the ball of leftovers from this cardigan. I'm going to knit about 10 more rows before binding off again. 10... 15.. we'll see where the insanity takes me.


Example 4: Gryffindor Scarf

Now, this may not seem like a "finishing" thing to you, but it is to me. A few years ago I bought enough yarn to make Harry Potter scarves for my nephews. After knitting the first one for B, I realized that perhaps E would rather that his aunt not wither in tears on Christmas Day for having planned to knit TWO ENORMOUS scarves and having not completed them. E got a simple hat that year and later on, I made up for it by knitting him the Skully hat.

Taunting me from the back of my stash, however was all this yarn which was not a scarf, but yet was a scarf. It could be nothing else. And while I could have sold it or traded it, I knew, deep down that the pattern would have to be modified a bit to make the yarn last. You see, there was not quite enough to make the scarf exactly as the pattern stated.

It wasn't until my coworker told me that his daughter was a HUGE fan of HP, and asked if I might be able to knit her a scarf, that I thought, Ok, Let's do this. I needed something to knit on the bus anyway.

Yarn: BS Nature Spun

It may look like a beginning to you, but to me, it's an ending.

Hallelujah, Amen.

Busy, busy world

I feel like a scene in Richard Scarry's "Busy, Busy World". I've been sewing again and even have some knitting to show you.

Two weeks ago I bought the yarn for the Baby's Denim Drawstring Pants (from Last Minute Knitted Gifts). This is how they looked this past Monday:

And this is how they looked on Wednesday:

I just need to knit the drawstring and then wash them to shrink up the length. I'm wondering, though, how much my gauge is off b/c the pattern called for 4 balls of yarn and I only used 3. I'm sure they'll fit him at some point.

Now, I would have been finished these pants much faster, but I felt the need to use up some yarn that had been marinating in the stash. This was my bus knitting (oh heck, the pants were bus knitting too, but they took turns):

It's a Le Slouch by Wendy of Knit and Tonic. This one is significantly more slouchy than the one I knit previously. I haven't even blocked it yet!

Yarn: Araucania Nature Wolle Chunky
Needles: 5.0 and 5.5mm

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in front of the sewing machine. I've got a pile of flannel and only 15 weeks to go! AAAAAH!

So, I made six burp cloths - all double layers of flannel:

The burp cloths all measure around 14x19 inches - yes inches. I know. I can't help it. I work in both!

And, I made another big blanket - the burp cloth is there for scale:

Today, I'm going to make another big blanket and then get back to knitting on a cotton blanket for the Mogrunt.

*mumbles through a mouth full of twigs* "Did someone say something about nesting?"

knitknitknitknitknit

Someone has had a severe cast of startitis lately. It seems to have been brought on by an acute case of FINISHING!

Wild Wood
Pattern: Beech Wood by Ilga Leja
Yarn: Handmaiden 4-ply cashmere
Rest of Info: here on Ravelry

It's kind of a wild colourway, that's why I chose to call it Wild Wood. It does, however, look quite nice on, particularly with a jean jacket or a dark coat or...

Huhn.

Moving on, apparently the yarn smells nice too:

I had started this wee sweater when Mrs. Yes was pregnant with Gabriel. I do believe he is 17 months old now. It seemed like I had a mental block when it came to sewing on the buttons and seaming the pocket:

Pattern: Baseball T from Knit 2 Together
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton
Needles: I haven't the foggiest. Check Ravelry.

I appear to have gotten over the block. Isn't it cute? Into the gift stash it goes.

Aside: I think it's safe to say that I am going to attempt to take all of my knitting photos in the early morning when the light looks so nice on Mrs. Adjustoform.

As these two items were finished, I promptly pulled out the needles and cast on for the following:

1. A baby sweater from a vintage pattern(as previously discussed):

2. A pair of baby socks with leftover STR:

I cast on for these b/c I wanted to try out my new needles as well as knit up some of my leftover sock yarn.

3. I did cast on for socks for my niece with the new Lana Grossa. (no photo yet)

4. And I am about 2/3 done with a super-secret project. This top secret project can be found on Ravelry. If your name is Becca, and you are pregnant with a child due in December, tough luck, chickie, b/c you don't have a Ravelry password, so you can't peek at this project. (Um, that being said, you should probably avoid cruising Flickr, unless you want to spoil the surprise.)

Let's not talk about the projects gathering dust in my knitting basket, ok? Ok, it will be our little secret.

Running Away From Home

Last Thursday Mr. Happy announced that he was taking Friday night and Saturday off (nothing revolutionary for those with 9-5 jobs, but quite out of the ordinary for him). As soon as he said it, an alarm went off in my head:

Me: Let's run away.

Mr. Happy: Ok, where to?

Me: We have a gift certificate to Oak Island! [1] Ohhhhhh... we can watch cable TV!

Mr. Happy: Ohhhhhh, that's right! Let's go!

So we set out for Oak Island. After checking in, we decided to drive back to Chester for supper. We ate in the F'ocsle Tavern (delicious pan fried haddock) and then, as it was a relatively rain-free evening[2], decided to walk around the town.

Just as we were about to enter a corner store, Mr. Happy noticed a Chester Playhouse sign stating that Old Man Luedecke would be playing there, that night! We turned around and saw that there were people standing outside the Playhouse - it was our lucky day - intermission!

We ran over and talked to the lady in charge. She let us in for 1/2 price and we got to see the rest of the show! While we waited for intermission to end, Chris (aka the Old Man) came into the lobby. He was surprised to see Andrew there and came over to talk. It was the first time I had had a chance to meet and talk to him. What a great guy; he's just as genuine as his music. With intermission ending, we went in and found a seat in the playhouse.

If you haven't heard him before, please check out his music. It's not every day that I fall in love with the music of a banjo player.

Here's his web page and here's his myspace page

Mahone Bay in the fog

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Mahone Bay where, of course, I went to Have A Yarn. I've been meaning to pick up yarn to try out a particular baby sweater pattern[3]. If you are pregnant and a friend of mine, this may or may not be for your baby. It may just be going into my gift stash. Yes, I have a stash of gifts for young and old alike. No, I don't think it's weird.

Here's a picture of the cuff:

I also picked up some Lana Grossa sock yarn to make socks for my niece. They're quite splashy. Despite having already cast on for this project, I have no photo of it. The yarn is from their "Sunset" collection - It's the sock in the middle of the picture Girls just wanna have fun, if you know what I'm sayin'.

We left Mahone Bay and headed back "up the coast" to Chester where we wandered in and out of a few artists' shops. Then we had lunch at the Kiwi Cafe.

I fell in love with the colours in the cafe. It was so cheery on that overcast afternoon. Mr. Happy ordered the Adult Grilled Cheese (so delicious - on homemade bread) and I ordered the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup. We did a little sharing:

It was a short trip, but it was really nice to get out of the city and slow down for a while. I'm headed into a very busy time at work, and I know that I'll be thinking of the music in the Chester Playhouse and the visit to Mahone Bay when I'm standing at a booth at some conference this fall.



[1] Thanks again to the very, very kind friends who gave this to us for our anniversary.

[2] There's been so much rain here lately that we no longer classify things as sunny, we classify things in terms of dampness.

[3] I fell off the "Knit the Stash" wagon quite a while ago, but must note that I have definitely curbed my insane yarn-buying habits. I've decided that this "knit the stash" plan is more of a lifestyle change than a cold-turkey diet. Whereas before I treated the LYS as a all-you-can-knit buffet, I’m trying to make better, healthier choices. It’s much easier to do now that I don’t visit my LYS every single weekend. I've got my eye on some of the new Trekking tweed, but I'm going to wait until I get a couple more projects finished before buying it. See? Old Stephanie would have bought it the first day she saw it.

For Angela

Hey Ang,

I just wanted to show you how well I'm healing after the big crash.

My leg is feeling much better, but I can still feel some lumpiness under the top of the scratch. I guess it's just the remnants of the bruise. My ankle is still having some issues.

I had an appointment with my physiotherapist two weeks after the accident. After checking my shoulder and ankle, he suggested some exercises for me to do. I tried them out that night, but my ankle swelled up. He and my doctor recommended that I wait until 6 weeks after the accident for my body to heal. It has only been 4 weeks, after all. I guess I'll just have to continue to use it as an excuse for things, like, "I can't possibly play Bridge with Janie Clarkson today; my ankle swells up the moment I climb up all those stairs to her house."

Here's a photo of what I'm doing while chatting with you online:

You'll note that if you were to call me, the phone is NOWHERE NEAR THE COMPUTER. Unlike you, I don't LIE ABOUT HOW FAR THE PHONE IS FROM MY COMPUTER. (You would have been disappointed if I hadn't called immediately after seeing that photo... and you're still a shit.)

Anyhoo, I'm knitting away on my Shetland Triangle... looking ahead to a new project (the wee ball on the table in front of me)... and eating yogurt with nectarines and granola. Yum.

The silk is such a pretty colour, I wish you could see it in person. This is just the back:

...imagine what the right side looks like! Better yet, imagine what it looks like when I don't have to use flash because it's been yet another miserable rainy day here on the East Coast.

I know, I know, you mentioned that it is really hot out there on the Wet Coast... but seriously, did you have to send all your rain this way?

Hey, you just posted about your new skirt. I keep forgetting to tell Meegiemoo that you are joining the leagues of people who want to dress like her when they grow up. Meegie? If you're reading this, add Ang to the list.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to say that although I'm really glad you're working again, I really do miss you when you are. I really enjoy our evening chats online. It makes it much easier to handle having one of your best friends living on the other side of this huge country.

It's funny how different friends communicate. With Becca it has always been the phone (often several times a week). With you was always letters... back before internet days. I always loved getting your letters. They often took me a week to read. I'm still not sure how you paid for the postage on those novellas, being a starving student and all. And now it's chatting online. It's funny, but I can hear your voice when I read what you write. Although I don't hear it often enough, it's still there, in my memory, right along with your laugh.

Love to you, the Dictator and the girls,

xoxo
Steph

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.

Slow Going

It seems that everything I'm working on these days is going slowly. 

I can't even manage to write posts quickly anymore.

A week ago Saturday, Mr. Happy finished the green paint on the Craft Studio.

For my part, I begrudgingly got up that Sunday morning and cleaned up. I scrubbed the floor, dusted the woodwork, cleaned the windows and stared menacingly at the white paint I had tracked on the hardwood floor. Then I went upstairs, grabbed this blue pot, went back to the room, held it up and wondered to myself:

"Is this blue too obnoxious for this green or is this green too obnoxious for this blue?"

As you can see, I'm taking this decoration process very seriously.   You can't make decisions too quickly. Sigh.

We have managed to bring up from the basement the desk that is to go into this room. It needs some sanding, a layer of possibly obnoxious blue/turquoise paint, and then it's all ready. After that, bookshelves, a chair that needs to be recovered, curtains and some art. That won't take any time at all... or will it?


Other things that are going slowly around here include:

1. Imogen:
She looks about the same as she did during her last modelling stint. I have almost finished the second sleeve. I think I may have "finishing anxiety".

2. My Azure socks:

I carry them everywhere, but I just don't pull them out to work on them. I don't know why. Deb? It's not that I don't love them, 'cause I do. I think it may be the startitis... because on the weekend I started this:

3. The Blob:

It's the Victorian Shawlette by Sivia Harding which I had started and ripped out in frustration ages ago. I originally started it on bamboo straights, which made it impossible to spread the stitches out to count them or to "read" what was going on in the pattern. This time, I've got it on Addi Turbos and while it still requires a lot of concentration, it's a lot better.

I think my Grammy Taylor is going to love it. I think she needs a little knitting love right now.

4. Tulips

I may not be responsible for making these grow, but they're just not growing fast enough for me. If memory serves, however, they should be blooming by the long weekend in May, Lord and warm weather willing!


In stash enhancement news, I did a little something* for someone and that someone gave me some nice yarn as a thank you:

"Someone" knows how to keep people happy. This is Fleece artist Woolie Silk 3 ply. I have the two skeins you see here, plus the lovely leftovers from the sample that I knit. Yay!

*Trust me, this isn't a nefarious something for a someone of questionable morals - this is a wonderful knitterly something for a wonderful knitterly someone!

Ok, that's all for now. I do have to post about some crazy bike thing I've joined, but I'll save that for another post.

Knitting is the new Methadone

First things first - ta dah!

Yarn: Vesper, Aquamelon
Affectionately known as: Strawberry Shortcake socks
Needles: 2.25
State of Happiness: Utter Glee

Next item...

On Thursday the job that pays for my yarn took me to Wolfville, NS where one of our pharmacies sponsored a talk by a doctor by the name of Kenna Stephenson. Dr. Kenna, as she is known, is a lovely woman who works for the University of Texas. She has a great book called, "Awakening Athena". It is hard to sum up her presentation but let me see if I can do it for you:

1. There is more to a woman's health than her uterus.

2. Our hormones affect more than our menses.

3. If our hormones and our lives were more balanced then we could probably be healthier, happier and on less medication... and we would find fewer spouses at the bottom of stairs.

That's the very, very rough summary. Please, please, please, if you have a chance, look in to Dr. Kenna's work and her book.

Before the presentation  the store owners, my manager and I took Dr. Kenna and her husband out for lunch. When we were leaving the restaurant, she asked me if I had made my scarf - I was wearing my Clapotis. Then she told me that she is a knitter as well and that she had a whole chapter on Handwork in her book.

Kenna then told me that studies of people who knit have shown that their "knitting" EKGs are the same as that of people who are in meditative trances. The brain activity in a knitter is in both hemispheres as they are doing something mechanical, mathematical and creative all at once. Then she told me that she recommends handwork to her patients as a form of therapy.

Good heavens, the woman writes prescriptions for knitting!  We all need her as our doctor!  

We then went to Kenna's presentation and were thrilled that over 300 (THREE HUNDRED!) women showed up to hear what it was all about.  

Near the end of the presentation, I heard her say, "Stephanie, could you come up here for a moment?"

I walked to the front of the room and stood waiting as Kenna explained the value of knitting and how I had suggested to her that she must stop by "Gaspereau Valley Fibres" while she was in town.  Kenna asked if I would hold out my scarf for everyone to see.  There were 300 murmurs of approval.  

Then Kenna said to me, "Wouldn't you agree, Stephanie, that you find knitting therapeutic?"

And I said, without pausing to think, "Yes, I've often said it's the only thing keeping me off crack."

While the women had a good laugh, I went back to my seat and wondered if I had scored a point for knitting or not... 

Pattern:  Azure by Deb Barnhill
Yarn: Sweet Georgia - Life Aquatic
Needles: 2.5mm
State of Happiness: blissfully satisfied

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.

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!

Christmas knitting and Christmas presents and Christmas pneumonia

Considering the amount of knitting I did for Christmas, it would seem entirely reasonable for me to retire happily to a sheepless/goatless/alpacaless mountaintop to while away the hours pelting passersby with rocks and insults.

Instead, I have happily continued to knit during the holidays and beyond. I guess you could say that this is Christmas knitting in that I knit it during the Christmas break.

This skully hat is for my nephew - and it is possibly too small. He's got a huge noggin and when I pulled the half-completed hat onto his head during the Christmas morning festivities, his eyes bulged out a little. It is perched rather precariously on my own enormous noggin for this photo and shortly after taking this photo, I had to pop my eyes back into their sockets. It was tricky, yes. Thanks for asking.

I have already purchased yarn for an alternate hat.

Inspired by the post Christmas lull and the ingenuity of Jared ("Brooklyn Tweed" Flood, I pulled out some Malabrigo cast on for and quickly completed the Koolhaas hat:

I loves it... but alas, I cannot wears it. It's too small for my noodle. Into the present stash it goes.

On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day I knit mittens for my coworker. She had purchased the yarn, intending to knit herself a scarf but was uninspired by the yarn. She offered the yarn to me and I offered to make mittens for her.

I'll get a photo of them next week.

I used the chunky yarn mitten pattern in Weekend knitting as my pattern, modifying only the cuff - making it ribbed instead of plain. She's got the coldest fingers of anyone I know, so I thought her little hands need all the help they can get.

For Christmas, I received some really nice knitting-related presents from family and friends...

You've already seen the Imogen Kit from Mr. Happy...

During a December get-together which involved "Guitar Hero" at 2am, Jak surprised me with this:

Isn't it adorable? My little sheepie measuring tape LOVES his new home. Someone who works for/with (?) her husband makes these. I'll find out who it is and link to her etsy site. (I wonder if she thinks this will get her those French Child's socks any faster?)

Dad and Ivy gave me (among many other awesome presents - seriously, stop spoiling me) this awesome Vera Bradley tote and lunch bag:

You say lunch bag, I say, "Sock project bag!" They're just 7 different kinds of awesome! Pink Elephants, people! PINK! ELEPHANTS!

Also, I feel very much like Mary Poppins with this tote. It's so roomy! I'm going to pull a lamp, a hat stand, a mirror and a measuring tape out of it at KOL some night. Don't say I didn't warn you!

(Just as a side note here, how handsome is my dad in his new hat?

The beard is new-ish*. Doesn't he look like a courier de bois? He's just completed a portage with his canoe and his pelts and is resting at the trading post before heading back out on the trail. - Dad, if you grow whiskers, you know you have to take some teasing.)

And possibly the best present I've ever received:

Handknit socks... made by none other than my amazing grandmother. They fit me perfectly. I was so excited when I opened this present, I leapt across the room and hugged her to bits. I'll try to get a better photo of the toe decreases and the heel. They're pretty cool.

Just to review - here is my adorable Grammy:

She also knit me a pair of plain black mittens to go with my winter coat. I love them and have worn them every day since she gave them to me.

I also gave her the huge stash of leftover yarn that the KOL crew agreed that she should have after the big stash swap at the end of the summer. She was as pleased as punch that you ladies thought of her. She held up the sport-weight yarn and said, "This makes the nicest mittens." I wound all of it up for her on my ball-winder, so she'll have lots to work on... once she's been sprung from the hospital!

Since their Christmas visit, my Grammy has landed herself in the hospital. She's got pneumonia for "The 100th Christmas in a row" - her words, not mine. She was feeling quite awful in the middle of the week and called my aunt, who then called for an ambulance. Grammy conveniently got sick in the midst of a miserable snowstorm in New Brunswick and was snowbound in her house. The firetruck had to drive through her street before the ambulance could get in. I asked her if it was a ploy to get out of the house because she was Shack Whacky. She denies that she was bored at home... and is bemoaning the fact that she is unwell to the point that she is unable to read. My grandmother rarely goes a day without knitting, some sort of crafting or reading. At 89, pneumonia is quite a serious illness. The doctors are taking good care of her... and I just pray that they don't rush her out of the hospital too soon.

She needs to feel well enough to knit before they let her out!




*My father had a beard from before I was born until I was 14. When he shaved it off, I was so shocked at seeing his whole face, that I cried. It was like he had removed his nose. This is the first time he's grown it back and kept it since then. I kinda like it.