Knitting In The North

Mmmm, Mmmm Good

If you've been hanging out here with me for a while, you know something about me that surprises many, and generates envy in others:  I don't cook.  Stuart does pretty much all of the cooking around here, with me stepping in on Father's Day, or after a (rare) particularly long day when Stuart needs a break.  Really.  I don't cook.  I bake - all the time, several times a week, but I don't do any cooking.  (Well, I do lunch for me & the kiddies, but you know.  That's not really cooking.  And I have Katie as my sous-chef.)

A little ways back, I borrowed the book A Homemade Life from the library.  I had never read the blog Orangette before, but I kept hearing about it on blogs, and thought I'd check it out.  I was totally unprepared, both for the huge enjoyment I got from each chapter, and from the insane desire I suddenly felt to cook something.  Me?  Cook something?  

 

  

Mais Oui!  I cooked a whole meal - All By Myself.  And I'm still using the recipes - my personal favourites are the Grotto Eggs (will you be surprised to hear I had never, ever made scrambled eggs before?) and the red cabbage salad.  Mmmm.  Even better - the whole crew ate the food I made - and liked it!  (Especially Liam.)

When You Can't Knit...

This past weekend was The End Of Summer, as far as the kids were concerned, so we tried to make it as exciting as we could.  It was also Jeannie's birthday, so with these great excuses to party, how could we resist?  We stayed up into the dark hours to play Mission Impossible (some sort of complicated game involving sneaky children), ate brunch, went out for a birthday dinner.  We also went for a walk at a local park, which turned into a hike. 

I had forgotten about this hill.  Hill?  To a prairie girl like me, this is a mountain!  At any rate, it made my status as Least In-Shape Member of Family official.  Still, I made it up, and I made it down, and I think that's all that matters, right?

Somewhere between the hike and the dinner, though, a nasty fall cold decided to spring on me.  I'm not quite sure how this happened, since I tend to be the last one sick in my house (well, except for Stuart, but he doesn't count, because he's so infuriatingly healthy, I don't like to think about it).  I sincerely hope I manage to keep this from the kids, not just my own, but also the little one that I've been babysitting.  I'm thinking his pregnant mum would really not appreciate a cold, right at the start of the school year. 

Anyway, when you're feeling too feeble even to knit, and when you're strong enough to try all you do is make a mess of things and find you have to completely rip out the Jaywalker you're knitting, the best thing to do is curl up with a nice cup of tea and a good book.  And when you can't knit, at least you can read about knitting, right?  Here are two knitting-ish books I've recently finished:

The Birth House is an amazing novel.  A friend of mine lent it to me, and I could hardly put it down!  It's set in early Eastern Canada, and the main character is a young woman who is training to become a midwife.  I didn't expect knitting content here, but there is.

Knit Fast, Die Young is a very light knitting mystery, but just about perfect for my weary head to handle in the throes of a cold.  It was entertaining, though, to read about the modern knitting world that I know and love in a mystery setting.  This is the second knitting mystery book by this author.

For those of you who complain that I don't show my face enough around here, here's a shot of Gwenyth and I at the bottom of the trail.  Fortunately, Stuart let her ride on his shoulders up and down the hill, and of course she walked or ran at all the flat spots, but at the end of the day, this little girl just wants her mommy.

Uninspired

I have umpteen (well, at least for me) projects on the go right now, and I'm not feeling the love for any of them.  Another blogger friend was just writing about summer doldrums, and I can totally relate.  I thought at first it was just a "knitting mojo" issue, but I'm seeing the blah seep into other areas of my life, so I guess it's just this time of year.  Maybe it's time to sneak off with my sister for a pedicure and a lemonade (I haven't tried one yet, but my sis raves about them).  After all the joy and rest of my weekend away, I feel selfish admitting that I have the blahs, but they are what they are.  I've actually been thinking, since my weekend away, that I need to revisit my "thankful journal".  There are times that I think it's important to make changes in our lives to be happy or more balanced, but there are also times when I think I need to simply discipline myself, and make better choices as to what thoughts I allow to rest in my brain.  The Thankful Journal helps me here; I just record about three things each day that I have to be thankful for in my life.  A good exercise, and not a novel idea, my any means.

I've been meaning to sit down with a knitting update, and I've finally gotten there!  Here is the Eyelet Cardi - as you can see I've finished the back and one front, and am just beginning the second front.  Does this sound familiar to you?  You're right - I haven't touched it in a week, funny how that doesn't help the progress report!

I started this sweater for Brian this week; it's a pattern he picked out of an old knitting magazine (Knit It, Spring 2006).  A simple stocking stitch sweater, blue with rolled edges in orange, and an orange intarsia car knit into the front, with black button wheels.  Cute, and dead easy, knit out Wool-Ease Chunky.

The toe ups have been my carry around socks, but I haven't had much carry around time lately, other than knocking a few rounds off while at the park.  I am loving the Panda Wool, though, and am so looking forward to wearing these socks this fall!

Breeze, from Knitty.  I love, love, love this heel.  I think it's so pretty, and feminine, and am so enthusiastic about these socks.  But I'm not enthusiastic about knitting these socks, at least not this week.

Finally, the most Un-Blah thing of the entire week!  A great surprise arrived in my post - a copy of No Sheep for You, from my Secret Pal, Susan!  Thanks so much, Susan, this is an amazing book.  I love the info in the first section.  I think it will be a great resource, especially since I am a mad substituter of yarns, and it hasn't always gone as well as I would have liked.  This will help a lot!  There are also some cute patterns in this book, my favourite are a hemp bag, and a linen tank.  If you knit at all with non-wool fibres, and you haven't already checked this one out, I would highly recommend it.

Thanks, Dad!

My dad very kindly sent me some birthday cash (the best kind, don'tcha know), and since we all know I don't need anymore yarn, I decided to go for the next best thing - books!

I mentioned that Knitpicks was having a super duper book sale, and I just couldn't resist all those bargains!  (Okay, okay, I did buy a little yarn, but that one tiny ball can barely count, right?  It seemed wrong somehow not to have yarn in the shopping cart, and I really do want to knit up a Sheldon in the near future, so it all worked together nicely.) 

I chose a copy of Scarf Style, because I am in love with Lady Eleanor, and I have some Silk Garden already stashed for this purpose.  When I borrowed the book from the library, I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the different scarves I would like to knit, and I figured this would be a good addition to my library.

Two different EZ books are now in residence (I would love to own them all, one day), the Knitter's Almanac, and Knitting Without Tears.  Both are fascinating, I just love the way she explains things!

Natural Knits for Babies and Moms is lovely - full of beautiful patterns just perfect for all the babies I seem to be constantly surrounded by.  Not that I'm complaining, I love the babies!  I must say, I was intrigued by the patterns for nursing sweaters, and then completely horrified by the hearts on the Queen of Hearts Nursing Sweater.  I know, the title really should prepare you, but I thought we were past the days when maternity/nursing wear made the moms look like the babies.  The cabled one is quite nice, though, and perhaps I'm judging too harshly (but perhaps not).

The major hit in our home, though, was naturally Charmed Knits.  It was snagged out of my hands before I'd even had a chance to look through it, and both Katie and Brian have made their Official Christmas Knitting Requests.  Looks like my fingers are going to be super busy this fall, Katie has asked for a Hermione Felted Satchel, and Brian has stated (no request, here) that he will have a pointed hat and a cloak for his gift.  His father will make him a wand.  He has noticed that I have not yet purchased yarn for this project, but let me know today that it's okay if I want to "knit sneaky" and work on his things at night when he's in bed, so he'll be surprised on Christmas Day.  What was I saying the other day about wanting my knitting to be appreciated?  I take it all back!   

On the Bookshelf

I've had two exciting new additions to my bookshelf this month!  I always find it difficult to decide which books I want to bring home - there is so much out there, so many new authors, new techniques, new patterns!  These will be great, long-term volumes, I think.

The first, The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, was a gift from my really, really wonderful Sockret Pal.  She's taken such an interest in what I've been up to, and thought I just needed to have this.  It's perfect, full of great information on dyeing, spinning, and sock knitting.  I think this book will help me shake loose of my complete and utter dependence on sock patterns, and learn to think more in terms of using a sock recipe, with different options.  This is something I've been wanting to do - I can hardly wait to get started with everything!  Thank you again, Moss, it really is a special and inspiring book.

The other, One-Skein Wonders, I bought myself.  I find that I need to have the feeling of accomplishment that comes from knitting these small items, and I also seem to accumulate one or two skeins of many different kinds of yarn.  The book is full of simple, basic patterns.  With most of these, I'm sure, you could find something similar on the internet, if you want to look, but I love having everything all in one book - I think it's a great resource.  Also, I love that the book is organized by weight of yarn.  If, for example, (this is completely hypothetical, of course) I were to have ordered a few skeins of this and a few skeins of that from Webs recently, and wasn't completely sure what I wanted to do with them, I could just open up this book to the right section, and be presented with all kinds of options.

Thank you, everyone who commented in such a supportive way on my post yesterday.  I'm feeling somewhat better today, although what happens in this relationship still remains to be seen.  I really appreciate all your kindness.