Knitting In The North

Almost a Kitchen

The Great Kitchen Renovation has been flying along!  After our weekend away, Stuart spent the next two days tidying all the little details up.  This is what it looked like when he finished up on Tuesday:

Yesterday, the guys came to start installing, and then came back again last night while I was at work.  When I arrived home, it was to see this:

What a big change!  There still remains the fiddly bits - our new dishwasher hasn't arrived yet, but will make it's home in the cavern under the counter (currently claimed by Gwenyth as her own special place - she'll be so sad when the hole is filled!).  The round metal object on the countertop is our new sink, which apparently will be set in place tonight (again, while I'm at work).  Then there's all the extras, putting on handles, deciding on a paint colour, installing the tile toe-kick against the floor, etcetera, etcetera (as the King would say).  Stuart is thrilled - I have seldom heard him so enthused (he's a pretty pragmatic kind of guy), and it's exciting for me to see him so happy with "his" kitchen. 

Since I gave my notice at work, the powers that be figured they should work me as hard as they can while they still have me, so I'm pretty much working full out until Tuesday.  My survival mantra is, "this is the last weekend, I only have to get through this last weekend", which is mostly true.  Just for kicks, I get a few days off, and then my very last day is Friday.  But hey, My Very Last Day is Friday!  Woo Hoo!  Then all kinds of family fun begins - Stuart has a birthday, Katie is abandoning us all for summer camp, Stuart's parents are coming for a week-long visit, and then we take off for some camping fun down on Vancouver Island!  (Where was all the rest coming in this month "off"?)

On the knitting front, I'm being bounced back and forth between wanting to focus on finishing up my Eyelet Cardi (I'm now working on the second front half), knitting on the toe-ups, and working on a pair of Breeze anklets that I just had to cast on for.  I have a good system going, though, the Breeze socks are my "listen to podcast, actually focus on what I'm doing" knitting, the sweater is my "in-between all the other stuff at home" knitting, and the toe-ups are my "carry around with me everywhere I go just in case" knitting.  Naturally, having so many projects being knitted on at once slows me down.  I love the idea of being faithful to one project at a time, but just don't have enough discipline! 

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!   

Toe to Toe

It's been all socks all the time here, and look what I have to show for it!  I finished the Monkey socks; here they are after their bath, drying and almost ready to be packaged up for my Sockapalooza pal.

I read in the description of the Monkey Socks on knitty.com, that the designer felt that this pattern was a monkey on her back, and the only way to get rid of it was to knit it.  I feel like this pattern has been on my back, and I've finally gotten it off!  It is a really nice feeling to have these ones finished, and it also feels great that I can get my Sockapalooza package ready to go out on time.  I used Regia sock yarn for these, and 2.75mm DPNs.

What is the best thing for me to do once I've finished a pair of socks?  Why, cast on for another pair, of course! I'm taking part in an unofficial KAL with RC and Kristy, following Ann Bud's toe-up sock instructions in the most recent Interweave Knits.  It calls for a Middle Eastern cast on, and I fiddled around with it for a bit, but was finally satisfied.  I've just finished the toe increases, and am starting the foot.  I'm knitting these with Panda Wool, and using my new casein DPNs.

I have news!  I've written before about feeling a lack of balance in my life lately...  after a lot of thought, I've decided to change my employment situation.  A woman that I know, who is a teacher, has asked me to take care of her toddler son this fall, and after agreeing to this, I went into the store last week and gave my notice.  Hooray!  I am mostly happy about this - there are people I will miss fiercely, and there are people I will be glad to see the back of.  But I think this is a good move for us all here right now, and I'm excited to see how our family will benefit this fall and winter from my extra time at home.  Stuart & I have talked a lot about this decision, and I am so grateful to have a husband who is supportive, and wants what is best for me and our children, and is such a good provider that I have the freedom to make these changes, and to allow myself a few weeks of grace between these two situations.  (Now, are you thinking what I'm thinking?  Just think of all the extra knitting time I'm going to have!!!)

30... the new...

What?  I have no idea what the new 30 is, but whatever we're calling it, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I'm not sure what weird personality trait this is, but it is my habit to make a big freaking deal out of something - worrying and fussing and complaining, and then, when the moment arrives, just doing it with no fuss whatsoever.  I've been like this in situations as varied as new jobs, exams and childbirth, so I guess significant birthdays aren't too far out of the park.  At any rate, my 30th birthday came and went, and I still feel like myself, so all is good.  How could it not be good, when I spent the weekend looking at this:

Don't you love how you can see the rain falling over the valley?  This is the view from the top of the Jasper Tramway.  Incredible, no?

This was the view from my hotel room - when you're faced with God's amazing creation, is it really possible to stress about a birthday?  I needed to change my attitude, and this weekend definitely did the trick.  Spending time appreciating creation, and reflecting on all I have to be thankful for, definitely helped me stop worrying about the fact that I haven't changed the world during my first 30 years on it.

It certainly didn't hurt that I found a yarn shop in Jasper, and treated myself to this amazing Sea Silk - I've longed to get my hands on a skein of this luscious yarn for ages, and I was so excited to find it!

And this: Trekking Pro Natura (wool/bamboo), and a ball of Mandarin Petit.  Also, a Bee's Knees pattern for a very cute, lacy sweater for Gwenyth.

It was an amazing weekend away, and I feel refreshed and inspired, and my fingers are soooo itching to make good stuff!  I spent my knitting time working on the Eyelet Cardi, during which I finished the back, and started the front.  Now, I'm reminded that I'm not quite finished my second Sockapalooza sock, so I'm off to get busy with that!

A Nice Surprise

The other day, I drove up to my house to see a package waiting for me.  I thought.  Hmmm.  I thought some more.  I am expecting something from Knitpicks, but I knew it was too soon for that, so what could it be?  Ah, perhaps a birthday gift for Gwenyth, who is 2 today.  I picked it up; it was for me!  And even more surprising, is was from Kris, my downstream pal from Secret Pal 10!  She sent a lovely card, thanking me for being such a great pal, and calling all this goodness an early birthday present. :0)  Kris, you're amazing, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness! 

You see here all kinds of lovely goodies:  a notebook, a cool knitter's kind of pen, with a built in highlighter, a Lantern Moon keychain with a tiny sweater, the coolest bookmark ever (a reproduction of a real Turkish carpet) and a very nice candle with it's own tiny box of matches.  Also, check out the great dishcloth Kris knitted for me - isn't there something so special about knowing another knitter has spent her precious knitting time on you?  I love it!  I also love the Coolspun Cotton yarn - it's much softer than the worsted cotton I am used to working with, it's almost "too good" to make dishcloths out of! 

The finale, of course, is the perfect, amazing, exciting sock yarn!  Not only is it in my favourite colours, but is from Sweet Georgia Yarns, and is soft and lovely.  Almost too lovely, I'm seriously thinking of just keeping this in a basket beside my bed, so I can look at it and pet it. It's wonderful, and I feel so special and blessed.

I mentioned that Gwenyth is 2 today - I can hardly believe it!  How is it possible that she's grown so quickly, and gone from teeny tiny baby, to this?

I blinked.  I so need to stop doing that. 

WIP.... Monday?

I figured that it was time to give you an update of what's on my needles.  I've not made as much progress as I would have liked, but things are coming along, and I'm generally pleased.

The Monkey socks are progressing - I'm working on the heel flap of the second sock.  I confess, Second Sock Syndrome has set in, and I'm just not feeling the love anymore.  This could be traced back to the wicked heat wave we've been dealing with here, or I could just be weak and easily distracted by all the pretty new patterns my eye is catching, but yikes.  I'm ready for these to be done.  Maybe I'm really that selfish that the socks just aren't as much fun when they're not for me.

Here is the Eyelet Cardi - not really anything new since my great Weaving In Ends Revelation, but I'm happy with it.  It's a great feeling switching back and forth from socks to something like this, because the yarn gets 4.5 stitches/inch, and I feel like I'm a super-fast knitter when I can churn out an inch of fabric in no time at all.

I succumbed to the pleasures of knitting with the Shine worsted that I ordered on my Knitpicks order (which, I now recall, I haven't shown you yet - sorry, I just have so many things to tell you about, I can't keep up).  I had planned to knit myself a tank top-ish thing, and so purchased 8 balls in the Reef colourway, but Katie saw it, as well as the pattern for this hoodie on the back of the new Knitpicks catalogue that came.  We've modified it quite a bit, shortening both the body length and sleeves, and now I'm working away on it for her.  I'm pretty sure that the great appeal is the use of the word "Teen" in the pattern title, but I don't care.  My hormonal pre-teen likes something I can knit for her, and by golly, I'm going to knit it!  I really needed a mindless knitting project, anyway, since this past week has been so hot that I didn't even want to think about lace patterns, or wool.  And you know how I feel about Shine - it's wonderful, and it's wonderful knitting with it again.  Perhaps I'll even finish something with it this time! 

   

A Good Weave

One of the reasons that knitting holds such appeal for me is that there is always something new to learn.  You know how it is... you learn one perfectly good way to do something, like cast on stitches, and you're good to go.  But there are dozens of ways to cast on, and whenever I feel like I need a challenge, I can look one up and try to master it.  A little while back, I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts, Stash and Burn, and they mentioned a cool way they learned to weave in ends.  I was curious, as weaving in the ends at the end of a project has always been kind of a pain to me.  They referred back to this tutorial (which also just happens to be the blog of Aija, of Zero Marker fame), and I've been waiting for the right moment to give it a try.  Over the weekend, I finished the first ball in the back of my little Eyelet Cardi, and sat down in front of the computer to learn this new skill.  Here's my result:

I tried and tried to get a good picture (this is, of course, the wrong side of the fabric), I hope you can see it clearly.  Can you see the little ridges with the yarn coming out on the top left of the knitting?  That's my finished weave.  In theory, I can now trim those yarn ends close, and all will be well (it's still a bit scary for me, I think I'll leave the ends for a bit, while waiting for my confidence to bloom in this area).  I think the easiest way to use this method is on plain stocking stitch, but I just carried the yarn over the back of the purl stitches (a la intarsia), and then carried on at the next block of knit stitches.  It seemed to work well, and I'm loving the idea of not spending ages with a darning needle at the end of the project!

How about you?  Is this method old hat to you?  What do you do to weave in your ends?

Apparently....

... I rock, too!  Thanks so much to Kristy, who considers me a:

I will admit how truly geeky I am, that I was thrilled to be named a Rockin' Girl, and thrilled to be included in the cool list of Kristy's choices.  Now, to choose a few of my own, that haven't already been chosen (I hope).  There are a lot of cool, cool bloggers out there!

1. Jennifer is one of those amazingly inspirational bloggers!  I met her during a swap (she was my awesome pal), and have loved getting to know her ever since.  An awesome Mom, and an awesome crafter!
2. Ruth might not thank me for including her in this (I know you're not into the join-ey thing, but seriously, you are rockin'!), but if you don't already know Ruth, you must check her out.  Her eye for colour, and the creativity she displays leaves me awe-struck.
3. Kim is a new friend, and the podcaster behind Knit Therapy, which I love.  Her enthusiasm and open heart are so refreshing, I love her!
4. Marianne - what can I say?  A super lady, unique and special, loving and giving.  There is no one out there who can touch my heart so deeply in three words or less.  She just has a way about her.  If you know Marianne, you know what I mean.  If you don't, do.
5. Gina is the only one of this list that I've met in person (yet), and actually met in person before I discovered her blog!  Gina is one of those incredible Knitting Guru types - and just a cool lady all around.  She knits beautifully, does amazing work in her Secret Identity life (real life, not blogger land life), and is a supportive and wonderful person to know.

You know what's super cool about this list for me?  Not one of these Rockin' Girls did I know before blogging.  I know I've gone on and on about how remarkable I feel the blog world is - how lucky I feel that I'm a part of it, how happy I am to do this and know you all.  But seriously, this is another moment when I feel so thankful.  What a blessed woman I am!

Lazy Summer Days are Here!

This is going to be one of those random, bullet-type posts of all the good stuff going on here right now...

Summer is here!  We're loving the fact that school is out, and I'm loving the days with the kids.  Brian is having a bit of a rough transition, but now, at the end of week #1, he's starting to get back to normal.  He's one of those "I hate change" people, so the complete lack of routine throws him a bit.

These are the lovely flowers my crew picked for me this morning.  I've found a nice little routine of my own for mornings...  once everyone is fed and dressed and cleaned up for the day, I send them all outside, and spend a half hour to an hour listening to a podcast and knitting.  Now that I'm not driving as much, I'm missing out on all that podcast listening time, so I've had to fit it in.  If everyone is happy, I can sit at my dining room table, and keep an ear on them, and if they need extra supervision, I turn the computer up and sit on the deck.  I have no idea what the white things are (here, they're considered a weed... but they're pretty, and last longer in a plastic cup of water than dandelions), but the red poppies are from a packet of seeds that was spilled on our compost pile a couple of years ago.  They're very happy there, and are producing an enormous amount of blooms.  Go figure.

I'm almost finished Monkey #1!  I love these socks, so it's probably a good thing that they're far too big for me, or I might be tempted to keep them for myself!  (Yes, guys, I saw my typo on the last post.  Sorry, I know the Sockapalooza socks are due August, not April)  I'm working on the toe decreases, and hope to finish it off tomorrow, as I'm off to work tonight, and then first thing in the morning again.  Grrr.  Work is always getting in the way of my knitting fun.  I try to make it feel a bit better by allocating a kitchen expense to each shift I work.  Tonight, I'm working for light fixtures, tomorrow and Sunday are for a new faucet. :0)

We're at the drywall stage of the kitchen now!  I'm pretty sure that will be our super-fun weekend project (tongue in cheek, obviously... actually, I like drywall, but Stuart hates it, and has been procrastinating, so I'm sure it's going to be a two person job over the weekend).

Yarn has been arriving steadily, so watch for some exciting photos next week!  Mmmmm, I do love yarn.  It's official, though, I really need to stop buying it for a while, so this week.... I bought books, instead.  Quick, pop over to Knitpicks, they're having a 40% off book sale!  There's some good stuff there, man!

Okay, I think that's all the excitement here, I'll be buried under work (for lights and faucets) for the next few days, but I'll still be thinking about knitting! 

A Sneaky Pal

My final package for the Secret Pal 10 swap arrived this week, and was I ever surprised!  My sneaky pal, Susan has been a blog friend and commenter for a while, and I had no idea at all, at all! 

Just look at all the treasures!  Missing from this photo is a pattern book that was wonderful - I forgot to get it out of the book pile by my bed for the photo, but will show you another day.  See the candy, and the scented wax tarts, and the Calorimetry just for me!  It's a nice soft wool, and so pretty.  Now the yarn, the yarn is amazing.  Two huge balls of wool in a DK weight, about 800 meters in total!  I'm thinking a shawl, and am just looking for the right pattern now...  Any suggestions?  I think this would be perfect for wrapping up with this winter, and just the right weight.  Susan, thank you again, you've been so thoughtful, and I really appreciate all the spoiling!

This is, I think, the end of my swapping treasures for a while... I'm part of the Sockapalooza swap which is due to be mailed in August (this is what the Monkey socks are for), and I'm hoping to join up the next round of Secret Pal, but I think that will be it.  I do love the swaps, though!