Knitting In The North

Whew!

Can you believe that today is the very last day of November, and I almost went to bed without posting my final entry of the month?!?  So typical of me, I'm generally really good at planning and goal setting, and not always so hot with the following through - but this time, I did it!

I did feel like I spent a fair bit of time writing small talk, and spreading out things I wanted to share with you so I could fill in the days.  Still, it was an excellent exercise, and I think it has really helped get me back into the habit of blogging.  Don't expect a daily post, but I think it's safe to say I'm back!  (Now, I'm going to bed - goodnight.)

Saturday Lovin'

So, I missed the Friday love-stuff, but thought I'd share with you some things I'm loving anyway...

We're all about the holidays around here these days - I mentioned before, I try to do something "festive" every day.  I've been thinking about what makes the holiday special, and trying to find ways to engage each of the senses.  For example, we pulled out my favourite Christmas candle this week:

   

I bought this Yankee Crisp Spruce candle the year we caved and purchased an artificial tree - it smells very much like the real thing, and we love opening it up and filling the house with that Christmassy smell!

In the same "tree" pattern, we dug out some pinecones, and filled up a glass bowl for a new fireplace decoration:

What do you do for holiday decorations?  Do you pull out everything in one fell swoop, or decorate a little bit here and a little bit there?

Leafy Mitts

 

Here is another Christmas knit I've done up recently - a little something for my sister.  When we were kids, the best part of Christmas morning was always our stockings.  My mum would shop throughout the year, finding really cool, meaningful, special stocking stuffers; we knew that no matter what was under the tree, the stockings would make the day.  

My sister doesn't have anyone in her life right now that will understand the importance of the stocking, so this year I decided to give her a gift box full of stocking stuffers, just for her.  If she likes it, she can give the box back to me next year, and I'll fill it up again!

The pattern is from the ever talented and amazing Ruth, who should be releasing this in the next little while.  It's wonderfully written - simple to follow, but creating a lovely and fast FO.  I used a stray ball of Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool, on 4mm DPNs.  I've actually cast on for a pair for myself, I like them so much.  We are having that strange early winter weather - it freezes at night, but warms up during the day, which means it snows and melts, and then freezes, making the roads extra slippery.  It also means I throw on a light jacket, because it's so nice, and then freeze my hands on the steering wheel when I drive anywhere - these will be sweet! 

Frazzled

Today has been one of Those Days.  Sick child, grumpy/whining child, athletic child, busy baby - all needing far more attention than I have to give, all at the same time.  Katie had a volleyball tournament (Yay, Katie!), Brian was home from school with a tummy bug, Gwenyth feels like her love tank is empty...  at least Liam was happy!

 

It's good to have photographic evidence, since he's now morphed into tired, grumpy baby mode.  Sigh.  Stuart just asked me what I wanted to do (with Liam, as in feed him, rock him to sleep, run screaming from the house...), I told him I wanted to go to a hotel by myself for three days and sleep.  Not very helpful, I'm afraid.  The nice man rocked the babe, put him back to bed, and is now preparing dinner with Empty-Love-Tank-Gwenyth.  My hero.

Thorpe

   

I have one final Christmas gift to knit, and it's not even the end of November!  I won't crow too loudly, as that's sure to send a few last-minute gifts onto my emergency lists, but really, it feels so good to know I'm almost done this part of preparations for the holidays.  I still have masses of sewing to do, which will require a bit more discipline, as I have to actually leave the warm, cozy living room and go down to my "studio".  (I wonder when the day will come when I can write the word "studio" without the " "?) 

This hat I'm knitting is for a little guy about Brian's age, and I had started something else for him, but came across this yarn at Michael's this morning, and it was perfect.  I will admit that I have a deep need for things to match, or "go together".  The boy's winter jacket is black and yellow, with grey and white trims, so this black tweedy yarn, with flecks of grey and yellow, is really satisfying to me.  It`s knitting up quite nicely - the pattern and yarn seem a good match.

PS.  I just thought of another thing I need to knit.  See how fast that works!

Making Plans

 

I borrowed a new book from the library this past week, one of my new favourites!  Custom Knits, by Wendy Bernard of the blog Knit and Tonic, has written a really great knitting book, full of fresh patterns, plus tips for modifying existing patterns and even writing your own. 

I make it a habit to borrow a new knitting book from the library before I buy it anyway, but I didn't hold out a great deal of excitement for this one.  What I saw online just didn't make a big impression on me - what a surprise, then, to have the book in hand!  There are quite a few patterns that I would like to knit, and I found her design information a great resource.

As well as knitting, the author also included instructions for making a dress form out of an old T-shirt and some duct tape.  We just happened to be at the hardware store this weekend, so I picked up a couple of rolls in the hopes that I can find someone around willing to wrap me in silver tape!  I had read instructions before online, and had always intended to do this, but this book has really given me the motivation and desire to get going.  Now, to find an old T-shirt (and a willing tape-wrapper)! 

Sarah's Susan

A little more Christmas knitting out of the way - and yet another scarf!  I bought this yarn a couple of months ago, specifically meant for a gift for a friend of mine.  I feel extremely blessed to have a friend in my life who really is just like family - the kind of friend who is there, no matter what, for years on end.  I don't know about you, but I haven't experienced this kind of friendship often in my life - so many relationships seem to hinge on a certain set of circumstances, and if the circumstances change, so does the friendship. 

Sarah is one of those people who is still there, no matter what.  Our jobs, relationship status, family life, geographical location, time restraints all may shift, but we've been able to hang in there; I wanted to give her something this year that would show her how much I love her, and so I made her this.

Particulars:

Pattern - Susan Scarf

Yarn - Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, Pink, 3 balls

Needles - 7mm 

Notes - I used almost all of the three balls of yarn, and ended up with a nice long scarf.  It was about 6' when I finished, but blocking gave it almost another foot in length, and really showed up the pretty lace pattern.  If I did it again, I think I would go down a needle size, this was just a tiny bit more loose and drapey than I like, but it's still super soft and warm, perfect for our northern clime.

Itsy Bitsy, Teeny Weeny

 

But it's no yellow polka dot bikini!  I knit this tiny sweater, measuring about 1 1/2" tall, as an anniversary gift for Stuart - yeah, yeah, I know.  He gives me a trip to Hawaii, I give him a tiny sweater.  But it's not as though anything I could give him would measure up to something so big, so I decided to go the other way.

Stuart's been asking for a cabled sweater for some time, and although I have the wool, I just haven't been able to bring myself to start it.  This was my little nod to him - as I said to him, he didn't actually say he wanted one that fit; perhaps he should be more specific?

I followed an Egg Cozy pattern in the new Debbie Bliss magazine (sooo nice!), and used some fingering weight Knitpicks Bare  that I had floating around. 

He thought it was very funny, which was a total relief!  I think I'll take a page from Abi's book, and try to have the real thing ready for him for next year's anniversary - the 7 year gift is "wool", don'tcha know. 

Knitters

 

This is one of the best parts of knitting - getting to share the yarny love.  Even better, when that sharing is with my own children!  (Gwenyth is asking to knit, too, but she has to wait, poor thing.)  Brian has been mucking about with his needles and his horrific orange yarn, ripping it out and starting over, doing a bit, binding off and casting on again, just having fun.  He makes lots of plans for things he's like to knit, but doesn't have the attention span for a "real" project yet.  I suggested some felted coasters out of some wool in my stash, so that's a possibility - we'll see.

 

Katie finished up her winter cowl today.  Until this afternoon, it was a scarf, but I could tell her enthusiasm was waning, and frustration with her progress was setting in, so I suggested binding it off for a cowl instead.  I picked up stitches along the cast on edge, and helped her with a three needles bind off, which looks nice and neat.  We haven't blocked it yet, but she was so obviously in the FO Glow that I had her try it all on for a quick photo.

Friday Love-Fest

There are lots of things I'm loving this week - here's a taste:

• A tiny, live Christmas tree!  Gwen & I found it this week, and I had to bring it home.  I'm trying to do one festive thing every day, to ease us into the holidays - it just doesn't feel like it should be so close already!  I confess, I was trying to do a bit of an end-run around Stuart, who doesn't think we should put up our tree as early as I do, and it kind of backfired on me.  He thinks we should wait even longer, since we have this little one to enjoy!

  

• Professional Development Days - no school!  I love mornings when we don't have to rush the big kids out the door, it's so nice to have an extra day at home with them.

• A place where everybody knows my name - the library.  I love the library, and we visit it about once a week.  I have an extremely active Reserve and Inter-Library list, so most of the staff have gotten to know me fairly well.  We also have an incredible, friendly children's librarian.  It is so hard to narrow down which books I want to borrow, there are so many things to look at and learn about!

• Liam, asleep on his dad's lap at the end of a fussy evening...