And She Knits Too!

Playdates: very noisy, but I get a moment to blog

Both kids have a friend over.  They will both be gone in just over an hour and I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not.  It'll sure be quieter (holy, playing cars and dress up is super noisy) but then I'll be in charge of entertaining them.

But I do have some time to blog.  I've been working on keeping warm these last few weeks and now that I have a hat, it was time for slippers.  I bought the yarn to make the Fiber Trends felted clogs last year, and now they're done.  I've used this pattern a bunch of time, but never for myself.  The magic of felted still tickles me.

Before (my old birkenstock for scale):

After:

They didn't quite felt the same (or possibly, I didn't knit them quite the same) but they will do nicely.  Once they're completely dry I'll add the leather slipper bottoms I bought.  On the hardwood, these things are slick. 

But they look nifty and Grinchy on my feet.

I also completed a first sock for Alexander and I need to really get going on the second one.  I swear his feet grow while I'm watching them.  He'll be 7 tomorrow and is already wearing a size 5.  The yarn is a nice one I won from one of Cara's fab contests, but I lost the label so I couldn't tell you much about it.

I'm also getting smarter with the socks.  The marker is the beginning of the toe decreases--I'm so pleased I remembered that.  And to write down things like how many stitches at the end of the heel.  This pair might be almost the same, unlike some of my others where I wing it a bit.

Now to put on some ear plugs and do some knitting.

Finishing Frenzy

Knitting-wise this has been a rather productive week.

I had some meetings where I could knit which allowed me to finish my monkey socks:

They're a bit fraternal (one definitely has more brown) but I don't care.  They fit perfectly and they were fun to knit and the Oak Grove sock yarn (from Rhinebeck 2005) was fantastic to knit with.

I departed from my usual toe-up, short row heel formula and worked the pattern as written, except I did my first eye of partridge heel.  The look and fit is perfect and it's making me rethink my preference for short row heels (which I still suck at--my short rows are never quite right).

I also had fun with my this-year Rhinebeck purchase.  I made myself Matador from last Fall's Knitscene.  It was so easy I had the whole thing done in 4 days.  And I rather like it.

It could be a smidge bigger and I may go back and rip and redo since I have almost a full skein left (but, realistically, probably not).  I think it looks fine no?

The yarn is Beth Ann from Briar Rose fibers and has the niftiest little flecks of blue in it.  It's also lovely to work with.  I can see myself using it again. 

Tonight I'm vacillating between finishing the first piece of Roam or starting my Earth Stripe Wrap now that all the colours are in.  Maybe I'll do a bit of both.

Finishing Frenzy

Knitting-wise this has been a rather productive week.

I had some meetings where I could knit which allowed me to finish my monkey socks:

They're a bit fraternal (one definitely has more brown) but I don't care.  They fit perfectly and they were fun to knit and the Oak Grove sock yarn (from Rhinebeck 2005) was fantastic to knit with.

I departed from my usual toe-up, short row heel formula and worked the pattern as written, except I did my first eye of partridge heel.  The look and fit is perfect and it's making me rethink my preference for short row heels (which I still suck at--my short rows are never quite right).

I also had fun with my this-year Rhinebeck purchase.  I made myself Matador from last Fall's Knitscene.  It was so easy I had the whole thing done in 4 days.  And I rather like it.

It could be a smidge bigger and I may go back and rip and redo since I have almost a full skein left (but, realistically, probably not).  I think it looks fine no?

The yarn is Beth Ann from Briar Rose fibers and has the niftiest little flecks of blue in it.  It's also lovely to work with.  I can see myself using it again. 

Tonight I'm vacillating between finishing the first piece of Roam or starting my Earth Stripe Wrap now that all the colours are in.  Maybe I'll do a bit of both.

Bag'o'Rhinebeck

It's 4pm and I'm at work, not getting much done because I'm thinking about my trip.

I had a fabulous time. My pal Keri is a super-fantastic travelling companion and we got on swimmingly. We just clicked and wanted to do all the same things and we were both happy and it was easy. I like easy.

The drive was good. Long, but good. The border slowed us up both ways, but that's how these things go. It didn't matter because on the way there we were GOING TO RHINEBECK and on the way back we were full of good yarn and fun times and new and old friends and the scenery was so beautiful and the weather was fine (hard to photograph from a moving car, just trust me). (Oh, and I got a 40 of Bacardi for $14 CDN which all Canadians know is a STEAL).

I didn't shop a whole lot. In fact it all fit in my Everlasting Bagstopper which I finished on the trip down. This is a great bag for Rhinebeck because it grows.

I'm not turning into Claudia (who I got to hug and chat bikes with for too short a time while I was waiting in line for lamb skewers and lamb ravioli) and not stashing, but I'm feeling pretty happy with my stash and my ravelry queue that I didn't need to do more than touch and gush for the most part (well and "help" others with their purchases).

Here it all is on the hotel bedspread (sorry the scary cover hides the pretty yarn).

I'll try to blog it all later, but the highlight was a visit to my favourite Rhinebeck vendor, Chris at Briar Rose fibers.  I'm using her Fourth of July dk for Roam and it is gah-gorgeous (the colour of Rhinebeck right now) and I wanted more so I picked up 3 balls of Beth Ann (a chunky weight) to make a Matador bolero from last Fall's Knitscene (the issue with the Central Park Hoodie).  I love orange, but it doesn't suit my complexion so this was a good compromise.  It's squooshy and beautiful and I will cast it on tonight whilst watching The Tudors.

Then I also found the perfect matching button.  I feel a good fun knit coming on.

So the yarn was good.  But the people are better.  I'll talk about that more next time.  I really do need to get back to work so I can get home to my new yarn.

Cuteness

My friend, the new mom, was visiting the office on Tuesday so I had to get my act in gear and finish her baby's hat.

Orville graciously offered to model since permission to photograph the babe was in doubt (he was super cute in the hat and it fit perfectly!)

It felt nice to finish something and this was a fun knit.  I love the little tendrils.

Almost zippy

Sherbie is almost done.  All the seams are stitch, the ends are woven in and the zipper is bought.  I've even basted the front pieces together so I can sew on the zipper.  I wanted to get to it tonight, but things have kept me busy and I've learned over the years not to attempt difficult tasks at 10:32pm. 

I'm going to re-read my zipper tutorial and get to it tomorrow night.  There are only 5 more sleeps until Rhinebeck (all in my new bed--we got it today) and even though I started Sherbie in the Spring (well late Winter--I hadn't realized it was March) this is going to be my Rhinebeck sweater. 

If I like it on me.  I made the XS size because the finished measurements were 46.5" and then next size was 49" and that's a whole lot of ease.  If I had made my usual medium/large we would be in the high 50" range and I learned my lesson with a beautiful kuryeon coat that looked like crap on me.

But when the ribbing is all scrunched up (as ribbing is wont to do) it looks a bit small.  Nice and cozy, but small.  I'm not a bit fan of allover body hugging ribbing so let's hope some steaming does the trick.  (Sorry about the camera phone photos--my battery died in my real camera).

So for the rest of tonight (all 15 minutes of it before it's bed time) I'm going to keep working on this darling pumpkin hat kit I bought at Lettuce Knit.  It's for a friend's baby and it's perfect for this time of year.

Oh, and I got my shoes.  They're awesome.  My heel slips a bit in them, but I guess that's what's supposed to happen with Danskos.  They're very comfie.  For those who wanted to know, the style is Mira and the colour is Kimberlite.  I got mine via ebay.

Doing my part

I'm trying to add sustainable practices to my everyday life.  I ride my bike to work, I live in place where I can walk to buy most of my things and therefore rely on my car less.  We're listening to David Suzuki and are using compact fluorescents where we can (does anyone know if there is a good alternative to gu10 halogen bulbs?  That's the main light source in our house).  I also try to use reusable containers for my lunch and avoid plastic bags.  I have a stash of unbleached cotton tote bags and they're very handy, but knitting something is more fun.

Bring on Amy's Everlasting bagstopper:

I'm using the called-for Lana Knits Allhemp 6 (from Red Bird Knits) and I'm really liking it.  The bag is easy and the hemp is just fine to work with.  I'm awaiting the much touted "it gets softer with use" part, but I'm also planning ahead to some hemp garments later. 

And the orange matches my bike.

Shrug

I've been eyeing the Dream in Color yarn at Lettuce Knit for a while now.  It is beautifully dyed (subtle handpainting), squooshy and has amazing yardage.  I *will* knit this coat designed by Laura soon, but wanted a quicky summer knit now so I used this pattern and made a shrug.

I love this green colour (but not for a coat; can you say Grinch?).  It is another rectangle with a few extras, so it was easy, fast and pretty mindless. 

I wish I had made the sleeves a bit longer (but not enough to rip out the ribbing and fix it).  It's just enough of a layer to counter to much a/c or the cool breeze on a pub patio.