Camera Shy (Heather)

So it's April 12th. End of the first sweater deadline, and you are just going to have to take my word for it that the Central Park Hoodie is done! In the bustle of packing up on Easter Sunday we left the cord for the digital camera at Mom and Dad's. We went and picked up a replacement at Staples, but discovered that our camera "only" takes a special brand of ($50) cord. Rather than open the new cord and chance it, we are taking it back. Mom was kind enough to mail our cord to us, and we now know to keep it very close!

In the meantime, you will have to use your imagination!



Knitwear just doesn't scan well. Have any of you ever seen Koigu flash like this?? I like it, I just hope the other skein does the same. I am almost up to the wrist decreases on the second gauntlet, but I have to wind the next ball before I can get back to it.

Instead, I have been working on a new project!



This is Evie, a design in the Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton/Stella book. I am knitting it for my home LYS (where I worked for two years) in London Ontario, Needles and Pins. So far I have successfully swatched and knit five inches or so for a front (or a back... they are identical). The Stella is so soft and squooshy! I am really enjoying this knit; I am a big Debbie Bliss fan.

I am working on a swatch for the next sweater, but since Evie is using my 4mm needles, I am swatching for Salina instead of Greek Pullover. And Adriana was kind enough to point me to a Salina-along!

Long Weekend (Heather)

This remote blog brought to you by my mom's computer. I hope everyone is having a spectacular Easter weekend! My mom is doing her best to send us each back at least ten pounds heaver. Last night she cooked a ten pound turkey for the four of us. If this continues, I may have to knit some pants.

I still have high hopes for Central Park to make its Easter debut tomorrow, despite the fact that it has only half a sleeve set in. I don't think this is a problem, since I am at Mom and Dad's and the many distractions that kept me from seaming thus far are absent.

On the other hand, lots of fun Easter distractions!



We employed a variety of dyeing techniques this year. I am craving hardboiled eggs so badly right now! Just... a few... more hours!

In order to make some actual progress, I only brought one knitting project besides the Central Park Seaming. You may remember this yarn from my mini-stash flash:



I am working these into another pair of gauntlets from Sally Melville's The Purl Stitch. This is a fantastic pattern for a beginner knitter. In fact, it was my very first knitted project in which I utilitzed that tricky maneouver called the purl stitch. Ah, memories. That pair was in Koigu also. This pair is going much more quickly than the first (maybe three years of frenzied knitting has something to do with that?)




Reposing on a bed of teeny-tiny petunias. You should have seen my mom's face when she saw this picture. I thought I might be sleeping outside tonight...

A good day for knitting (Adriana)

I woke up this morning filled with plans for the day... until I looked out the window.

When you can barely see the building across the courtyard, you know it's a good day for knitting!

I have been a busy knitter lately. I finished my Manos hat! I got rid of the Cotton Fleece lining which was uncomfortable and I knit an additional 4 inches of the Manos to give it a nice brim.


I also finished my gauntlets:

The pattern is from The Purl Stitch and the yarn is my own handdyed.


Here is my gauntlet in action petting Cleo. She seems to be enjoying it :)

I also made a little headway with Granny's birthday socks:

I measured her calves and I'll have to do some increases as I go up to ensure that they fit properly. For a 89.5 year old woman, she has shapely legs.

Remember my disaster with the Trekking socks? Heather, being the brilliant lady that she is, suggested that instead of ripping back the heel and redoing it, I should just rip out the toe. I did it and now the sock actually fits! Plus I was able to fiddle with the colours making my sock less green than before.

This is Trekking XXl 100. Isn't it strange how different the two socks look from each other? That's part of the fun of Trekking.




These are such photogenic socks!

Remember how I said that Katy was going to be my next project?

I lied!
Meet Audrey, from Rowan 35, knit in Rowan Calmer, the Calmer colourway. I picked up this yarn on sale and had been intending to knit it after Katy since it is more of a summer sweater. I wanted to have it done in time for Granny's big party in May. After swatching (and even washing the swatch) for Katy, I found that all I could think of was Audrey. A little encouragement from my mom and I was off in a new direction. This sweater for me represents my family, both because I want to wear it to a family gathering and because it shares its name with my cousin. I've been homesick lately and I think that knitting this will help.

Lately I have been choosing my knitting projects for emotional reasons. Knitting Birch was a cathartic experience to help me work through something personal, and now I chose Audrey to feel closer to my family. Has anyone else picked knitting projects for this reason?

While I was gone... (Adriana)

I'm back! My computer has been returned to me fully functioning (or so it seems). It's such a relief to be able to do all the interneting I want! My beloved knitting blogs have been neglected for the past two weeks. I can't wait to catch up on everything.

Although there has been much drama lately, mostly to do with the computer problems, I've still managed to get in a fair amount of knitting. I finished Odessa, pictures to follow in a later post, but trust me, it looks awesome (think olive green yarn with amber beads)!

I finished the mystery project and am starting another one (I love secret knitting!). You can get a peek at it here. My hands are so cold now that winter has hit so I've started a pair of gauntlets from Sally Melville's The Purl Stitch. I'm making them at the same time on two circs out of some of my hand-dyed yarn.

It looks darker here than in real life. The yarn has lots of pinks and purples in it.

I wanted to knit my Granny a pair of socks for her 90th birthday this spring but I was faced with a bit of a challenge. In order to do the feet the way she likes I need to knit them top-down however she also requested really long socks so ordinarily I would have knit them toe-up and just continue until I ran out. I came up with a rather clever solution, if I do say so myself:

I did a provisional cast on so that I can do the feet as she wants and then knit the leg until the yarn runs out! This is Regia Silk in the Venice colourway.

The big project which has been occupying most of my knitting time these days is Birch! I was inspired by Heather's lovely version in Silky Wool (by the way, are we ever going to see pictures of that?). I am using Rowanspun 4ply in Midnight doubled. I cast on two less repeats and am almost 70% of the way through. I have a feeling that I will run out of yarn so I've been trying to think up things to do with another bag of this stuff. But enough rambling about yarn. Time for pictures!


Spread out on the table in all its unblocked glory


For once the flash actually helped to show off the motif


The obligatory close-up

What's next for this knitter, you might ask? When I look in my crystal ball I see Katy knit from Mission Falls and a shrug present for a summer birthday (not you Heather!). Also, I'm anxious to get my hands on the new Lace Style. Anyone else have ambitious future knitting plans?