Done! (Adriana)

This is what being finished looks like:


Here you see the completed Gallery Jacket posed with my marketing campaign which signifies the end of school! (until March)
(You can also see the toes of my Trekking Socks which kept my feet nice and warm on this freezing cold day)

I am now off to celebrate school being done by visiting my parents for 4 days, leaving Pete to wrangle the crazy cat (who has been especially nutty tonight). I'll try to blog soon with pictures of the Gallery Jacket in action (maybe even at a gallery!).

Time Release Sweater (Heather)

After an extremely unproductive weekend of knitting, I finished the back of the Central Park Hoodie, then cast on for the right front last night. I underestimated the speed at which a front could be knitted, and surprised myself by finished the right front today. I have already cast on and finished the ribbing for the second front... despite a shaky start I am right on schedule!

At the risk of being that crazy person who does nothing but photograph her cats, here is a taste of what it is like trying to photograph one's knitting around here:







Yeah, life is hard for knitwear in the sun.

Before I took off for a jam-packed weekend, I managed also to graft the Watermelon Trekking socks!



They fit so nicely. Trekking is certainly not as warm as some of my other socks, which means that I can likely wear these a little longer in the spring. Good stuff!

A Journey of Three Sweaters (Heather)

Starts with the first swatch?

I need to get 17 stitches to 4 inches. I am using a yarn that recommends 19 stitches on 5mm. In my world, a 5mm really means 4mm. For kicks I knit a swatch on 4mm addis and what do I get? 16 sts to 4 inches. I am debating how important this is to me. Note that I made a real 6 inch swatch here! And I washed it and dried it. Take THAT!

248 metres of worsted weight yarn makes for a sizable ball. I had to bring out the plus-sized model for this photo:



Here is the grey yarn I have for Clessidra. To demonstrate the greyness of the yarn, my grey cat thought it was a long lost cousin. Or perhaps a dust bunny (he sees enough of those!).



I did NOT manage to graft the watermelon socks last night or this morning. Perhaps tonight!



It is hard to think of wool socks when for the snow is melting all around. It is nice to see the snow melt because it means spring might be showing its face soon. On the negative size, the street crud that was hiding in huge drifts is percolating towards the sidewalk...



Spring in the city!

Spring Surge (Heather)

Spring does crazy things to a person. It takes those ideas that flit through your head in the wee hours and makes them pop up where you least expect it... like on your blog!

I am feeling the revival of my knitting mojo. I finished the second trekking sock this morning, they only need to be grafted now. All that plain stockinette got my knitting fingers twitchin'. I suspect that a long line of tricky projects requiring far too much fiddling and calculations sucked the joy of knitting right out of me. Three log cabin squares and two stockinette socks have reminded me that it is a pleasure to follow a pattern sometimes.

Also, I had a look at my New Years Knitting resolutions and noted that I have only finished one sweater this year, and that was York, which I had started last August! Clearly though my yarn diet has stayed on track (though that truly pains me today) I have not been honouring the spirit of the yarn diet, and that is knitting some sweaters with the yarn I have been pack-ratting.

So, thanks to a heady mix of spring fever and stock-piled wool fumes, an idea has bored its way into my head.

Spring Sweater Surge!

Starting today, March 12th, I will knit one sweater a month for three months. On June 12th, I will have three new sweaters.

Month One:



Central Park Hoodie. I have lots of Selkirk in a true red colour that will do nicely for this. It is not very soft, but neither is the yarn called for, so it ought to work out well. And if I finish this first, it will do nicely as a spring jacket stand-in.

Month Two:



Greek Pullover in Rowan Kid Classic: I will enjoy picking out the organza for this one! After cabling for the first month, plain stockinette will possibly be a relief?

And finally,

Month Three:



Salina, in Rowan Felted Tweed. I saved the smallest gauge for last, but if it is already stiflingly hot by June, Felted Tweed might save me.

Now, I hope to celebrate some mini-milestones along the way, but if all goes well, I will be celebrating June 12th more than usual!

So. Am I crazy? Crazy like a FOX?

(edited to replace the teeny-weeny Greek Pullover picture with one that you can actually see)

Roots of Pathos (Heather)

Don't worry, the following post is not as dire as the title suggests. A pothos vine I renamed my pathos vine suffered a dehydration trauma a few months ago, and to remedy this, for some reason I clipped off the vine from the stem and stuck it in a handy bottle of water.

Only after I had done so was I mildly corrected, that it would take months for the slip to take roots, and that the long vine would quickly die. Well, there were more than a few leafy casualties, but the majority of the leaves stayed green, and now...



Roots!! I didn't kill it after all!! My mother, when I sent her this picture, wisely recommended that I transfer the slips to a new, more wide-necked container, as the roots would keep on growing, but the neck of the bottle would not. Since I would rather not go the mess and bother of breaking the bottle in situ, I will do so.

I had a post all ready in my head the other day, but a head cold and a busy schedule kept me from realizing its potential. I even had it photographed!



The trekking sock was a creature of fits and starts. In one sitting I knitted the cuff and about three inches of sock. In the next sitting I knit to the heel. Then the heel and half the foot, then the foot and the entire toe. Since usually a sock is a long gradual process for me, it was interesting to note that although none of these sittings happened in the same day, it would be entirely possible for me to knit a sock in two days, possibly even in one, if I had the right motivation and particularly strong wrists. Alas, I am a sucker for a distraction, and I finished the first sock (for all intents and purposes; I will graft them both together) in five days of very intermittent knitting.



And i virtuously cast on for the second sock in the same sitting as I finished the toe of the first. Last night I made a lot more progress on socke the seconde and it is halfway to the heel already. I have intentionally made these socks as long as I can without requiring increases to accommodate my calves. I know that five days is not that impressive for knitting one sock, but it seems encouraging to me, and confirms that sock-knitting might be just the thing to get me out of my knitting slump.

Speaking of sock patterns, dis anyone else get twitchy when they saw Clessidra? The only thing stopping me from casting on rightthisminute is that I have enough yarn in only one colour: grey. It's even the called-for Regia Silk, but will grey properly convey the richness of the pattern? And how would they look on my pale chicken legs?? The debate rages.

In other news, my windowsill is a veritable bumper crop of blooms! It looks like the final count will be eight blossoms from two bulbs.



Sure brightens up the room!

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?

The Saga of the Trekking Socks (Adriana)

I've been having some unsatisfying knitting these days. First there was the whole thing with the Manos hat, which I still haven't figured out. Now I've run into problems with my Trekking sock.

Before Christmas Heather and I decided to help each other out with Second Sock Syndrome. Since the first sock is the fun one to knit and the second one always drags, we thought that by knitting one sock and then giving it and the remaining yarn to the other person, we would eliminate SSS. I knit up a footsie sock from Heather out of some Austermann Step and she decided to finish the Trekking sock which she was started but which turned out to be too big for her, coincidentally the perfect size for me.

I dove right into this sock and greatly enjoyed the transitioning colours. I measured it carefully, trying to copy what Heather did which fit me perfectly. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, I screwed up.


The perfect sock


The imperfect sock

It looks like I started the heel too soon. I like a tight sock but this is too tight. I just can't face ripping back several days' work so I'm putting these socks on ice and turning to Odessa and a mystery project (sneak peek here).