bulk barn

So I am still waiting to receive Carrie Nation in the mail. I fear she has been stopped at the border and is being subjected to a neck cavity search. Perhaps she will arrive tomorrow.




In other news, I had a dream last night that I was knitting this capelet while wearing it. I woke up and was worried that I'd lost the needles since I couldn't feel them but didn't realize that I had actually gone to sleep in a T-shirt as opposed to an unfinished knitting project. this is why one shouldn't knit right before going to sleep.

Speaking of the capelet, I decided to undo the inch of ribbing I had started at the bottom and add another inch or so of stockinette, since the only thing worse than wearing a pink fluffy boobstripe is wearing a bulky brown one.





You can't really tell from the photo, but I managed to drop a stitch about halfway down. It's strange because it sort of starts out of nowhere. I must have done it when I ran a cord through the stitches to try it on. I'm not really sure how I'm going to deal with this situation but it will probably involve a crochet hook and some swearing.




Also, while in the store, I thought the yarn was khaki but it actually seems to be a chocolate brown. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I try not to wear brown because I equate brown with being a hippy. Not that I could ever look like a hippy with my sassy, red, Velma from Scooby Doo haircut. Actually I'm fairly sure Velma would wear brown and lots of it. Jinkies!

der pullover ist flauschig

I decided to test drive the pink fluffy thing at the wednesday night SnB. As I was getting ready, I realized that it violated on important rule of knitting, the don't knit a pink fluffy cropped thing to wear over the biggest part of your body rule. However, I thought that the knitting meet up would be the perfect place to try it out because I knew I would get some good advice from some of the more seasoned knitters. I was thinking I may need to add another inch or two of ribbing at the bottom to make it look less like a bright pink boob stripe. When I arrived at the Second Cup, I was greeted with lots of 'I can't believe you aren't wearing some sort of knitted headgear' type comments. I then peeled off my jean jacket to reveal the fluffyness underneath and got lots of 'oohs' and 'ahhhs' and 'it's perfect, don't change a thing' type reponses. I was advised not to make a matching headband or if I do, to not under any circumstances wear them at the same time. I'm inclined to agree. So now I am wondering what to do with the extra skein of yarn. I could bring it back to the store but it's so soft I just can't bear to.

I also got more oohs and ahhs when I can out of the washroom wearing my not quite finished greeny/brown capelet. I AM THE CAPELET QUEEN!!!

and speaking of cute and fluffy..



I borrowed the photo from this site

Capelet of Joy and Fluff

The capelet is finished, with the exception of a few ends to weave in.




It is pink.




It is fluffy.




I hope I will be brave enough to wear it.

TTC knit-a-long

Last Saturday I took part in the TTC knit-a-long all day knitting extravaganza. I was on the west team because I live in beautiful Parkdale. First stop was the Drake cafe where some people had breakfast and our team leader, Beryl handed out our Knit-a-long passports and taught us a song about yarn. For my project, I decided to continue on the pink socks of despair.

First stop, the Knit Cafe.


Beryl Tsang at the Knit Cafe



Liz and the nice girl who works at the knitcafe.



Hilarity ensues

We stopped here and knit for a long time, some people bought things and most people knit.

Eventually we hopped onto a streetcar and went on to Romni wools. I had a yarn budget of $80 and was on a mission to find some yarn similar to Rowan polar to make this
capelet that everyone is making right now. Although I was interested in checking out the other yarn stores on our itinirary, I knew Romni was the best place to find non-specialty, non-Rowan, non-Debbie Bliss, slightly more within my budget yarn. I managed to find 2 different yarns that I liked, land and marte both by Ornaghi Filate. I really like this company because they are Italian and their logo is a Panda bear. I bought 4 skeins of each yarn and a book on stitch patterns.

Some of the girls decided to teach Liz, the reporter who was coming along for the ride, how to knit...but first they needed to wind the wool.


makeshift woolwinder outside of Romni.

We then went to a coffee place and knit and knit and eventually wandered up to Kensington Market to go to Lettuce Knit...to ummm knit.


Lettuce Knit

Some people bought things here. I sat outside and worked on the sock of misery.


Sandi & friend (courtesy of Page)






knitting (and in some cases; crocheting) while waiting for the other teams.

After a few hours, the other teams showed up and entertained us with TTC knitting adventures as we compared purchases. I got quite a lot done on the sock of pain and woe, but then realized when I tried it on, that I had messed up the stitch pattern (again). So I ended up unravelling about 3 inches or so. I think the photographer got a picture of me in tears doing that. Eventually we all ended up on Queen street and swarmed onto a streetcar bound east.

and we knit.





Jen Hendriks and friends knitting TTC style.

and people stared at us.


new knitting convert and Star reporter Liz.read her article here

and the streetcar was too jiggly for me to get any more decent pictures. Eventually we ended up at the Naked Sheep but by that point I was tired of taking photos. They had lots of sweets for us at the store, people bought stuff and prizes were awarded. I purchased an Interweave magazine and used up my yarn budget. All in all, it was a fun day and I went home exhausted and ready to start knitting something besides the sock of hideousness.




This is what I bought. Yes, some of the yarn is shockingly pink and fluffy. I must be losing it. The other yarn is actually sort of a khaki colour and is apparently quite similar to Rowan polar.




This is the half finished capelet that doesn't really cover my gianormous rack. It's actually not supposed to cover the rack, however I think I'll make the second one a little bigger in the front and at the neckline to get a little more coverage and if I have enough of the pink yarn left over I will make a matching panta so I can rock the Scandanavian, fluffy pink ski bunny look and as for the sock(s)...I'm thinking they should be anklets.

Beyond the valley of the mannequin heads

I now have an etsy store featuring two sad little headbands that no one wants. *mope* I think people are afraid of the wool. Also my pictures suck proverbial ass. I blame the bald styrofoam head. The hairbands would look much more hairband-like if they were displayed on a head with hair. I am opposed to putting myself in any pictures and too lazy/cheap to hire a model, so I set out on tuesday in search of a better hat head. After wandering around in the grueling heat for hours, I choked and came home with 2 slighty more retro looking styrofoam heads...also bald.

Eventually I turned to Ebay and perused pages and pages of manky looking mannequin heads and other limbs (many of which, were frighteningly referred to as 'sexy') until I found this vintage looking beauty.




The condition seems to be fine- although it was listed as 'used'.




I'm not sure what it was about this particular head that appealed to me; the long cockroach coloured (real human) hair, the waxy skin, the giant painted-on eyelashes.

Eventually I realized that I dig this head because she/it looks like a character straight out of the greatest movie ever made; Russ Meyers' Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Excitingly, I have won the auction and lost my Ebay virginity. All I have to do is the payment thing and wait and in reference to the film, I shall call her Carrie Nation!!

I don't want to go back to the old sock.

A few weeks ago I unravelled the pink sock for the third time and started again. It looks more like a sock now and less like a penis cozy.



Hey! it looks the same as the old sock...but it's not. The heel is different. I swear

I'm debating whether to use it/them as my project for this Saturday's TTC knit along. or finish something old, or start something new.



If I used one pattern for these instead of 3, I bet I wouldn't have to keep unravelling it

The obvious problem with socks is that you really should make 2. Ideally, I'd like these to be knee socks but I'd have to increase the stiches and it would mess up the stitch pattern and I'd have to unravel it again...for the fourth time. Also the sock is surprisingly bulky. I was hoping I could wear it/them with my pink Fluevog wedges, but the sock makes them a little tight. Maybe I need to step away from the sock from a while. Finally, I don't think I like making socks, although I do prefer the toe up variety because you can try it on as you go.