It is Saturday and I should be cleaning. I really should be cleaning. And I will clean. I really will clean... after this update. Due to general slothiness and an ass-kicking cold the week before last, my place is even shamblier than usual...and I plan to address this. I really do. There is a problem however, as I think my cold has come back. I wonder if it is not a cold, but in fact an allergy to house work. My theory may have some flaws though, as I usually start feeling plague-y at work. Perhaps I actually have an allergy to work or an allergy to the people I work with.

In any case, due to this recurring plague I may bail on Nuit Blanche tonight. Even though I promised some workmates I would go and one of the "zones" is literally outside my apartment door...well truthfully it is literally across the street and one block east from my apartment door, which I guess means that one of the "zones" is figuratively outside my apartment door. But I digress. I think I will bail as I can't afford to stay out all night and become even sicker.

In the meantime.

I have been knitting...in a non-enthusiastic manner. Perhaps this is because I am unhappy in my life or maybe my problem is that I have too many long term projects on the go- and not enough instant gratification.

In theory this



should be a "Wheeeee! This is so much fun, I can't wait to finish it and wear it" project. The pattern is the Gothic Revival shawl and I am enjoying knitting it, however the yarn: Dream in Color Starry- is dyeing my hands black as I knit, which eliminates this as a "Knit in public" project. I am also worried about wearing it for the same reason but hopefully I'll be able to rinse all the dye out. I know dark coloured yarns have a tendency to bleed a bit, but after working with this yarn for a few minutes I look more like a mechanic than a knitter. I'll be honest, I'm not too impressed considering how much this yarn costs.

I have also been working on the Fountainhead Shawl



for several months however this is also a knit at home project as the yarn is so fine that I need full concentration. A dropped stitch could cause the project to explode...figuratively.

I am also still working on the sweater from the last post, and another sweater that I am too lazy to take pictures of and an ugly sock. Perhaps I could finish the sock, but then I would have to make another. Maybe I'll just take a nap.

Sweaters....

I'm rather embarrassed that I haven't updated this since May! Although truth be told that last post was created right before the "yarn" hit the fan at work. Everything went explode-y for a while and things have sort of finally calmed down.... sort of. I got promoted and a few months later, actually got a raise for my troubles which will enable me to either pay off my debt a little sooner or buy more yarn. I am leaning toward the 2nd option.

I have been using my time wisely but be warned - this video contains violence towards knitting. It also contains a song by the *Yeah Yeah Yeahs





*please don't sue me, I give credit where credit is due. Plus I am cute.

In other news have been knitting. Oh how I have been knitting. I finally finished this sweater







I have been knitting this sweater for over a year. I was trying to get rid of some Wool of the Andes that had been languishing in my stash for far to long and for some reason, decided on this sweater. It was a fairly interesting knit and has some interesting construction details in the sleeve area. I wasn't crazy about the gaping neckline though so I extended the ribbing at the neckline. Actually I am not sure why I initially decided on this sweater in the first place... I may have been drunk at the time. But I digress.

I sewed a big button and a snap at the neck and wore the sweater to work on Friday but it just wasn't falling right. Problem solved as I am now <3ing this Annie Adams shawl pin. It's pewter and completely awesome.





I have a couple more sweaters and shawls on the go but am too lazy to take "in progess" photos of everything.

One of the current sweaters is the Marigold sweater from the late summer/early fall edition of Interweave Knits. I am worried it may end up being a bit big for me, but I seem to have lost all sense of size. I don't know. I can say with absolute certainty that it is too big for the cat.

Andrea's shawl is finished and the results were better than I had originally anticipated. Also I have worn this twice in public and have heard no laughter or snickers behind my back, which is a good sign I think. The pattern was an interesting knit as it deviated from the usual triangle shawl construction although truth be told, the picot edging made me want to stab my head at times.






Speaking of shawls, I started 198 yards of Heaven pretty much immediately after casting off the previous shawl. I decided to make it using partial balls of stash yarn. 1/2 a ball of Noro Kuryon sock for the centre and Patons Kroy sock yarn for the edging. This was a very quick knit although the instructions were a little unclear in the pattern. While a was unpinning the shawl after it was dry, someone decided that it was actually her shawl and I was not allowed to have it. Although this certain someone likes to like down on pretty much any blocked piece of knitting, this shawl elicited a never before seen excitement for the cat. I think the reasons are twofold, firstly the Noro yarn is scratchy, and cats dig that and secondly and more importantly, the shawl matches her almost perfectly. It's a little eerie actually.












I did manage to get the shawl from her (after all I am bigger and have hands) and she actually allowed me to wear it to work (ok, I snuck it out when her back was turned)Perhaps I'll knit one for her at some point, but I think she prefers to steal mine.

Merci mais je ne veux pas partir en votre voyage de culpabilite...

As usual I have been remiss in my posting duties. I should be posting fantastic adventures and non-blurry photographs... I'm still working on that- at least in my mind. As usual I am feeling overwhelmed and crushed by my monotonous day-to-day life. I think telephones should be a privilege not a right and I have horrible revenge fantasies involving retirees and phone cords... and am still trying to figure out how to say "thank you but I would rather not go on your F&$*ing Guilt trip" in French. (Merci mais je ne veux pas partir en votre voyage de culpabilite...calise?") but I digress....


This colour is a bit of an anomaly for me. The yarn was a trade and the shawl was a gift. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Ishbel in Kraemer Yarns Saucon Sock

I have been knitting as usual and I am trying to work my way through the stash one skein at a time. Really compared to some I've seen, my stash is quite understated, miniscule, practically non-existent. In fact I should go yarn shopping right now. Small stash aside, there are good and bad points to having a stash. On one hand I have a whole bunch of "inspiration" just waiting for the perfect pattern, on the other hand I may have the perfect pattern but no suitable yarn, yet I feel I must knit from my stash instead of aquiring the perfect yarn because of the guilt. (please note: Yarn Guilt is not to be confused with the F&$*ing Guilt trip) Also a large portion of my stash yarn is purple, specifically "dead" purple. Which is all well and good, but sometimes it's nice to knit something in another colour and by "another colour" I don't mean grey or alpine green- which are pretty much the only 2 other colours in my stash.


Seen above: Haruni in Fantastic Knitting Zephyr Laceweight, Travelling Woman in Knitpicks Palette, Multnomah in Estelle Arequipa

Like many others in the knitting world I have gone shawl crazy. I have turned my back on sock knitting for the time being as hand knit socks do not really fit into my business casual work clothing style. Well, perhaps they fit with the style but they don't fit into the shoes. Small "shawlettes" on the other hand- are perfect as they not only keep me warm in my air conditioned office, but they add a small, controlled dose of colour to my primarily black wardrobe and most importantly they draw the eye away from the cat hair.



one of these things is not like the other. Seen above: Clothide in Estelle Arequipa, Ishbel in Malabrigo Lace weight, Damson in Malabrigo Sock, and Heartland lace shawl in Knitpicks Palette

I am now working on Andrea's Shawl which is a bit of a departure for me as it isn't purple or grey (well at least not completely grey) and then there are the stripes. It sort of reminds me of a Victorian Bordello or Annie Oakley's underthings. Not sure if I will ever wear it, but it is allowing me to use up some odd balls and leftovers. Plus if it proves to be too ostentatious for the office, I can turn it into a cherry lampshade.




Andrea's Shawl in Knitpicks Essentials and Estelle Arequipa

Start something Sunday

I have been procrastinating. It’s been months since I have returned back from my glorious UK adventure and I just can’t get those blog posts done. Well perhaps in the new year, cause I still have a lot of kicking pictures to post. But speaking of posting- I will post a pattern that I have been working on for a while. I gave myself a goal a few months ago that I would design and post a new pattern every month and do it in PDF. That is totally not going to happen, so now I am working on 1 every 2 months or so.... and PDF is pending.

for now I present my "pull up your bootstraps and climb out of that rut pattern" #1

as modelled by everyone's favorite vintage cosmetology head: Carrie Nation.

Start something Sunday beret

materials needed

5mm circ needles. (I used a 40” cord and did magic loop/ but 20” cord would work fine as well).

Cable needle or DPN.

approx 230 yds of worsted weight yarn- use bulkier yarn for a slouchier beret.

*Purple hat uses 1.5 skeins of Naturally Sensation yarn

**Multi hat uses 1.5 skeins Patons SWS yarn

Gauge not crucial- but I got 18 sts = 4" for ribbing and 22sts = 4" for cable pattern for the purple hat

CO 96 sts. Join for working in the round. Place marker at beginning of round.

K 8 rows in 1x1 rib (purple beret shows twisted rib K1tbl, p1/ multi beret shows K1P1 rib)

Knit 1 row

on next row Inc 1, k1, inc 1, k1 then increase every 3 sts until last 4 sts, inc 1, k1, inc1, k1, inc 1 k1, inc 1 k1- should have 132 sts total

Rows 1& 2 - Knit

Row 3. *K2, C4B

Rows 4 & 5- Knit

Row 6- *C4F, K2

Row 7- Knit

Continue these 7 rows until piece measures 8"

Row 1- K2, *s2K1psso, k3, c4b

Row 2- Knit

Row 3- *K1, s2k1psso, k2, s2k1psso, k1

Row 4- Knit

Row 5 *s2k1,psso

Row 6- knit

Row 7- *s1k1psso

Row 8- knit

cut yarn and pull through remaining stitches.

Key

C4B- slip 2 sts on cable needle, place behind work, knit next 2 sts, k sts off cable needle

C4F slip 2 sts on cable needle, place in front of work, knit next 2 sts, k sts off cable needle

S2k1psso- slip 2 sts knitwise, knit one, pass slipped stitches over knit stitch

S1k1psso - slip 1 sts knitwise, knit 1, pass slipped st over knit sts

Hello U.K part 2.5- the voyage and train stations

I'd like to go to to Scotland

I'd like to wear a Kilt
I'd like to show off my 2 legs and do just what I wilt

I'd like to go to Scotland
and show off my 2 thighs
I'd like to wear a minikilt and kick you in the eyes

I'd like to go to Scotland
and be so very bad
I'd wear a micro-mini-kilt
of plaid"

"Scotland" by King Missile

Ok truth be told- I would not be wearing a micro-mini kilt of plaid or of any other fabric or motif. Scotland is brrrrr, but more on that later. Day 4 of my U.K. adventure and we were heading up to Scotland. We woke up, got ourselves together, went downstairs and enjoyed a breakfast buffet at the hotel- mostly cereal and toast but I did fill my pockets with cheese for later. Pocket cheese- Oh yeah!! We walked to the tube station and took some public transit to the train station- can’t remember which one but it looks like this:





its this one




We wandered around the station for a bit and eventually got on the train. I had made sure to stock up on important train food; Walkers crisps, Hula Hoops-and Cheesy Wotsits so we would not have to resort to cannibalism. Meagie had booked us prime seating- 3 seats with a table and people looked at us with envy. There was one empty seat in our quad; someone was supposed to join us at Donegal? Doncaster? Lancaster? Not sure exactly where- somewhere Northern, in anycase- never happened which is probably good considering the fact that we ran out of crisps mid-journey.

I amused Meagie by pointing out which sheep were for sweaters and which were for eating “them’s eating sheep” I says…I mean I said. Truth be told I had no idea which sheep are for eating and which are for wearing, but my sister doesn't need to know that. We also played a rousing game of "that’s my mansion, that’s your shack" although due to the scenery it was mostly- "that’s my field, that’s your bracken, that’s my forest, that’s your shrubbery, that’s your wall, that’s Hadrian’s wall". Eventually a nice goth girl sat in our empty seat- to get away from the screaming children. She was most interested in my knitting. I had started a sock in the Toronto airport- although I didn't bother trying to knit on the plane as the seats were pretty cramped and the potential terrorist sitting beside me could have done a lot of damage with my 2mm bamboo sock needles. But I digress, I got a large section done on the train. You can knit on a lot of sock in 5 1/2 hours. The other interesting thing is as soon as we crossed the “border” to Scotland there was rain. How does it know?




York's Train Station




By the time we got to Edinburgh, we were half a million strong...ok we were actually 3 strong. Although truthfully we weren't strong; we were tired and hungry and full of woe when we saw upon disembarking from the train we had to climb stairs....many stairs- many steep stairs- This proved difficult on our train atrophied legs. But finally we had arrived.

Train stations are cool, non?

Check out my feet on the cobblestones of Edinburgh

Next installment. Edinburgh- and a plague of pamphlets

the beast

This irregularly scheduled blog post is interupted by.... the beast.
This morning she chomped down on my pointer finger and it hurts like a &$%#(#%#%er.
It hurts to type....it hurts to knit.
Now in theory she was only playing...but was she really playing?



we used to be friends



don't let this fool you- she is vicious





it doesn't look like much- and the picture isn't too clear- but since taking this photo the bruises have spread. She managed to puncture the skin on both sides of my finger under the nail. I hope I don't have cat aids. Also I anticipate that my nail will turn black by the end of the day.