Beanies and wooden stakes

Well, it would seem that I'm not quite on track with my once a week blogging. I've got blog-worthy stuff going on, but there was a visit from the family this weekend to celebrate by grandfather's birthday. So that's taken most of my time over the weekend. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it. If anyone cares to complain, all I have to say to that is:

Actually, in all seriousness, this is a prop replica of the Slayer's Scythe from the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Very pretty. Zara thinks so:

I know it's not really knitting related, but I like to knit while I watch Buffy. Does that count? No, there is a pointy stick part:

And if that weren't enough to kill vampires:

So shiny!

Okay, fine. Enough geek, more yarn. How 'bout this?

I knit this a little while ago, but never got around to blogging it. Here's a bad shot of me wearing it:

It is so hard to take pictures of yourself in the mirror. Anyway it's the Beanpole Beanie by Cerebral Hemorrhage. I used some of the leftover Briggs & Little Regal from my Not-so-Kakhi Cables cardigan which is a lighter guage than the pattern calls for. It makes for a much smaller hat. I have a pretty tiny head, though so this worked to my advantage. It's not as slouchy as it would have been with a heavier yarn, but I think I like it anyway. I like the pattern too, and might even try again in a chunkier yarn some time.

As for more current knits, I started this last week:

And took this picture last night. Then went out for coffee and didn't blog. So I took this one tonight:

This is the Gathered Pullover by Hana Jason from Interweave Knits Winter 2007 issue. The yarn is this:

I can't find reference to this yarn anywhere online, but it's a really gorgeous undyed black sheep merino yarn that my parents very graciously brought back from Australia special for me. I can't remember if I blogged it before. I've been hoarding it since October, so it's entirely possible that I was keeping it to myself. I know you would have too :) Anyway, I was waiting to find a great pattern for it and this simple pullover with a great bit of cabled detail seemed to be just right. It even looks like the yarn used in the picture in the magazine.

So I guess that's it for now. I'll just leave you with a picture demonstrating one of the reasons it can be hard to get much knitting done around here:

They don't make a habit of playing with yarn, but magazines, papers, books, needles, and pencils are obviously designed specially for cats. Right?

First post of 2008

I can't believe it's already halfway through January. It's amazing how time flies when you're trapped on a mysterious island somewhere in the South Pacific. That, incidentally, is my excuse for why it's taken me this long to return to my blog. It's not a good one, but there it is. There has been knitting since I last posted. The Not-so-Kakhi Cables has been assembled, but I haven't braved the modelled shot yet. I'm very happy with it though.

Remember how I had posted pictures of the blocking pieces? I was concerened about the Caleb monster mistaking damp wooly things on the bed for sleeping mats. He likes things that are wet, don't ask me why. So I left the room and kept an eye on the wee beastie, only to come back into the room to close up the computer and find this:

The Zara monster took note that my attention was elsewhere, and took advantage of damp knits with pins stuck in them. Cats!

So photos of the finished sweater to come, but in the meantime, I need to slog through all the knitting stuff of the last month. Be prepared for lots of pictures. The holiday season was upon us, so there wasn't as much knitting as merrymaking, so it's not too bad. First up there was this:

Where there is flaming pudding, there is booze. Consequently, no knitting.

Then there was this:

My sister recieved her Endpaper Mitts and was thrilled. Not so much about the modelling part, but that is the fate of anyone recieving knit gifts from a knitblogger, non? I think these turned out pretty darn well, even if I do say so myself. There is a bracelet on over one of them, I didn't knit something across the wrist. My dad thought I should point that out. Dads!

There was bus knitting:

The first of my Azure Socks. And then, because I don't like to knit the same sock immediately after the first, I finished these:

Southwestern Socks by Wendy Johnson. Mirasol Hacho yarn in the Coral Reef colourway. Me likes. How about a close-up?

The colour is better represented in the first picture, but this one shows the pattern a bit better.

So then I did this:

The second Azure Sock. No Second Sock Syndrome for me, no siree.

I got new yarn:

Trekking XXL in colour #182. This is all pretty olivey greens and mustardy yellow. Kind of makes me think of camoflauge. I'll keep you posted if my feet disappear into the undergrowth when I wear whatever socks this is destined to be.

And finally, because I finished my cardigan, I was allowed to start this:

Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style. The yarn as you can see in the top right, is Noro Silk Garden. The colour is #244. I am in love with this stole (it's too wide to really qualify as a scarf). I was nervous about the entrelac, but it's fun. Take not of my saying that. This is just the beginning of the project. The bliss could still wear off. But until then. The knitting is engaging, the yarn is fantastic! I suspect this will occupy most of my time for a while. I can hear it calling me now. I gotta go.

On the Block

Well, I'm very proud of myself. I seem to have managed to blog once a week for several weeks in a row. I hope I can keep it up. I'm officially on vacation right now, which is excellent news for me, because it means there's lots of time for knitting. I've been plugging away at socks mostly in preparation for my trip to my parents' place in Mississauga. Socks make such great bus knitting, but I'm easily bored, so I have three socks ready to go.

First up is the Azure socks:

You might remember, I started theses socks initially for sitting in waiting rooms. This didn't actually happen. I forgot to bring the sock, and as it turns out, didn't actually wind up waiting long enough to knit anything even if I had brought it. Yay. So dental xrays are done with no significant problems which makes me very happy and my bank account even happier. And my driver's license has been renewed which means I can drive my parents' kick ass car over the holidays!

Next up:

Southwestern Socks by Wendy at WendyKnits. This is the first sock. I still have to wind the second skein so I can start the second sock. Which I will do. Despite the seeming case of startitis I'm nursing. It looks like startitis, but really, I'm being prepared. The yarn is the Mirasol Hacho I bought at vendors night at the Knitting Guild. It's a sport/DK weight, so these socks are turning out really well.

Next in line, and final sock on the block:

This is Cairi's Sweetheart designed by Bronte. I tried to put a link to this, but for some reason doing so kept kicking me out of the internet. Thank goodness Blogger autosaves now. Anyway, the yarn is some Regia-4 ply I had kicking around. It's knitting up pretty well. I love the colour. It even matches the mattress on my spare bed. It's the small things, I know.

Speaking of blocking:

I finally got around to blocking the body of my Not-So-Khaki Cables. Here they are looking all pretty. The yarn has softened up dramatically, and I'm no longer afraid of putting it on my body. Hopefully it'll fit. So this process was in preparation for knitting on the button band this week because I can't work on all those socks if I want to take them on my trip. The sweater will be too ungainly to pack though, so I can work on it to my heart's content. I can't wait for it to dry. You might be able to see at the top of the picture why my Caleb is also known as el Plumpo. He's been told to keep off the black sweater. So far, so good. He's got better things to do.

Like this:

Birdwatching. That puffed up bird in the tree is a source of endless entertainment. Anyway, with that, I'll go off to find something to do that doesn't involve knitting socks. Hmmm, what to do...

Yarn Haul

It's amazing how much can happen in a month's time. Since my last post, I've finished the body portions of my not-so-kakhi cables cardigan, and am most of the way finished on the sleeves. It's pretty boring stuff though, so I won't post pictures. I knit Shedir from Knitty's special breast cancer issue, but forgot to take pictures. Oops. But I also made some additions to my stash! It's going to be pretty photo heavy now, so bear with me.

This is Briggs & Little Tuffy:

The colour is Blue Jean, and while the photo is blurry, the shot on the right shows the colour pretty well. I got this while on a yarn crawl with a fellow knitter prior to a volunteer stint for the Ottawa Knitting Guild at a fibre festival at the textile museum in Almonte. We stopped at The Real Wool Shop in Carleton Place where I acquired 6 skeins of the Tuffy first, then at the Mississippi Blacksheep Gallery where I got this:

This is about 1900 yards of silk/yak laceweight. Possibly even cobweb, it's pretty fine. It's also so soft, I actually walked several blocks to find a bank machine in order to bring it home with me. Mississippi Blacksheep Gallery is really nice, but they don't take debit. Bear that in mind if you plan to visit. And you should, especially if you're a weaver.

Then there were my lovely parents who I love. They went to Australia in September (without me, which I don't love) and brought me back some yarn!!!

This is what seems to be DK weight yarn (21 st to 10 cm). It's 8 ply in 50 g balls, of which I have 10. They're natural colour spun from black sheep. It's a really pretty brownish grey colour that is hard to make out in the picture. I would have tried for more shots, but the wind was blowing really hard on my balcony and I still had more yarn to photograph. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with this, but it has to be really special. The fact that my folks not only tracked down yarn while in Australia, but also hauled it home with them, makes this the most special yarn in my stash. And considering that silk/yak stuff, that's saying a lot.

After that was the Knitting Guild's vendors night. I spent less than I budgeted, for that I am proud and I got a great haul:

This is Hacho from the Mirasol project which means that a portion of the money goes towards building schools for the children of Peruvian shepherds who are responsible for the sheep whose wool made this yarn. The colour is called Coral Reef. Pretty worthy cause and some really pretty yarn.

Koigu KPPM. I've read lots of blogs where the joys of Koigu have been described, and when I saw some available, I had to have it. The colour is P436 and is so pretty, I can't even begin to tell you.

Finally, this is hand dyed by a new company called Sweet Paprika Designs. This is their Messa di Voce sock yarn in the Blood Orange colourway. So pretty! It was really hard to choose a colour. I wish I could have bought all of them. Such is life, and I still need to find the funding for blocking wires so I can show you Swan Lake (previously known as Mystery Stole 3), plus the possibility of Yule knitting. Yikes, is it really almost the end of October?

Anyway, that's all for now. I wish I had some actual knitting to show off. I swear I have been knitting! Really. I have. I'll show you next time. Until then, here's some naughty critters:

I know they don't look terribly naughty here, but I'm sure Caleb is off to get into something or other. Possibly my knitting. That's all, I'm off.

Oops, I did it again... again...

For the record, I am not nor have I ever been a fan of Britney Spears.

Okay, now that that is on record, here goes again. My internet shut down mid post before, so...

I went yarn shopping. Again. Yay me!

So I got this:

Bernat Sox in Lime Hot. This says it's new. It's certainly new to me, and I hope it's okay. It's an acrylic nylon blend which is kinda, meh. But it's lime green! And even more important, it was under $3!!! Which is good because I also got this:

Regia Cotton Tip & Top Color in the 4085 colourway. I can't find what the actual name of the colour is and after the crash, I can't be bothered finding out right now. Maybe when I actually knit it. I also got these:

Regia 4-ply in Raspberry (1258) and Turquoise (1255). Regia needs to get more creative in the names of their colours. My yellow one from the other day is "Yellow."

So then after satifying my need to bulk up my sock yarn stash in preparation for summer knitting (I sadly only had 3 pairs worth stashed), I splurged on this:

This is only two of the six balls I bought of Filatura di Crosa Luxury 100% silk! The colour is called Natural and has been discontinued. I have no idea what I'm going to make out of this except that it will be a summer shell tank. I can't wait.

Now just to prove that I haven't been sitting idly, with nothing but shopping going on, I have progress shots of the second of my Meilenweit cotton Jaywalkers and the left front of my Not-so-Kakhi Cables cardi:

Gratuitous kitty shot:

And as if my babies weren't eye candy enough, the Eiffel tower in the late afternoon:

I have other Paris shots which I can share later, but I couldn't resist these two pictures taken from our hotel room. This was on the windowsill, just outside.

Two pats of butter and a partially eaten piece of cheese. Mmmm, just in case the guests get hungry, the hotel finds a way to get past the lack of mini-fridge in the room.

Just beyond that tasty snack (which, incidentally, we left for the next lucky visitor) was what was lovingly referred to as the jaccuzi:

Also, not so lovingly, as the cesspool. The roof of the building next door. I could have climbed out my window into it. Pretty gross. Luckily, we didn't spend much time in the hotel, cause... Paris!

Anyway, I've posted more pictures than ever in this post I think, so I will leave you with those lovely pictures. Me, I'm going to play with silk!

Of Josh and Angelus

Not much to report on the knitting front. Mostly I've been tearing around trying to get ready for my trip (4 days and counting). I have been getting some work done on my "Kakhi" Cables. The back is starting to look like it might actually be on its way to becoming a garment:

I'm past the armhole shaping now and have about 4 more inches to knit before I reach the shoulder shaping. I'm loving how this pattern looks, even if it is fussy with all that seed stitch and cable work (I haven't figured out how to do it without a cabling needle). Here's another close-up:

Now that all that exciting knitting is done with (this is a knitting blog after all), I'll move on to what has me the most excited today. Josh Groban! He performed here in Ottawa last night at Scotiabank Place and I had my tickets months ago. Here is a shot of the stage:

It was really impressive! All the panels lit up and had images on them that changed throughout the show. Josh sounded spectacular (no surprise there)! Here's an "action" shot:

For his encore, he came out wearing this Senators jersey which was really awesome. It had Groban 07 on the back, which was pretty cool.

I took lots of photos but I wasn't allowed to use my flash so most of them look like this:

This was an absolutely phenomenal concert and I can't wait for him to come to Ottawa again!

Also on the not knitting front, on Saturday instead of groceries, I came home with this:

This is a thing of beauty! The Sword of Angelus from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is the one that features in the 2nd season finale where Buffy stabs Angel and sends him to hell. Yeah, good times. This is my first blade, and hopefully, it's just the beginning!

Well, I guess that's enough of non-knitting stuff for now, hopefully I'll find time to post again before my trip (4 days, did I mention?), that is assuming I have actual knitting progress to report.