Snow Day!

legwarmers, originally uploaded by leeleetea.

Yesterday we got the biggest snow dump the city has ever seen in a good many years, especially so early in the winter season, seeing as it's not even technically winter yet. However, here it's been winter for a few weeks, and this snow dump just proves it. Apparently this is more snow in one go than we had all last year. Hey, weather is just keeping us on our toes.

Of course, lots of snow means snow days! I was fortunate enough to not have to go into work. Since it wasn't really necessary to have three people at the store, they said I could stay home. I took the opportunity to sit in my room and work on my Christmas knitting. I made major headway at the Lettuce Knit holiday party on Saturday, and then doubled that yesterday, while watching Robin Hood episodes off YouTube. I was able to completely finish one of the legwarmers, and need only graft the cuff onto the other. I decided that the easiest way to make the two sides of the legwarmer symmetrical and equally stretchy was to just knit the second cuff separately and then kitchener it on. It's a bit of a pain in the butt, but then so would a sewn bindoff.

While watching TV I also managed a few rows on my Feather and Fan shawl, which is now averaging over 1,000 stitches in the round, with about 40 more rounds to go. Knitting in front of the TV is certainly making a difference in getting this done. I can do about 2-4 rows in one sitting, depending on how long I sit for. I think today I did 1.5, but I was only there for an hour and a half. Yesterday I was there for four hours, waiting for Northanger Abbey to be on, and then watching it. I got the time messed up a bit! At this rate though, I still won't be done for a good long while!

Mmmmm .... yarn....

ribbing, originally uploaded by leeleetea.

Isn't this just yummy all knitted up? I am loving working on these, if only for the colours. Good thing it's also Christmas knitting, so I'm allowed. They will be socks for my dad, out of Dream in Color Smooshy, colourway Dusky Aurora. They started out being the Gentleman's Lozenge Socks, from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, but my gauge was way off, and they were ending up way to big, so I ripped back to the cuff and just continued that. I figure they're going to be house socks anyway, so it doesn't much matter if they are a little big, the ribbing will keep them up and comfy.

Right now I'm alternating between these and some simple red and white striped legwarmers, for one of my cousins. I just have to bind off on the first one, and then I'll be half way there. I think I can get it all done, but we'll see. Good thing today is the perfect curl up with a cup of tea, knit and watch all the snow day!

Mermaid Tears

Mermaid Tears, originally uploaded by leeleetea.

Yesterday was all study time chez Tricotastique. Or rather it was mostly study time, as I took lots of breaks to do other things as well. One of those breaks involved fondling some new stash that arrived in the mail! I present one marvelous skein of Schaefer Anne from the Loopy Ewe. Since Anne colourways are mostly one offs, Schaefer doesn't name them, not even a number. However, The Loopy Ewe gives them their own names, and this one is called Mermaid Tears. Isn't it gorgeous? It's all sorts of blues and greens, just like the ocean.

I also got an etsy package in the mail as well, from imogen. In it were two small pendants. The goldfish one is for me, to help along the goldfish obsession I'm going through right now. The second one is a little owl, which will got to a friend for the holidays. You can see a picture here. I would post one, but I'm not sure how to blog from two pictures from flickr. Anyone know if it's possible?

This sucks

Dear weather,
I know that I live in Canada, and that I should be happy that I'm not knee deep in a blizzard, but this is ridiculous. I love the snow, and I love that when I woke up this morning, there was a good 4-5 inches of some of the best snow this city has seen in a long time. It was good solid packing snow, wet, but not heavy. It wasn't too cold. I do believe that I even remarked that it would be pretty amazing skiing conditions. But then you changed your mind. You decided that what we needed was a good solid cold shower, that lasted all day. All this succeeded in turning all that glorious fluffy stuff into a blanket of slush. Slush that appeared solid, but upon any kind of pressure, would simply give way and reveal itself as simply water pretending to be snow. There was so much of this, that my boots soaked through, since the leather just kept taking on water once it started.

This idea to inundate us with water has two outcomes for tomorrow. The first is that everything will be a solid sheet of ice, which will be a nightmare for both pedestrians and cars. The second is that it will remain in it's slushy state. In event of the first outcome, I will prepare myself by walking very slowly and dressing warmly. For the second, it's going to be all about the rubber boots and handknit socks baby.

I see your tricky ways weather, don't think I'm not prepared.
love, me.

The Knitter's Bane

gryffindor scarf, originally uploaded by leeleetea.

Some people have lace, some have sweaters. I had the Gryffindor Scarf. It was my little hell, waiting for me, visiting upon my guilty conscience. It was a commission for a friend as a gift for his girlfriend. The yarn was scratchy and horrible, and I wasn't even really good friends with the guy anymore. It was supposed to be finished months ago, but honestly, I couldn't care enough to put enough effort into it. It festered in my closet over the summer, when both of them were miles away, too far for either to get it. When they broke up over the summer, I rejoiced, thinking that the scarf was now unwanted, and could now go permanently unfinished. Alas, the guy was a dink, and decided that the scarf could now go to the new girlfriend. C'mon, who doesn't love Harry Potter? So the scarf still sat, worked on occassionaly as TV knitting, gradually growing. I got a call this week asking for it, finished or not. Thank god, I thought. Finally it will be gone. Luckily for him, I actually got it to the point where it's passable as a scarf, if it weren't for the fact that it will make you go crazy with itchyness, but hey, that's what happens when he choose the yarn himself. I gave it to him today, most of the ends unwoven, but I did tell him how to do it himself, and that's not a hard job. Sigh. It's finally done. Gone. Out. Finished. A weight of my back.

New Scarf!

magenta scarf, originally uploaded by leeleetea.

I started this scarf way-o back in January (as in last winter) But got sidetracked an made a matching hat and mittens without actually finishing the scarf. However, it's been getting chilly here in Toronto, and my little Swallowtail just isn't battling the elements quite the way I would like it too. So I finally buckled down and finished the thing. Due to the enormous gauge, and the fact that it's just a basic 2x2 rib, I finished it in one day. Which means that this scarf could have taken me two days to knit, if I hadn't been so ADD about my knitting. Instead, it took 10 months!

The sort of unfortunate part about this scarf is that the 15% mohair is a little bit scratchier than I would like. The whole kit and kaboodle may end up being donated to someone who will really use it, but we'll see. I do still need a scarf.

This is the beginning of me trying to finish up my projects. I have a fair amount of gift knitting, not to mention that I really want as little on the needles once I leave the country. Lets not talk about how I'm still stash enhancing though.... ignore the STR in the drawer. It is not the STR that you are looking for.

So this picture has two stories behind it. The first is the scarf, which I am knitting for my mom. The stitch pattern is one I pulled from Vogue Stitchionary Volume 1, I'll get a close up of it later. I've knit almost all of that ball since this picture was taken. I'm thinking that it's going to take three balls total, which is a problem, since I only have two. The yarn was originally my mom's but she let me use it since I needed something red for this project.

The second story is the reason why I'm dressed up like a punk and taking pictures of me knitting in the Dufferin Mall. I had to do a performance piece for my class, The Body in Performance. My theme was judgments we place on the body based on physical appearance, using knitting to dissuade these preconceptions we have. I'll show some more of them soon!

And the Thermal sweater is all done, only waiting for a photo shoot!

A post! A post!

In keeping with my new tradition of one post a month, here I go again!

This time though, I actually have an FO to show off! Behold the Turtle booties. They were knit in Lorna's Laces Envy, from Lettuce Knit. The buttons are little turtles I got at Courage My Love in Kensington Market. I made them for a friend in England, who's wife just had their first baby at the end of September. I think I sent them off about a week and a half ago, so they should be there by now. I knit the newborn size, which would probably be too big except that wee Brynmore was premature, and was 6 pounds last I heard, so this size should do him just fine.


Aren't they cute!? I want to knit lots more of them, but I really don't know anyone else with babies right now. Though I did go to a wedding on the weekend ... we'll see what happens there in the next few months!

The booties were my part of my Socktober thing, the other part was finishing my Thermal sweater. It is knit out of sock yarn after all. I knit the whole last sleeve, finished the body, and am now slowly working my way through the ribbing for the collar. I think I have about 4 rows left, which doesn't sound like a lot, but there are a gazillion stitches in each row, so it takes a while. I think I'm going to try and finish it up during Pushing Daisies tonight, though it's tempting to just sit here and finish it now. Must resist! Homework piling up! Anyway, I really want to have it done for Wednesday so I can show it off. And yes, that's as in tomorrow. I'm pretty confidant that it's possible. After those few rows I just have to sew in the arms and weave in the ends. No biggie. Hopefully. Plus, Amy is going to show off her finished sweater then, so I might as well join the party!

Soctober Fest!

So I've been trying to post this for almost a week now, but my internet has been seriously sucking, so it kept getting delayed. Bah! I also feel bad since I haven't really blogged in a freaking coon's age, so this is crazy overdue.

However, all shall be fixed now. In the spirit of Socktoberfest, I will show off some of my excellent socks. First off, these are my Mineshaft socks. I'm debating finding a new name for them, but the colourway name just works so well, don't you think? It is Lorna's Laces, in Mineshaft of course. The pattern is my own, and I'm thinking of writing it up once I'm done, but I'm not convinced yet. It's not a complicated pattern, but it's kind of hard to explain. Plus I'm not really sure if it's already been done. Thoughts?

I've knit these primarily on the subway to and from school over the past month, and they've been going along pretty steadily. I've reversed the slipstitch on the second sock to that they'll be symmetrical, which is looking way cool. As you can see, I'm about half way done the cuff on the second one. What I really like about this stitch pattern is that it really breaks up the yarn from striping, which I find Lorna's does a lot. Sometimes it's nice to have that plain ol' vanilla sock with stripes, but I wanted something a little more interesting for these guys.


Anyway, I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving this weekend, mine was delicious! Happy Socktoberfest!

WIP .... Tuesday?

Due to the now more chilly weather, I've caught the sweater bug. Which is just as well as I have enough wool for three right now, all begging to be made. The first up is Rambling Rose, from the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave. The yarn is the Knitpicks Wool of the Andes that was sent to my aunts house back in May.

I decided to knit the whole thing in one piece, since that makes more sense to me. It took me about 10 tries (not joking) to get the thing to work properly. These pictures are from the second last attempt, it was all ripped out because it was too big. Hopefully now I'm on the right track, I've knit all of this back and more since then. I'm a little worried about yardage since I only have 13 balls and I can barely get 3.5 inches out of a skein.

I opted out of the scallops in the hem since I couldn't do it to save my life. I'm sure that with enough effort it could have been done, but I just didn't have the brain capacity for it. Not to mention that without it, it was a lot easier to adjust for the fact that I'm a 36, not a 30 or a 43. It was probably the scallops that made it necessary to have such extreme sizing anyways. I snooped around a bit before hand, and decided that I liked the look of the plain ribbing, it makes it a bit less fussy, plus there's not much point when I'm doing it all in one colour anyways.


I'm going to try to post on Tuesday's, like WIP Wednesdays. I would do Wednesday, but I have class all day, and then stitch 'n bitch, so I know that that just wouldn't happen at all. ever. This way is better.

Anyway, wish me luck tomorrow on my first day of class! Hour long commute, here I come, sock at the ready.

I've been a lame-y lame-y lamer blogger lately, I just didn't have it in me. I was talking to Glenna, and she said that it was probably the heat. Everything can be blamed on the heat. However, it hasn't been so bad these past few days, so I guess I don't have any excuses anymore.

What really got me wanting to post is that I just found out that my Sockapalooza pal just got her socks! I knit Coupling from Knitty, which is a really good pattern, well written, and it should fit everyone since it's pretty stretchy with all that lace. This is the picture that I took before I sent them off.

If you head over to her blog, Maglia, she has much better photos. I got a message from my palooza-er a few days ago, saying that she had sent some, so hopefully I'll get them soon!

In the mean time, I'll go back to listening to Lily Allen. Don't judge me.

A Belated Birthday Post

So I turned 20 about a month ago. Birthdays of course mean presents, and therefore fibre-y goodness! I know that it was ages ago, but I do want to show you what I got, so bear with me for a moment.

My mom scored a bunch of books from Amazon for me. There is the Vogue Stitchionary 2: Cables, Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, and Favorite Socks from Interweave. I am very excited about the Favorite Socks book, since everyone has been knitting such lovely socks out of it since it came out.
My mom also gave me a gift certificate to Lettuce Knit, so I had the agony of choosing what to get. In the end I decided on a skein of Schaefer Anne, with deep blues, reds and oranges.


I also got a skein of Sea Silk, which is destined to become the Swallowtail Shawl. I've promised myself that I can't start that until I have finished at least half of the Feather and Fan shawl that is already on the needles.


Then, Lettuce Knit got in a huge order of Lorna's Laces, so I treated myself to two skeins of Mineshaft when I went with my friend Claire. I'm thinking a pair of Charade socks.


Last but not least, that same friend Claire gave me these two skeins of wool that she picked up at the farmer's market in Kingston. I think that the brand is a local one. The wool is very coarse, but the colours are very interesting, I'll probably make a hat and mitten set, and line it with a softer yarn to combat the itchy factor.


And that was my birthday! Sorry it took so long to get to this, but tomorrow I promise a FO!

ugh.

ugh. It's 7:30 am and I've already been up for.... get this, three hours. ugh. I woke up at 4:30 am unable to either sleep or settle down. There was nothing else to do but pull my laptop onto my bed and watch two episodes of the Alias that Glenna lent me. Then I read the 43 updated posts on my bloglines. Oh, and I listened to most of an podcast of Lime 'n Violet. I managed to knock out two more squares for my blankie. I think that puts me at 41 squares. Not to shabby!

oh and Glenna, I totally saw you knitting the Austermann Steps way back when and fell in love with the yarn. When I saw it in Rochester I just had to have it!And I'm halfway though season one of Alias already, though most of that is because of previous watching.

ugh. Maybe now I can get a bit of sleep before breakfast.

Austermann Stockinette Step

Here we have the beginnings of my computer/tv sock. Unfortunately half of this had to be ripped out not once but twice due to some dropped stitches that weren't picked up again properly, creating an ugly spot. I do love the yarn though, it's Austerman Step, with Aloe Vera and Jojoba in it. It makes the most silky smooth yarn, even though it's 100% wool.


The first re-knit happened entirely while watching The Prestige on Friday night. A very good movie, with a very surprising twist at the end. I recommend watching it.

Happy Canada Day to everyone!

Blankies and Books.

I haven't posted much about this particular WIP, so when I laid out all the blocks yesterday, I thought that it might be nice to take a picture for everyone.

This is by no means the final lay out for these squares. They have not been sewn together. I don't think that I'll sew any of them together until I have all of them done. All being 468. This picture represents 36 squares. I'm 7% done! I'm rather looking forward to when there are more squares and therefore more variety in my dear scrap blankie.

While we speak of numbers, I've decided to try and read all of the Harry Potter books before the 7th comes out next month. Last time I read them all after it came out, which gave my brother enough time to finish it so that I could read it. This time though, I know that what happens is going to be all over the place and I'd rather not have it spoiled. So we'll see if I can read 2, 788 pages in three weeks! At least I started some plain old boring stockinette socks the other day while watching Frost on TVO. I can work on those while I read.

Left = Wrong. Right = Right.

Just a quick update before I run off to drop my bike off to get fixed. I got doored after Lettuce Knit last week, and my front brakes are shot. After that I have to go work. Luckily the bike store is only four storefronts down from work.

Anyway, I was working along pretty well on my Coupling Cocktail socks, and was trying to finish the heel so that I could work on it on the go again. Last night I though I would finish when I took a good look at my gusset stitches. It appears that I didn't count properly on the first row of the heel, because the entire heel is about three stitches too far to the left. Bugger. When I get back from work I'll have to rip the whole heel out and try again. Other than this hiccup, the whole thing is going swimmingly!


The funny thing is that I kept remembering how much trouble I had with the numbers last time I did a toe up sock with a heel flap, yet I didn't stop to actually count to make sure it wouldn't have happened again. I'll never learn will I?

Just another photo-post

In May I told myself that I would post every day that month. For once I felt like I was really blogging. Then of course, the month ended, and I went right back to where I started, which is not blogging much at all.

I did take a bunch of pictures of things for Ravelry though. Stuff you haven't even seen.

Like the world's fugliest granny sweater. It was my first sweater. You will never see me in it, unless it miraculously changes it's shape. I may severely block it to make it do this.


My Cablenet sock, which is just starting the heel flap.


Some Pink Chocolate Stripe anklets I knit in March out of leftover Lorna's Laces in Iris Garden and Chocolate.


Mr. Cornelious Dangly, an almost finished gift for a friend.


Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, to be knit into an Interweave sweater.


Maybe soon I'll have something interesting to post about....

Until then I'm off to the pub for drinks with the rest of the film crew.

Coupling Cocktail

I have named these socks the Coupling Cocktail socks because the yarn really looks like a cocktail punch of some sort. It's all sorts of berry reds, apricot, grapefruit and wine red. In the last picture I uploaded the yarn looks really pink, but it's really much more red than that. Even this picture is seriously pink. Maybe by the time these are done I'll manage to get a decent picture.


I have about half an inch before I have to start the increases for the toe. The pattern is seriously flying by under my fingers.

I just realized that I should go outside since the weather is good, and not completely hot. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts! My internet is also terribly slow today, so there isn't much point in sitting inside.

Roza's Socks

A finished thing!
These were a spectacularly fun knit. I want a gazillion of these in different colours. In every yarn imaginable. For these I used Koigu on 2.25 mm needles. I did a short row toe, and then seamed the whole thing up on the bottom. While it did take longer, it fits! These are honestly the most comfortable socks I have ever made. Ever. I love love love them!

One word to the wise though, Koigu doesn't really take frogging and re-knitting too well. I had to redo the toe on one of them a few times, and if you look closely, the stitches aren't very tight or uniform for that part. I don't care much since it's just the toes, but it might be a problem for someone. That said, I'm sure that a good soak and dry to get the kinks out would have been fine, but I didn't really have that option. And I'm lazy.


ETA: I know that everyone has already seen this post, I'm sorry. There was something all skrewy with the code in this one post, and I couldn't figure out what it was. It seems to be easier to just post it again, and delete the old one.

Sockapakoigu?!

I had completely planned for my Sockapalooza socks. I was going to make the Snicket socks. I bought pretty blue yarn. But then something happened. See, the knitting forces knew that while I liked what I had decided on, it wasn't completely right. It just wasn't good enough. So the forces showed me the new Knitty, and my choice was made for me. I simply had to make Coupling.

Not being one to argue too much with knitting forces (you never know if they are going to make you stab yourself with a metal dpn.), I went out today in search of yarn. It was found (of course) at Lettuce Knit. Two skeins of gorgeous Koigu just waiting to be knit into Coupling. I give you, Sockapakoigu.


*sigh* Sometimes it just can't be helped....

Man Feet.

There are man feet on my window sill. They are putting siding on the side of the house. They are noisy and annoying. Must get out of the house!

Jitterbug Roza Snicket Socks

As promised, proper pictures today. I was despairing a bit and was going to wait until tomorrow, but I saw a few shadows and immediately jumped outside to take these. I have one finished sock and half of the picot cast on for the second one so far. On 2.75mm needles, these babies go fast!

Here you can see the way the yarn has striped a bit better. Let me tell you, it took a lot of work to get these to that perfect point. There was a lot of ripping. In the end they are a little tight, but not uncomfortable, so I don't mind. The final stitch count came in at 48 stitches!


Here we have my interesting grafting situation. I like short row toes because my feet are kind of square. I did a short row toe, and will graft the whole shebang together later. I always wait until I have both socks done to graft the toes, so this will wait for a bit.


This is the second of my Roza's Socks. I don't known if I've actually blogged properly about these before, but here they are. I have a few idea's of how I would change the pattern if I were to knit them again. More on that when they are done. I'll probably do the same toe as I am on the Jitterbug's, which means redoing the first one. Good thing I wait to graft toes!

I finally bought yarn for my sockapalooza socks. The yarn looks grey, but it's actually light blue, the sun was making the colours go all funky. I'm going to use the Snicket Socks pattern from MagKnits. I just have to finish up some other socks before I start these. Gotta keep trucking on the Roza's!

Groundhog Bums

I had to go up to York Uni today to drop off some forms for my exchange. I realized that I'm going to miss living in res a bit. But only a bit. I got to talking with my friend Andrew, who is stuck there in summer res, about all the reasons why I hated it, and was quickly glad I'm no longer there. Living there has very few perks, mostly being 5 minutes from almost every building on campus and living with friends. Sometimes you can see wildlife too, like the groundhogs I saw today. I also saw a bunny, but it ran away before I could get my camera out. I wish I had though, it was standing about three feet away from this groundhog. I think it would have been a funny picture. There were also smaller baby groundhogs in the hedge, which must be where the hole is. They dashed away when a truck drove by, but this guy was pretty unfazed by everything.

I finished the first of my Jitterbug socks, and have created a very interesting grafting situation for a very good reason. I'll take pictures tomorrow if there is sun. I tried to take some today, but it was dark and they were crap, so I decided to wait. That's why you are stuck with a Groundhog bum.

I was going to take pictures of all my WIP's, in a half hearted attempt to truly be able to finish some of them, but I got side tracked today doing work related craftiness, so I missed all the daylight.

I would do it now, but I'm waiting for The Boy to arrive so we can go out. Heaven's knows when he'll show up, so I don't know how much of the post I'll get done.

Happy June everyone!

Zippy May...

The months just keep escaping me! I have no clue where they keep going, but before I know it, they're gone. *sigh* I'm not really all that surprised, it's just that I haven't really done much this month. I'm not working, so the days generally pass by in a knitting and computer lazy haze. This should all change though, as I have not one, but two job interviews tomorrow. One is to be a replacement guard at the local pool, and the other is part time at a little boutique card shop place on Bloor St. I know that I'll get the guarding, the interview is just a formality, and I'm pretty confident about the other one, so hurrah! This is especially good since having a very very limited cashflow hurts the wallet a wee bit, not to mention that I have to save like crazy in order to go on my exchange next year.

I've knit about 5 rows on my shawl since the last post. Right now they are going pretty quickly, so it's not going to take too long to get back to the 18 rows I had to rip out. I also knit a good 5 inches on my Jitterbug socks, a few rows on the heel of the Roza's, and 6 rows of the Cablenet. Knitting monogamy, psssh! I laugh at monogamy, completing projects more quickly, actually finishing things in the season for which they are intended. Ha! Polygamy means knitting freedom! Or so I keep telling myself....

Tragic.

Tragedy has struck. She has lifted my poor shawl into her hands and has lead it down the path of false pretenses.

Here it looks healthy and content. What is not shown in this picture is how I proceeded to completely f-up the second chart. See, I knew that it was only pattern rows in the chart, with those missing as knit rows. However, the second chart has every other row charted as a knit row. I knit 18 rows (no small feat when they ended up being over 400 sts each), before I realized that there should have been one pattern row, a knit row, a charted knit row, and then another row. Where I had knit 18 rows, there should have been 36.


There was only one thing to do....


The funny thing is that I remembered looking at it and thinking that it looked a little funky, but assumed that it would all work out in the end. I didn't have a picture of the pattern with me, so I thought that I just wasn't remembering it quite right. I should trust my instincts more often.


The stitches are all safely back on the needles, slowly working their way to a proper second chart. Erg....

A Long and Rambling Post

I'm back! Rochester was a combination of many things, sadness, happiness, history, family, suffocating heat etc. My mom and I left at about 10:30 am on Tuesday, and got to the Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo by 12:30, where we proceeded to take advantage of the 4.75% tax!

Wednesday was the burial for my Great Aunt Lois's ashes in the town that she and my grandmother grew up in, Avoca. After the ceremony, we went to see the farm that they grew up on just outside of the tiny tiny town. My grandmother is now the only living of her family of 8 children. She was the youngest, and at almost 80, she's doing pretty well. She is shrinking though, she wasn't always this much shorter than me, and not because I was growing!


While their family was very poor, they were rich in the view their farm provided them of the valley. My grandmother used to have to take the bus to the end of her road, and then a car would take her the rest of the way up the hill. Unfortunately they would only shovel the roads for a little while, after which she would have to walk about a mile and a half up a very steep hill to get to her house. I never really believed the old story of "when I was a girl, we had to walk so far, in snowdrifts over our heads, up hill, just to get to school." Now that I've seen it, I believe it. My grandma said that she hadn't realized just how bad those hills were until she saw them now.


Rochester it's self is a bit of a combination between many things, part completely double sketch, and part very nice and quaint. My mom said that parts reminded her of Chicago, I think it's because of all the Art Deco architecture.


Of course we went yarn shopping on the Thursday. We went to The Village Yarn Shop, which is inside a bookstore in the super sketchy downtown mall. At first I was disappointed in the selection, there just wasn't that much, and there was certainly no sock yarn. However, then I turned around one corner, again around another. Around each was more and more yarn! Hurrah! I found some very nice Austerman Step, which will become some plain old stockinette socks.

My mom and I found the sale section, in which they were getting rid of all of their Debbie Bliss. All of it was super discounted. Unfortunately most of the stuff on the shelves was icky colours, so it was looking like I wouldn't find anything. I found a few rogue balls of a few colours, but not enough to make it worth it. Then I found a single ball of a gorgeous steel grayish blue. My mom went on a mad search through a huge chest of yarn and found 5 more balls! In total I got 6 balls Merino Aran for about 40% off. Granted, it's only about half a sweater's worth since the Debbie Bliss yardage is tiny, and it's aran weight. But even if I have to get the rest of it for regular price, I still save money. It's all thanks to my awesome mom, who definitely knows a bargain when she sees one.


We drove back to Toronto on Friday morning, getting in at about 2:30. I knit the majority of my hat for the Yarn Harlot's Represent hat Collection in the car, but forgot to take a picture of it. I finished it while sitting around doing not much at all, before heading out to see her at Indigo. All my pictures of the talk are blurry and very far away, since I was almost late and ended up in the back.

Afterwards I went to the Spotted Dick where I ended up sitting next to two lovely girls, Tina and Julia, both blogless. Tina is holding her spectacular first sock which she made up on her own out of two knitty patterns. Julia has a blurry Pomotomus knit out of Koigu, and I have my Koigu Roza's. Twas a good night overall.


This morning I finished a hat I was asked to make ages ago. It needs the ends woven in but it's pretty good.


I just need to fix the gnome problem too. Luckily I think that it's just the last few decreases that are being problematic, so it shouldn't be a problem.


That's one thing off my to knit list. Too bad I've already replaced it with another pair of socks and am desperately trying to not cast on for another sweater until I have a few more things off the list. I will finish some things!

Nothing to Report....

There is not much to show for my current knitting. An almost finished hat, half a pair of socks, started shawl, sweater minus a sleeve, you get the picture. It's a whole lot of almost there's, and not much in the way of very interesting. However, in an attempt to not be completely dull, I have some pictures that I found on my camera from the last day I was up in res.

These two are of a big mural in the Ross Building, South tower I think.

Close up of the sheep.


And my shoes. Because they are cute!


I'll be in Rochester NY for a few days, so I don't know how much I'll be posting. Have a fun week!

7 Random things.

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog. The facts:

1. I can bend my thumb back to my wrist in an odd double jointed sort of way. I've always been able to do it. Mostly I use it as a party trick.

2. My family routinely eats chocolate sprinkles on toast, it's delicious.

3. Both my grandfathers were/are ministers in the Christian Reformed Church. Despite the fact that my mom grew up in Iowa, and my dad in Hamilton, my grandfathers knew some of the same people. My dad's parent's didn't approve much of my mom though, she wasn't Dutch, and that wasn't good enough.

4. I have 15 cousins, 13 on one side, and 5 on the other.

5. I didn't learn to read until the end of grade 2 due to crappy teachers. When I did learn, I kind of taught myself.

6. Every year we run a little contest between my birthday and the Peonies blooming in the backyard. It looks like this year, the peonies will win.

7. My brother and I are a little out of the pop culture group since we never had and still don't have cable. People will say, remember the Samurai Pizza Cats? I'll squint and say ... no? Or I'll just yell no cable! before they get too excited.

Tagged: .... I'll do this later.....

Le Slouch!

I have a F.O.! Behold, Le Slouch! It was a very fast knit, kind of a blink and you'll miss it sort of thing. I knit it in a day, so I hardly feel like I worked on it. Not compared to some other projects. *coughthermalcoughcough* I used two strands of fingering weight yarn, Jojoland %100 wool. I changed the pattern a little to accommodate the fact that I had 5 stitches to the inch instead of 4. Other than that, it's the easiest thing.
The pattern of course is Le Slouch, by Knit and Tonic. Very easy, very fun, and oh so chic!

Me? I just like saying Le Slouch when ever I wear it. Le Slouch.

Photo's were taken by my dad, who never needs an excuse to take pictures, much less ones of me. I should enlist him for more bloggy photos in the future....

Tomorrow, 7 random things... I was tagged.