clicketyclick

So-Called Striped Noro Scarf...

2010-05-30T16:21:00.001-04:00

Chances are, you're here looking for the striped Noro scarf I made a few years ago. Thank you Jared for linking over here so long ago (great job on the new site, btw). It might be a ghost town over here, but lots of visitors keep finding their way wanting to visit that now-famous scarf.

So many people have contacted me wanting to know specifics like exact needle size, colourways used, what I wore while making it... Truth be told, I wasn't fussy with the details at the time, and I really don't remember them now.

There's a bounty of great examples out there, so pick any two you like and go to town.

Nobody home

2008-02-16T00:03:00.005-05:00

Boy, for all you visitors that are surprisingly still dropping in, this must be the most disappointing stop in all of blogland. Not a peep in over a year. Kindest regrets, the day-to-day has steamrolled everything in its path. It's a veritable no-man's-land over here - most every link is broken, comments are filling up with spam, boy have I ever let things slide.

Hello? Anyone home? Hello???

What have I got to show for the 1+ year hiatus? Not much, I'm afraid...nothing bigger than a breadbox, anyway. All married up and busy with the grind. The fiddle efforts continue -- maybe in five years I'll be as competent a fiddler as I was a knitter. So many things to tackle, I tell's you...wish I had another set of hands.

And with that, I expect perhaps more of the same will found in these parts. Thank you to all of you who keep stopping in and subscribing - so sorry to disappoint. I'll be back again, I'm sure.

Fellow Ontarians, happy Family Day!

Distractions

2007-03-07T17:49:00.000-05:00

Try as I may, it's hard to stay focused. So much is going on these days, and I keep getting distracted. The land of knitting keeps drifting away. It's been a few weeks now...so so sorry to those of you who are waiting to hear back from me on emails - I finally got to it today, thanks for your patience.

For the questions that came through Blogger comments, most of them are related to the striped scarf. Since I can't reply to you directly (good ol' Blogger!), I'll try to cover the answers here with some proper details.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't keep the labels for the Silk Garden, so I can't tell you exactly which colours I used. My best guess is colourways 201 (I'm pretty sure about that one) and 230...but it's just so hard to tell with Noro. 36 stitches wide on 4.5mm needles (7 US), 1x1 rib, alternating balls every 2nd row, 4 balls in total. I'd say 4 balls is about right for a scarf in Silk Garden. My goal when I chose the colours was to pick two skeins with lots of greys and browns, and two that were more colourful.

For the rest of you wondering where I've been? Oh, so distracted. Besides fighting off the urge to craft craft craft (putting off wanting to learn to weave, sewing, quilting, learning to silkscreen...oh, if only there were more time in a day!), I've got two major projects in the running in the moment.

Fabulous design like this makes wedding planning almost ok

Getting hitched!...and learning the fiddle. Rob and I decided back in May that we were ready to jump in and tie the knot. We hadn't given the actual wedding much thought until the new year when our families and friends started in on us. Since then, we've been in full-force planning mode, preparing for the big day: August 25.

I wasn't really all that into it at first, I'm fairly anti-wedding and all the consumerism that comes with them, so I found the whole idea pretty daunting at first. But, then I started to get into it. It started slowly with Martha, with a short detour into the land of bride-y magazines (yecch...great for millionaires), and then miraculously, after ages of feeling like I couldn't relate to anything out there, I found weddings in blog land.

What a relief! Such great things out there. I'm all for a great big party with fabulous decorations, but sweet lord, spare me the chocolate fountains, hummer limos, satin bows and chair covers and give me something with some AESTHETIC! Glad to have finally found it. I was seriously worried that there wasn't anything beyond indiebride out there.

For those of you on the same road, or even just planning a giant dinner party, may I point you to some of these great finds:

Something Old Something Blue
Oh Joy! here comes the bride
DIYBride
Love Made Visible
The Hostess with the Mostess (more of a host resource, but still applicable)
Style Me Pretty
Off-beat Bride

As for the fiddle? A distraction as well...hard to tackle something like this without jumping all in. I decided it was time to put my grandfather's fiddle to use, and keep its heritage alive. Much to the dismay of my neighbours, I'm afraid.

And knitting? Let's just say there's lots to catch up on.

I dream of empty baskets

2007-02-08T17:48:00.000-05:00

I came home in a fury today. I've been finishing up projects behind the scenes (details soon), and I've hit a roadblock on what to start next.

Thing is, something of a stash is holding everything in limbo. Honestly, I can't do it. I can't buy more yarn, I can't, I can't, I can't. I won't. You'd think it would be freeing to have loads of yarn, but if you ask me, it's an absolute burden.

It's everywhere, and most of it has no purpose at all. I find it stifling to have this much yarn, and even more bothersome trying to come up with what to do with it.

Odds and ends: your time has come.

So, in a fury of stash frustration today, I walked in the door and went straight to every basket, box and drawer in the house. I dumped everything out on the dining room table and divided yarn out into assigned projects, a charity pile, and odds and ends.

But before I get to the fun projects, this one or two balls business has got to go. Every last bit of the odds and ends went into this basket. No more nicely arranged, carefully packaged and stored with coordinating weights and colours. Nope. Organized and out of sight - no more!

I mean business, this has got to end. This basket is going to sit and stare me in the face, right there on my coffee table (sorry, Rob) until I figure out what to do with it. And if it sits there forever?

It won't.

A dozen days: day one

2007-01-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

This, I think is a fun idea - shoot and share twelve or more pictures throughout the year, one picture for each month. Tag and share your photos in the 007 - Snap a Dozen Days Flickr group photo pool, and you're done. I love it. A project that can be completed in 20 minutes or less? Yes, please, sign me up.

So, January 2007 - here you are. Cold and snowy, with winter coats everywhere.

Cold. Snowy. January.

I walked past this coat a number of times this weekend while in Toronto on a quick road trip. I find the idea of a coat hung on a fence absurd in these cold January days, and suffered the cold to take take the shot. Winter came on with a bang this year; before this recent drop in weather, I was beginning to doubt it would ever come. But, after weeks of backwards weather and the first green Christmas in my lifetime, January proved to be winter worthy indeed.

A bit overdue on this one... I made this simple scarf for Rob before Christmas with two different colours of brown and grey-ish Noro Silk Garden to match his winter coat.

1x1 alternating rib scarf in Noro Silk Garden

While it does match his winter coat, this scarf has spent much more time complementing my winter coat. A simple but satisfying knit to say the least. 4 balls of silk garden, 1x1 rib, alternating every second row with a fringe. No cables, no stranding, no fancy stitches, just plain and simple.

Really, it's just a wee blog.

2007-01-10T20:40:00.000-05:00

Reading AT Chicago today, I discovered that it's delurking week in blog land. It got me thinking about the blogs I read, and about my own blog.

I'm not a super regular reader of any blogs, but I try to keep up here and there. There are far too many out there for me to properly follow, and I'm such a curious one that I can't just stop at what I've found...I'm constantly on the hunt for something new. Lately, I've been all over the Norwegian blogs, falling in love with some of the most beautiful work out there - even though I can only really understand the pictures. As part of delurking week, I'll make an effort to comment this week, I promise.

Regarding my own blog, really it is just a wee blog. I started it up at a time when I had a high volume of spare time, and had been doing a lot of knitting. Along with knitting, I discovered a whole new world of crafters, knitalongs and swaps, and wanted in on all the fun.

There's a more nerdy reason behind this blog though, which I've not ever really fessed up to. I love the internet. I'm 100% fascinated by how its evolving. I'll spare you the specifics of my internet love, but will say that one of the reasons this blog came to be is because I wanted to see how far a complete novice could go with a free blog. I fell for Blogger not because I loved its layout or publishing capabilities (far from it, though they're improving), but because with a minor tutorial in CSS (and maybe a pre-made template as a base), you can really push the customization boundaries with Blogger. And they let you. I like that, and I'm glad I did it.

Anyway, nerdiness aside, this really really is just a little blip in the big world of blogs. Every now again, I add a thing or two to keep record of what I've been doing, and I try to stay in touch with others out there. I'm ever surprised by the number of people who pass through here on a regular basis (raise your hand if you're from Turkey or Japan!), even when I have nothing to say.

So, allow me to reverse delurk and formally thank all of you for stopping by. Anyone know how to say lovely in Norwegian?

Surfing away my life

2007-01-02T22:22:00.000-05:00

Ohhh, I love it. The internet, love love love it. Mr. Clickety Click and I bought a laptop during the holidays, and I've been glued to it ever since. I think I've had more at-home computer activity in the past week than in the past six months.

I love discovering something new, and I think this one's a gem: thisnext.com. I've long looked for a placeholder for all my online shop-a-holic-ing, and I think this might be it. It's brilliant I tell you, b-r-i-l-l-i-a-n-t! How have I not heard about this yet?

I just put together a list of all the shoes I'd buy in my rich and fabulous pretend life. All from Gravity Pope's Boxing Week Sale. Some good sales, and they have online shopping.

I'm not much for blind shoe buying, but If I lived in the west coast, I'd be all over this sale. Sadly Ottawa is filled with Aldo, Aldo, more Aldo, and other shoe stores with different names, but owned by Aldo. Oh well, the wallet wins this time.

Forget anything productive for a while, I think there's some surfing to catch up on.

Two-double-oh-seven: welcome

2007-01-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

Happy new year everyone. Quietly now, let's start out the new year. Guhhhh.

There's been some baby knitting going on behind the scenes, the first of which found its owners last night. With snow finally on the ground, and temperatures dropping, the timing was right for a newborn hat and mitts.

Retro flying helmet and thumbless baby mitts
Helmet pattern: Sublime leaflet Mittens: My own, made up on the fly
Yarn: Luxury Collection Superwash Merino (teal?) and Debbie Bliss wool cotton (white)

The pattern's from a great leaflet for Sublime's uber luxury baby cashmere merino silk line (what baby needs cashmere, merino, and silk??). I normally only like one or two patterns from any one source, but I think all five in this booklet are solid bets for baby gifts. The baby's father has his pilot's license, I coudln't resist.

Anyway, I think off to recover now from the new year's eve-ing... p.s. - I love that blogger has finally added labels and categories. Look at that:

Knitting again...for the very first time.

2006-12-26T22:02:00.000-05:00

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Yeeesh, Boxing Day...already?? How time does fly. While visiting family over the holidays, I finally found myself relaxed with free time and a desire to knit. After a season or two of knitting deprivation, it's nice to be with needles in hand again. At last!

I've been watching some very talented knitters chop up some exceptional work these past few months, and have been dying to try my hand at stranded knitting. I've been admiring the progress at the colorwork challenge, and ultimately want a piece of the colour-fun that's going on with the anemoi mittens.

But, I know to start small. I know I have it in me to tackle the anemoi mittens, but know better than to jump head first into a new technique. So, I started small with yarn I already own, a simple pattern repeat, and a project I meant to take on anyway.

Not so manly mitts.

In light blue and red Cashmerino, a smaller version of Knitty's Manly Mittens, these might be just the ticket I need to get back into the swing of things. I struggled at first with the right and left handed knitting, but I think by the end of these, I'll be ready to move on.

Here's hoping for a slow winter, with time enough to knit! Happy belated holidays and all the best for the new year.

On vacation

2006-06-19T23:27:00.000-04:00

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Oh, it sure has been a while, hey? I've been traveling like crazy mad, and it's been a blast. In the past 2 months, I've been San Francisco, London, Norway, Belgium, and Amsterdam. That's right, San Francisco! London! Norway! Belgium! Amsterdam! I've even been to Montreal a few times in there.

London!

I love the tiny cupcake on the giant screen in Oslo.

Superb view from Bed and Breakfast in Bruges.

Sigh...Norway.

Amsterdam's a crazy crazy place. This man's biking with a baby in his arms.

Knitting's out for summer, I think. With all the hustle and bustle about, and with more to come, I think it's time for a holiday. Let's stop wondering where I am, and call it an official break, shall we?

Back in the fall, enjoy the summer!

A monkey with no legs is still a monkey.

2006-03-25T14:38:00.000-05:00

[no title]

My mom's been in town visiting this past week. She's been a production line machine of knit teddy bears for she's making to give to an orphanage in I don't remember where...somewhere far from Canada, anyway. During her visit, I picked up the book she's using and tackled this monkey.

knit monkey with no legs

Lacking patience for the many small knitted parts and immense sewing requirements, this guy's legless, and may live in this tea cup for a while. Made with remnants of the super-deal Rowan Wool Cotton I found last year.

Time to go outside, the snow's finally melting.

Odessa

2006-03-13T21:01:00.000-05:00

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Oh, what the hell.... Everyone's doing it, why not join in. A need for a quick fix brought this Odessa hat to life. A nice quick knit, simple-simple-simple, but interesting enough to hold through to the end. Rowan products are scarce - and expensive, $12/ball minimum - in these parts, so it was nice to give the Cashsoft a whirl. Lovely, lovely yarn, a real treat to knit with. I suspect my hands may never touch another ball again, though. Too rich for my blood.

Odessa in Rowan Cashsoft DK (Thunder)

I do enjoy the beads, but opted for an even three rows in the middle, and another row along the bottom edge. Nothing too flashy, just a hint of clear beads. Perfect, a wool hat, just in time for rainy spring. Harumph!

I think my next stop will be a foray into lace knitting. I've been hoarding and contemplating lace patterns for years, and after watching hundreds of shawls and stoles in development online, it may well be time I shop my lace weight stash. There are some great ideas brewing at See Eunny Knit, a whole series on lace knitting in her Majoring in Lace posts. I may well even have the pattern and supplies for this Sampler Stole-a-long, another Eunny-led lace adventure.

Sing it with me: I'm thirty-one, my futon days are done!

2006-02-26T10:05:00.000-05:00

[no title]Mr. Clickety Click and I took the plunge this week and made our first big-ticket home item: a sofa. While not my dream sofa, it's a comfortable and affordable seating space that's neutral enough not to hurt our eyes. This has sent me into a flurry of re-decorating, I'm dizzy with the new possibilities this has opened up for our living space. My nights are filled with pillow and end-table fairies leaving beautiful, well-placed decor into our lives. I'm indeed anxious to drop-kick our futon to the door, it has really overstayed its welcome.

Pillows!

Via Design Sponge, even these yellow (yellow!) Inhabit pillows from 2Modern are contendors for a new accent colours. So exciting! I can see the day easily being eaten by DesignSponge and the Flickr Corners of My Home pool. Truly addictive content, hard to pull oneself away. This really gives Blair from Wise Craft's brilliant suggestion of a computer free day something to think about.

Indoor day

2006-02-25T11:29:00.000-05:00

[no title]

Winter's still going strong in these parts. Another stormy grey Saturday. A temperature of -15 plus wind chill equals a nice -27 celcius. Beautiful. Just like last Saturday. What is this spring you speak of? I believe this calls for some CBC Radio, coffee, and crafting.

Winter...neverending.

No big complaints here. I do love an excuse to stay warm at home and listen to the radio. Don McKellar now has a radio show, following Go. Ahhh, cozy day.

Wednesday

2006-02-15T17:24:00.000-05:00

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Another project almost complete? Must be time to start another. Something new hit over the weekend, a sneak at the swatch for now. This is the Lily Chin Gramercy I picked up last month, swatched in stripes for fun. Seems it's all about the blue these days.

All blue, all the time

I like how the colours work together, I think I'll even keep the stripes. I caved on quite a long-standing (1 month?) string of no-yarn-buying when I picked this stuff up, and it's sadly given me the bug to buy more. Left to my own vices, I would spend it all on yarn and craft supplies, which would realistically only take up space in my home, and create an urge to buy more. Oh, how resisting the temptation to buy more is hard. There's always a sale, always a good deal to be found, always a new pattern to try, especially this time of year.

Restraint!

Instead, I've been investing lots more in the art department in an attempt to fill some empty apartment walls. Every Wednesday morning for the past few months, I've hit myself in the head after finding that I've missed another great piece on Tiny Showcase. On Tuesday nights, they release a new print that usually sells out by next morning. I've been meaning to make a greater effort to check on Tuesday evening to see what's to be had, but have yet to be successful. Miraculously, this week's SET of prints was still available.

Bear & Wolf by Irina Troitskaya, via Tiny Showcase

Bear & Wolf, a fun two print set by Irina Troitskaya. The whole concept of Tiny Showcase is up there in my books.

Garter rib

2006-02-12T11:37:00.000-05:00

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At long last, a completed project I can call my own. With Alison, on the way home from Rhode Island this past summer, we stopped in at a yarn shop in Saratoga Springs. Great shop, friendly staff, lots of fun things to touch and buy. I suspect that had we hit this shop closer to the beginning of the trip, and not on our way home, I would have spent much more/had more money to spend here. I picked up two balls of Blue Sky Alpaca for this garter rib scarf.

Garter rib scarf in Blue Sky Alpaca

A very short garter rib scarf, mind you, but a garter rib scarf nonetheless. I knew I'd want a simple and quick knit one day, and this one sure fit the bill. I can't quite get my camera to capture the luscious red without overexposing it to death, but I assure you, it's a beautiful deep red. I love the colour, and the texture is just superb, I'm sold on this stuff. I may well even wear this scarf one day, or find a very luxiourious child to sport it for me.

Kate strikes again

2006-02-12T11:05:00.000-05:00

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Kate, you've done it again, without even missing a beat this time. Oh, how I miss the Kate and Anna shopping adventures. This one looks like it was lots of fun. This Room 6? Wow. Tell me, did you attend the Spend on Trend event I spotted on Room 6's site? I can see these adorable Horn of Plenty wares adorning your beautiful apartment. You Vancouverites get it all, hey?

Thanks Kate!

You must have read my mind--fed up with following knitting charts and never-ending projects, you've sent the perfect rescue: chocolate, a knit-inspiring book, and for my need for more mindless knitting: a felting project. I love the blue on blue used on the Black Sheep Bags pattern. Thanks again.

Out with the old...

2006-02-09T18:12:00.000-05:00

Out with the old...

I've been meaning to get to this for a while. At home sick today, and after a full day's rest, I think it's time I cross this one off the list. A few weeks ago, this fine package arrived at my doorstep. The intricate packaging and decadent chocolates are both long-gone, but inside...a beautiful new needle case from Vancouver friend Kate. Anyone who knows Kate will tell attest to the fact that her taste is impeccable; I have so missed her since she's moved back to British Columbia.

I love this needle case, and its arrival couldn't be more timely. I don't much use my current needle case, its use is usually followed by much brooding. More on that in a bit, let's admire the beauty of this one first.

A flap to hold everything in, and pockets with the best buttons ever.

I so admire the attention to detail used here, I'd love to know who made it. Straight stitching, perfect edges and buttonholes, even a small bit of applique. My former needle case looks a shamble compared to this.

I'm happy to put my former needle holder to rest. It was quickly constructed one day during an organizing flurry. After picking up knitting needles all over the house, I impulsively made a needle holder. Never having much patience for sitting in front of a sewing machine, the end result was a functional, but not so pretty needle case. The mix of crooked stitching (in white thread!), uneven tension, and pockets that hold nothing bigger than a thimble maddened me. This, combined with needles that flailed out of it every time I went near it, made me generally leave it never to be used.

Old needle case, your days are done.

A sewer I am not.

My favourite feature is my use of safety pins, a true testament to my lack of sewing patience. Rather than stitch the closure, I completed this with safety pins. I do love the fabric, I'll be happy to re-purpose it. This is remnant t-shirt fabric from Victoria, BC's Smoking Lily, which Kate brought me to on a one-hour photo tour of Victoria.

So, again, thank you Kate. I'm so touched by your thoughtfulness.

Vivante!

2006-01-29T14:22:00.000-05:00

[no title]

That's right, still kicking. I've been enthralled this month by other peoples' projects. I'm still amazed that every single day, someone out there is crafting up a storm and sharing it online. My jaw remains open and drooling at the talent out there. Great respect to all of you sharing your work.

For me, projects remain at a steady crawl, but indeed still moving forward. Interlock Balloons has seen the most attention of late, but not enough to have the pattern memorized--two little post-it-notes still inch up and down the chart as I knit, some days they don't move at all. I'm eager to see this one gone, I've already got a few new projects on the brain. It's a snowy, bleary day today, so here's hoping for some progress.

One day, this scarf will be complete

A slight modification worth noting: I've changed the edge to a slipped-stitch edge. In hindsight, this scarf could well have use the double slipped-stitch edge used on the Backyard Leaves scarf. I've long wondered why this scarf wasn't designed with a more complimentary edge. Anyone else agree?

In eager anticipation of finishing up some projects, a local yarn sale has brought some of Lily Chin's (one of the fastest crocheters in the west, don't you know) new Superwash Merino into my already yarn-filled home. Friends of mine with babies, or with babies on the way, please turn around, and don't come back until March or April. There's stuff's going to be cute, I tell you.

Lily Chin Gramercy, destined for small projects

Ok, so as mentioned, on with the dreary day, hoping for some progress today. Happy Chinese New Year.

2005: Top 5 unifinished

2005-12-23T18:24:00.000-05:00

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End of December, hey? These past few months have gone by in a snap, hard to believe the end of the year is here already. September? October? Last Wednesday? Where'd you all go?

With the time flying like this, it's been tricky to fit in the knitting bits. Seems appropriate to do a year-end wrap-up, and get set for the coming year. Rather than covering completed items (of which there are few), here are the top 5 projects that will get bumped to the new year:

Ribby Cardi: waiting for sleeves since May

Knitty's Shedir: Seems like only a few rows left, how's this one slip through

Interlocking balloons hasn't made any progress since I took this photo last month

From Interweave Knits Fall 2005, cable and rib sock. Singular.

The least complete of all: Phildar Licorne zippered cardigan from Tendances Printemps 2005

Here's hoping that 2006 brings these stragglers round the bend. With much luck and perserverance, I'll manage to tackle these before beginning anything new in the new year. A difficult task for me, I like the allure of something new. We shall see!

Happy Christmas! All the best for the new year.

Friday eve

2005-12-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

[no title]

See? I can bake. You haven't got the best of me yet, Martha. From the same Holiday Baking issue as my last Martha run-in, the Chocolate-black pepper cookies are a safe bet for great tasting baking. I highly recommend. Tasty combination of chocolate, coffee, and pepper. A rare combination of spicy and sweet.

Martha Stewart cookies that are possible to make

Somewhere along the lines this week, I stumbled on the Anticraft, a most macabre Knitty-like assembly of knitting patterns and... Well, I'm not sure exactly what. Gloom and despair? The dark side of knitting?

The Anticraft will take to your knitting to the dark side

With projects like the above Bad Juju and Snowball's Chance in Hell armwarmers, and difficulty ratings like MoonPrincess RavenDark and AntiCraft SuperStar, there's some pretty quirky and dark matter to be found. Definitely uncharted territory.

Sweet Saturday

2005-12-03T11:50:00.000-05:00

[no title]

Ahhhh, Saturday. Finally. My favourite--Saturday morning, coffee and the CBC.

yamaneko buttons

While listening to Go this morning, I found these great yamaneko buttons, and can't help but share. Do enjoy the day.

Winter knitting sets in

2005-11-27T21:10:00.000-05:00

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It's been some time, really. Knitting and yarn have crossed my path only via housecleaning lately. A knitting slump, indeed. I've had a number of projects tossing around in idea phase for a few weeks, and haven't had the chance to dive in. Finally, on Friday while putting away some books, I picked up Scarf Style again, and decided to start in on Interlocking Balloons.

Yup. Another scarf it is. The weather's certainly cold enough for it. Snowy, windy, and wind chill has already set in. Ahhh, winter.

Interlocking Balloons begins

And, despite my feelings of ill-will toward Martha in the baking department, I can't help but get sucked back in by the so so pretty christmas crafts on her web site right now.

Martha uses glitter and glue for Christmas

Pretty cute and hard to resist. I can say without a doubt that I'm not going to tackle this, so someone else out there, knock yourself out and make these glitter bird centerpiece and tinsel trees.

An open letter to Martha Stewart

2005-11-27T20:46:00.000-05:00

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Martha, ohhhh, Martha. For weeks now I've been pouring over your Holiday Cookies magazine. A beautiful issue, there's no doubt. More than 100 recipes for the season, it's barely possible to narrow it down to a few to choose and bake.

This issue has truly inspired me; you've pulled out all the stops. I've already gone out and picked only the highest quality ingredients - even the unsalted butter - I promise, no cheating or substituting this time. I've spent nearly 40 dollars on ribbon, I've been narrowing my choices of cellophane bags and decorative tins, and I know that with enough shopping, I'll find all of the personal touches I need to wrap my baking. Everything is going to be perfect this year.

I get goosebumps just thinking of it. I'm going to present each and every one of my loved ones with the most beautifully packaged delicious baked goods they've seen in their lives. Me. I'm going to do this. This year. This year, Martha, this year! And I owe it all to you.

Except. Well, except the fact that your recipes are still impossible. I honestly thought you'd changed. In an attempt to reproduce your candy-stripe cookie sticks, I cut out the 3X6" cardboard stencil like the instructions call for and set myself to work. I baked the cookies two at a time, just like you've asked.

Baked two at a time, these cookies are impossible to pull off

Two. At a time. And then when they came out the oven slightly golden brown, I tried tried tried to roll them up as quickly to reproduce your work of art. The best I got are burned fingers and broken rectangles with high arches. Not what I was expecting.

So, Martha, I'm not sure exactly sure what else to say on the matter. Really. I'm really just not quite sure about this anymore.

fini!

2005-11-15T20:29:00.000-05:00

[no title]

Oh, how it has been a long haul. After weeks of squeezing every possible knitting minute out of every possible day, Miri's Forbes Forest came out complete this past weekend. I wasn't sure I was ever going to see the end of this scarf, but to no avail, billions of bobbles, cables, and popcorn stitches came together here to make this scarf complete.

After a long haul--Forbes Forest is complete

I wasn't convinced at first. The cables and bobbles looked weak when I started in, and I wondered if alpaca could do this pattern justice. But, as I worked through and gave it a test block with some steam, the stitches opened up, and the pattern bloomed through to the end.

Without a doubt, this is a scarf I would have never picked myself. Before this swap, I'd not even remotely considered making this scarf, not even for a second. But, now that I've made it, and I see first-hand what this pattern's got to offer, for sure I'd make it again. I'm even considering one for myself.

Forbes Forest in Blue Sky Alpaca

The Forbes Forest pattern is genius, and kept me interested right to the end. Casting off was bittersweet; happy to be finished, and sad to say goodbye to the pattern. I already miss working on this, and am sad to see it go.

Miri, I hope this scarf finds you well, it's certainly cold enough in these parts for this super warm scarf. It should arrive with you shortly! Loads of thanks to Kris and Jacqueline for hosting the SYNO swap--great idea, fabulous hosts!

Happy Halloween

2005-10-29T09:15:00.000-04:00

[no title]
Still looking for a halloween costume? I'm still up in the air myself, but have found eons of inspiration here at the New York Village's Halloween parade. How fun that must be, hey? Litterally thousands of pictures of great costumes.

remember mixed tapes?

Completely unrelated--remember these? Japanese blogger Not Wild Style has put together a collection of hundreds of images of blank tapes in Cassette Jam 05.

Happy Halloween!

No crochet

2005-10-26T12:29:00.000-04:00

Via kraf-o-la, this book by Jess Hutchison may well save me from re-learning how to crochet. The crochet hook and I don't get along so well, despite any adminaration I may have for crocheted items. Do have a look--this free bunny pattern should whet your pallet.

no crochet here

I've grown a small urge to crochet again, and have been secretly stalking these free patterns. Now that knit patterns are to be found, let's just say the crochet thoughts are out the window. Hooray, I've staved off the crochet hook for another day.

Shoptoberfest success

2005-10-18T18:12:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Shoptoberfest was a success! Love visiting Toronto (operative word: visiting); so much to see, nice switch to a faster pace. The faster pace was much required, only a few hours of shopping time by the time I got into town on Saturday.

Did a quick runaround downtown, spending most of my time at H&M, where a few purchases were made. When you live in a government town, stocking up on non-government-worker wear is a must. What a lunatic store though, that H&M, intense patience required. 3 floors of clothes and accessories thrown randomly throughout the store.

Acrylic and grey, this H&M scarf broke my no-scarf-buying policy

No yarn shopping, the closest I came was picking up a few scarves. That's right, I got scarves the easy way. It's ridiculous how much I fell in love with this plain grey acrylic scarf. Of all colours, and all fabrics: grey acrylic. Toronto has some fun yarn shops though, in particular Knitomatic, Lettuce Knit, and the crazy mess at Romni, but I truly don't need any more yarn. Honest. So no yarn shopping this round. Only yarn in the form of finished product is allowed in the house right now, anway.

I keep meaning to post a thank you for all the postcards received from the Postcard Swap.

Swap Bot postcard swap

Clockwise from top, postcards from Lisa, Adam (K-State card), Melanie and Brad (no blogs). Hope the trial run helped iron-out any Swap Bot bugs. Imagine, organizing a swap without even one person having to juggle Excel graphs.

Shoptoberfest

2005-10-14T18:31:00.000-04:00

[no title]

With a heavy heart, I'm passing on a yearly tradition, Oktoberfest in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. I've attended with Mr. Clickety Click since we met, and while he's in Waterloo zigge-zagge-zigge-zagge-ing it up, I'll be celebrating a new tradition: Shoptoberfest. Off instead to Toronto for one-day power-shop--I see visits to H&M, some new shoes, and some downtown fun coming my way.

2005: Oktoberfest becomes Shoptoberfest

Happy weekend, happy shopping!

Arrived!

2005-10-11T18:45:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Scarf swap scarf has arrived--hooray! An utterly perfect Backyard Leaves arrived just in time for fall scarf season. Perfect timing, Winnie, thanks a million. ...Still amazed at how quickly you turned this scarf around.

SYNO Backyard Leaves in Knit Picks Mernio Style

Thanks again Winnie, love it!

Thanks Emily!

2005-10-11T18:15:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Many thanks to Emily for the great SP5 gifts. Love the stitch markers and the hand-dyed wool, and looking forward to trying my hand at the mitten pattern you sent along. The chocolate's long gone, and the tea kept me warm on some chilly days this past weekend.

SP5 stash

Thanks again, hope you had fun with SP5--have fun with SP6. Cheers!

California, Thanksgiving.

2005-10-08T02:51:00.000-04:00

[no title]
Why does California get all the fun?

826la presents Rick Moody

Fellow Canadians, Happy Thanksgiving. CBC's back next week, hoorah.

Postcard swap

2005-10-06T18:47:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Postcard swap postcards: sent this week. I originally thought I'd take the non creative route and pick up some postcards in town. But, as I was shopping for just the right cards, a flurry of ideas came to mind. I picked up some blank card stock instead, and jumped in to make a stack of black and white make-at-home vintage knitting pattern postcards. Knitting, Canadian, retro, fun.

Postage is crazy, boy. 85 cents to mail to the US and 1.45 international. For postcards! Yeesh.

Sn*w.

2005-10-01T10:33:00.000-04:00

[no title]

All knitting aside, folks, something serious: Snow fell in Calgary. Booooooooooo.

Calgarians step it up 15 feet in the winter

Kind of explains why they've built room temperature walkways 15 feet above the sidewalks, connecting the downtown buildings. I was impressed by the walkways when visiting, ideal wind chill escapes. I was also quite impressed with the sign design--the cowboy hat, especially.

On the plus side of this cruel winter reminder, I suppose mitten and scarf season is only a few weeks below zero away. Bittersweet, hey?

Scarf Swap Update

2005-09-25T23:04:00.000-04:00

It's official, Forbes Forest is on the needles for Miri. It's been a struggle to find time to knit these days, I've fallen out of the swing of things. This one's got me back in the saddle, without a doubt. Every row brings a new twist--this has required extreme concentration to get even this far. I see many quiet nights in my future.

Cables and bobbles gallore

Winnie has pulled a finished scarf out of thin air, and has already finished my Backyard Leaves scarf. Winnie, outstanding! Can't wait to wear it.

Enter: The Wool Winder

2005-09-25T22:46:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Thanks to an extra thoughtful boyfriend, my ball winding woes are over. Fresh from the UK came a gently used wool winder, ready for table mounting and immediate use. I don't know how I've survived this long without this unbelievably useful tool. One-hour ball winding and knot detangling sessions: Good Riddance! Thanks a million, boyfriend.

Thanks also to my sister for the extra extra thoughtful knitting reference book she sent up for my birthday, I've referred to it a few times already.

Caring and Compassion?

2005-09-20T20:21:00.001-04:00

[no title]

Here's something neat: Knit It, a worldwide knitting exhibition piece about caring and compassion. I've been hearing some buzz about this these past few days, and decided to look in to it. I haven't found much, other than tomorrow, knitters in select locations around the world will wear black pants, black jacket, white shirt and red tie, and knit something white. In Ottawa, the action will be at the Parliament buildings.

knitting something white means that you care

I'm not exactly sure where the caring and compassion comes in to play here, but who am I to say? You can take part if there's an event organized in your city (listed on the Knit It site), or create your own event. Details here.

Birthday weekend

2005-09-18T10:23:00.000-04:00

[no title]

It's been a rainy and dreary weekend. The sun is fighting to break through some clouds this morning, and the rain has finally let up from a steady drip since Friday. Another busy weekend has flown by, this time with my birthday to celebrate. Another year older, another excuse for shopping.

I'm quite fortunate in that Mr. Clickety Click most often will take me for a nice dinner, and shopping for my birthday each year. Last year we went border-bound, and hit some great deals in America in Vermont. This year: Montreal. Before leaving, we checked into a craft sale locally and picked up a few gems, which proved to be far more fruitful than the trip to Montreal.

Animal Embrace prints: amazing!

Some prints for apartment decor, featuring ladies embracing wild animals, which I think are extra fun. Also, a very finely made silk pillow with a great screen.

Pillow and nearly finished mitts: even more amazing!

You'll note a finished pair of Koigu mittens. Well, an almost finished pair of mittens. Hiding under the top mitt is a stitch holder holding the stitches where the thumb originally lived. I hacked into the stitches about six rows down from the original thumb location after finishing the entire mitt, and picked up the stitches to make another thumb lower down. The thumb was too high up on the mitt, so I relocated it. I'm so not afraid to cut into stitches and boss things around a bit. All that's left now is for me to dig through some knitting books and learn how to graft stitches. I've done some preliminary reading, it doesn't look so hard. We shall see.

Tick-tock and swap-bot

2005-09-15T18:23:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Ohhhh, how slowly knitting progresses when never the needles are in hand. Seconds leap into hours, leap into days, then weeks. Before I know it, a month has slipped by. Long gone are the easy days of summer, boy.

These days, my fingers are aching to finish something other than a sentence; I've been struggling to find time to sit down and knit. I see a window clearing up, so Miri, don't fret, your scarf will be done, complete, and in your hands before the weather turns to cold. I'm contemplating daily affirmations in the form of staring at this beautiful Forbes Forest scarf each morning, imagining it to be completed by me in lush brown alpaca.

Bring a little swap into your life

Way back, a whole 2 months ago, when signing up for the CD Swap, I discovered the makings of Swap-bot, a clever swap engine that takes the grunt work out of online swaps. Being a swap keener, I've been checking in every now and again to see how things are progressing. Things are looking up, the site officially went up this week, swap-bot is now a go. If you want to give them a hand in testing it out, do wander over and sign up for inaugural swap-bot post-card swap.

File under: nothing

2005-09-07T18:19:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Almost every time I sit down to post, something comes to mind. I've been thinking and wondering for a while now, and am just going to come out and state it. Blogger--why no categories? Clearly, there's a need, surely you've seen how popular it is with the kids. Are you really asking us Bloggers to leave our posts out and about all willy nilly, instead of into neat little categories like most decent folk? Even Wil Wheaton has categories, so why can't we?

I have been lazy these past few weeks, too lazy to take pictures, and too lazy to sit and type. I'm drawn in only barely today to acknowledge that I'm still about.

A preview of things to come...

a very beat up mitt, ready for surgery

The koigu mittens have been made and remade a number of times, finally settling on a construction with no increases for the thumb gusset. Variegated yarn is tricky, and I'm fussy as hell, so you can imagine what kind of thought went into this. I'm not happy with the thumb placement that I ended up with (too high on the hand), and am not in favour of compromising for longer mittens. So, out came the scissors, a new and improved thumb location is on its way to being. I'll get the best of you yet, darned mitten.

In SYNO news, it turns out that Winnie is quite the clever lass, and has sussed out from mere emails that I'm her swap pal. Well done secret agent Winnie. I hope your yarn arrives to you soon. I hate to make you stalk your mailbox for much longer.

Errrr...

2005-08-30T17:23:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Yup, so I should check my calendar, hey? Tomorrow is September Eve, and Thursday's the first day of September. It's going to be a long week I suppose, what with all the anticipating. Hello to Kathy nonetheless! I hope my scheming works and you read this, otherwise I'll be sending you a boring old email shortly.

September Eve

2005-08-30T17:15:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Almost better than Christmas, tomorrow is the first day of September! Best season of the year, just around the corner! My sweaters, scarves, and gloves are just about leaping out of storage, waiting to be worn. I'll bet yours are too. Wouldn't you like a nice calendar for you desktop to celebrate?

Celebrate September!

Of course you would! Click here and click on the image to get this, or other cute desktop designs from color-club.com. Maybe someone who reads japanese can explain to me what this site actually is. I haven't a clue.

And now, for a little scheming that hopefully some of you will help me with. I would like to subtly reveal to Kathy at Evolved Yarn that I'm her Secret Pal. Rather than sending her an email, I thought I'd link to her site, and maybe you can all help by clicking through to visit her. With any luck, she checks her stats, and will wonder "What the heck is going on over there at this clickety click place? Why are there so many incoming links??"

If this works, a giant HELLO TO KATHY from Calgary, Alberta. I had great fun reading your blog, and sleuthing out things to send to you. I'm not a decision maker at the best of times, so it was a real feat for me to choose yarn and other items that I felt confident you'd like. I hope I hit the nail on a few, and I hope you make more beautiful things for me to read about on your blog. At first, I tried to pretend that I wasn't Canadian, to try and trip you up a bit, but I'm certain that you figured this one out after receiving a number of packages from Ottawa, Ontario. So much for the mystery, hey?

Anyway, Kathy, I hope you had fun. Cheers!

Impulse buy

2005-08-25T18:44:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Cleaning up today, I found a lost relic from this past weekend that I'd completely forgotten about. I went to a local music festival to check out the Weakerthans and Feist, and after a few drinks, left with an orange ukulele.

craziest impulse buy ever!

You read right, a ukulele. Bright orange. The mini size of this guitar, plus the ultra cute carrying bag closed the deal for me. This raises the impulse-buy bar to new heights. Sitting there on display, with so many colours to choose from, I couldn't resist.

And, if you've ever wondered, "is there anything out there that doesn't have a blog community?", you'd probably wouldn't be too far off if you answered no. No, there is likely nothing out there that doesn't have a blog community. Even ukulele-ers blog it up. You can even go to uke school online, then Rock That Uke! low-fi style on this must-see site.

Gasp!

2005-08-24T19:58:00.000-04:00

[no title]

I...I...I....I'm speechless! Scarf Swap pal Miri has full-on blown my mind with the arrival of her scarf yarn. A package so filled with treats--personalized--treats, no-less, words alone can't do it justice.

Unwrapped package

Almost open. Getting closer...

: gasp : Blue Sky ALPACA!

Underneath: more alpaca!

Tucked away in the corners: lemon and verbena products!

Miri, thanks a million for your thoughtfulness. I was eyeing the hand lotion and the soap last month in Bath and Body Works, and I didn't buy it because I couldn't justify the purchase. Such a treat to get some Bath and Body Works products, no BBW in Canada makes me long for their products. You couldn't have picked these products any better!

I love the yarn, and the pattern you've chosen. I've been thinking of the Forbes Forest scarf a lot lately, and am more than a bit excited to knit this up for you. Let the swap begin!

No need for cubicle decor

2005-08-23T18:25:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Much to my delight, my new workplace cubicle came fully decorated in a quiet office environment. A former dweller left a number of Marcel Dzamas illustrations, which decorate my new space quite nicely. Without knowing it, I'm Dzamas fan, and have come across his work many times. He illustrated the Bed Bed Bed book with They Might Be Giants (which I picked up earlier this year for a friend's daughter), the cover of the most recent Beck album, and a Weakerthans release. I sense the new job's going to be a-ok.

Marcel Dzamas takes the drab out of cubicle workspace

Little knitting progress this week, busy with new job. I'm eager for the wind-down of SP5 at the end of the week, and to reveal to someone out there that I'm their SP. It's been great fun getting to know someone new, hopefully I've hit the mark with more than a few packages and items throughout the past few months. Some good folks out there, spoiling complete strangers. For those of you so inclined to take a random chance at yarn swapping, SP6 is open for takers.

Scarf swap, eh?

2005-08-19T18:51:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week I sent my yarn out to my scarf swap pal. I hope she doesn't go too crazy watching the mailbox in anticipation of receiving this. I was out of town when the swap partner info was distributed, and was only able to send this this week. Also, it's being sent to another country, so I imagine it will be another week or so before it's received. SNYO pal, when you finally arrive here and read this, my apologies for keeping you waiting.

Destined to be a backyard leaves scarf, a wee peek at the package sent:

When this yarn grows up, it will be a scarf

I hope the yarn goes over ok. I'd been having reservations about sending this, which in-the-know knitters will quickly determine is Knit Picks. I'd hoped to find something made in Canada to send, but came out empty-handed. After scouring the 3 yarn shops in town, I found nothing, not even a piece of local yarn. Hmf! Well done Ottawa, capital of Canada.

Yarn shops just haven't quite caught on here, the selection is mostly geared toward an older generation of knitters. It's rare I find yarn in colours I like, but there's no shortage of acrylic blends. There's one shop in town that sells some interesting yarn, including Rowan, Noro, and Debbie Bliss, but I just lose my brains at the prices. An average of $20 for a ball of wool is ludicrous, and I just won't have any part of it.

Anyway, before I go bananas on this topic, suffice it to say scarf swap pal, it wasn't my intention to send you Knit Picks yarn. It's Knit Picks Merino, if that's any consolation. With any luck, you've been wondering if the Knit Picks yarn is really all it's cracked up to be, and you'll be super pleased with this yarn. Whatever the case, pretend it's made in Canada and everything will be just fine.

Goodbye walls and door...

2005-08-19T09:44:00.000-04:00

Hello cube-land! Today marks the end of a giant office for me, complete with walls, filing cabinets, 2 desks, comfy chairs for visitors, my own printer, and most importantly, a door.

Monday marks a new beginning in cube land for me. I’ve worked in cubicles in the past with no problem, and I have no issues with returning. The downgrade from office to cubicle is a welcome one for me—my new job offers new challenges, fun work, and most importantly, is located downtown. I’m eagerly anticipating walking to work; I’ve been doing hand stretches and flexes to ready my hands for coffee-holding walks each morning. I’ll gladly give up my office door for all of this.

I stumbled on this site the other day while reading this super cute blog, and can’t help but laugh a wee bit about the Everyday Superheroes they sell as cubicle accessories. Quite funny. Most of their stuff’s a bit too hard-line nerd for me, but my relocation to cubicle working has given me a newfound appreciation for their cube goodies offerings.

thinkgeek.com's Everyday Superhero collection

And now, I will likely spend the rest of the day opening and closing my office door, just to get it out of my system. Door open. Door closed. Door open. Door closed. It’s going to be a great day!

Summer wind-down

2005-08-18T18:35:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Yup, I'm sure glad I took my vacation when I did--right in the heart of the best days of summer! Safe for 2 days of rain, I had a good 12 days of solid sun. Nice warm nights with only a few mosquitoes out to get me. Seems like ages ago at this point. It's starting to feel like Fall in these parts at night, hot summer nights may well be gone for another year.

Last night I wore closed-toe shoes for the first time in ages, and the feeling of the need for warmth sent me running home to cast on the Koigu mittens.

1 skein Koigu Kersti + 1 circular needle = 1 magic loop miracle mitten cuff

I decided to try my hand at knitting in the round with one circular needle. After getting getting a quick lesson at Kaleidoscope Yarns in Vermont, plus some blog-reading encouragement from Diana at Streets and YOs, it took all of 1 minute to get things rolling. This is a seriously quick and efficient way to knit round things. I'm knitting this on a 24' needle without even the slightest problem. Magic Loop, you are a miracle. I love the efficiency of needing only 1 needle where I previously used 4 that you've brought to my life.

I love the colours in the Koigu, but I suspect I'll want some 2 skein action soon. I've heard it's the thing to do? My first experience with multi-colour yarn, and I'm not quite sure how to apply the technique. I suspect some playing around will take place during the construction of these mittens. I'm making these with no pattern, and I'm so happy to be knitting something with no instructions, no care for gauge, no care for much other than a pleasing result before, during, and after the process. I believe notes will be an integral element to ensure a double performance.

CD Swap

2005-08-18T16:52:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Swap update time. I didn't intend to cram all of the CDs I received from the swap into one post, but most of them came in while I was out of town, and I feel badly for taking so long to thank everyone. Such great surprises were waiting for me when I got home, what a treat!

Some truly amazing work of creativity was poured into these CDs. Kira of Wax and Feathers sent this adorable mix. Cute design, great music, so well done! I was happy to find Elvis Costello and Bright Eyes on her mix, who I both saw at the Newport Folk Festival earlier this month. I want to frame the liner notes, they're that adorable.

Salt & Pepper shakers: so, so cute!

Fellow Canadian Maureen took her creative skills full-tilt and sent her CD in a hand-made cloth case. How's that for crafty? In the same picture (left, below), Sandy of Burnt Orange's Disassociate mix matches her blog so perfectly that I knew exactly who it was from before even looking at the return address.

CD Swap 2 brings me home to a mailbox full of CDs

Above right, Lindsey sent items that caused great oooo-ing and ahhh-ing. Cute cute cute glow-in-the-dark stickers, and adorable candy. The labels say they're "Made in Corea". Hm... The accompanying postcard lists the tracks. I haven't listened to this mix yet, but I'm anxious to get to it--great stuff, some Pixies, Xiu Xiu, Broken Social Scene. Nice! Amy, to you I owe an apology. Your CD's in my car, not near me at all at the moment, so you'll have to forgive my not posting a picture just yet. I love the hand-made envelope you made for the mix. The first Blonde Redhead track has started the day for me every day this week as I drive to work.

Loads and loads of thanks to each of you--it's been great fun swapping mixes. Thanks also to Jen at Piddleloop who took on the monolith task of matching everyone up, and getting us all moving to make and send out mixes in just under a month. I'm going to miss the little monkey on my blog. Anyone interested in taking part in a more intense CD swap should check into the Dual Disc Debacle.

Again, thanks everyone for the great swap!

Home again, home again!

2005-08-16T20:47:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Whew! Where to begin? 2 weeks of vacation: gone like a drop in the bucket. 2 days back at work: hitting me like a bucket of bricks.

There's much to cover. The holidays were spent in three parts: A week at a cottage in Quebec with boyfriend and friends, followed by just shy of a week with fellow knitter Alison on a road trip to Newport, Rhode Island for the Newport Folk Festival. Then, some time visiting friends and family in Northern Ontario. Between the vacation adventures, shopping (yarn shopping included), knitting accomplishments, mail that's come in while I was away, and general fun updates, there's far too much for just one post.

First up, some stash enhancement and knitting updates. On the first day of our Newport-bound road trip, Alison and I drove from Quebec through to Burlington, Vermont, and hit Kaleidoscope Yarns in Essex Junction, Vermont. I'd spent a concern-worthy amount of time stalking their website before leaving on the trip, and was happily surprised by how great this store is. It's a small store, but has great selection, and the staff are so helpful. One of the staff taught me how to knit in the round with 2 circs, and how to do the magic loop, right there in the store. I loved lots of the samples they have knit-up in the store, and I wanted to buy the yarn and patterns for most of what they had on display. Great pattern and colour choices everywhere you look. No frumpy sweaters here!

Surprisingly, my yarn expenses were moderate, nothing too overboard:

Vermont's Kaleidescope sells me on the Koigu and Cherry Tree Hill

After admiring so much sock-knitting success, I took the plunge and bought some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Life's A Beach--appropriate for vacation yarn, n'est-ce-pas? And, some Koigu Kersti merino that I couldn't resist for mittens. Such soft yarn, and the colours are all superb...can't wait for winter. Kind of ridiculous that I had to travel to the States to buy Canadian yarn though. What gives Ottawa? What's the deal on not selling Ontario-made yarn?

I also enriched my yarn collection with some Lorna's Laces. I've coveted this stuff for ages online, and having never seen any of it in person, it was a big moment. After mauling every skein in the store, I left with 2 skeins of Lion and Lamb in a very Clickety Click colourway. On the needles it went:

Never thought I'd see the day--sock on the needles!
Sock on the needles in Lorna's Laces, no less!

The sweaters needn't worry too too much about being abandoned by a potential new-found sock obsession. I put in some road trip hours on the front panels of the long-lost cotton ribby cardi, and am happy to report needing only to complete the sleeves. Boredom has hit an all-time high though Ribby, it's going to take some work.

Unpacking the knitting bag: the Ribby Cardi returns 2 panels the merrier

And, the piece that started it all, another pair of baby shower-destined boots, made at the cottage. A quick knit, a much manlier pair than the last pair, I'd say. Much more appropriate for a young gentlemen's toes. I've made a few pairs of these, even a pair with the fair-isle pattern, and love the shape these boots come out. I think grocery bags will do just fine for blocking.

Fini!

Pattern: Debbie Bliss Beaded Fair-Isle Shoes from The Baby Knits Book
Materials: Rowan Wool Cotton and Knitpicks Shine for the handsome stripe
Changes: Pretty obviously no fair-isle or beads. Added a green stripe
and made the straps in stockinette, rather than in garter stitch.

Lots for one post, hey? CD swappers, I'll get to you tomorrow! I was pretty happy to come home to some packages, thanks for all the great CD mixes. I'll thank you all properly once I get better settled and unpacked. I've been enjoying the mixes!

On vacation!

2005-07-30T10:20:00.000-04:00

Everything's done! Bags packed, errands complete, done done done. Now for the relaxing. Off to spend a week cottaging, then a road trip through New England, ending in Rhode Island for the Newport Folk Festival. Looking forward to seeing the Pixies in a festival setting. Also looking forward to spending a fortune on american yarn. Happy trails--back in two weeks!

Holidays are so close

2005-07-29T02:14:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Guh. So. Close! Holidays. Almost. Here. Just one more day, and then 2 weeks of holiday bliss. Meanwhile, much running around to attend to unfinished business is in order. Packing, closing down at work, errands...you name it. Giant to-do list, waiting to do me in.

I crossed one unfinished item off the list tonight. I've had my song-list chosen and ready for CD Swap 2 for a while now, but have been procrastinating on putting the package together. I've been intimidated by the great efforts that some folks have put into their CDs, and have been putting off the task because I couldn't nail down what I wanted it to look like.

CD Swap: fini!

And the it just hit me. After much theme contemlating, I decided the CD needed to be a road trip CD. It needed to be a road trip CD, and there needed to be a truck, and it had to be summery and fun at the same time. So...voila! Done and done. It's more of a mellow driving mix, with some Canadian content speckled through it. I hope the mix goes over well--it's not easy to guess the taste of a complete stranger. We shall see.

Trucks and pink gingham--together at last

Enough play. Back to the to-do list now. Oh wait, almost forgot: Thanks for the card SP, so nice to hear from you! Hope you're enjoying the summer.

Too floppy

2005-07-26T13:27:00.000-04:00

If you ask me, Rowan Wool Cotton, or probably any wool/cotton combination: too floppy for footwear. I completely understand now why the photo of the boots in the book is so blurry you can't tell that the resulting finished object will be flimsly, loose, boring, too-big baby boots.

Wool Cotton--too flimsy for me

I tried to add some boy-funk by adding a bit of a green stripe. I like the colours together, but I'm so not crazy about the floppyness, that even the stripe can't save these. I think these will be remade into a hat of sorts. Debbie Bliss Cotton Knits For All Seasons, you're going back to the library.

Pop Shoppe pop really is back!

I finally had a chance to check in on the Pop Shoppe situation, and indeed, the Pop Shoppe is selling pop at Quickie Marts in most Ontario locations. Hooray! Glass bottles and all.

Copycat

2005-07-22T08:14:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Last month, the girls at Slipped Stitches, a 3-person knitting blog based in my hometown, piqued my interest in adding Suburan Safari to my summer reading list. I'd completely forgotten about it until I went on a magazine binge last weekend, and found a clever review in Bust. Turns out the SS girls found it in the same place. Copy-cat time.

summer reading

I had a look online, and the library here in town carries it. Thanks to their amazing web site, it now sits on a hold shelf, waiting for me to pick it up. How convenient is that? I love the library here, they have practically every book, and you can reserve online. Their slogan is "More than meets the EYE!". Yup, just like the Transformers.

Knitting activities continue, at a snail's pace. Updates to come.

Capt. Cola, the Pop Shoppe is back!

2005-07-21T19:02:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Wow! Just the other day, I was reminiscing a childhood staple, the Pop Shoppe. I recall going to the store and watching crates filled with bottles of pop come down the assembly line, into the store. Such a treat that was--the flavours (best cream soda ever), the recycled glass bottles, Captain Cola... I thought it was gone for good.

But, here I sit tonight, procrastinating on getting some work done, and to my surprise, I stumbled on this:

The Pop Shoppe's back!

I can hardly believe it, the Pop Shoppe is back in business. According to their web site, I can go down the street to the Quickie Mart and buy a bottle! Like, right now! Talk about going back in time. I wonder if they sell it in glass bottles. I'll have to investigate. Likely tomorrow.

Ok, back to work. Before that, a quick head's up to have a look at this most unique wristlet made by Suzen in Calgary. I've linked to her before, and darn-it, I'm doing it again. Seriously, amazing. Must see.

Pattern 25

2005-07-19T09:50:00.000-04:00

Thanks a million to Kris and to Carolyn, one pair of baby boots are well on their way. I'm not sure how I missed this detail in the pattern, but the instructions "Pattern 25" and "Pattern 33" are but simple instructions to knit in pattern for this number of stitches. I really expected it to be something more complicated. So simple. Thanks girls.

Baby boots, well on their way

I have a baby shower to attend in August, and have been planning to make some boots for the occasion for a while. Then I received a pregnancy announcement from a long-time friend, and a pair of needles practically flew into my hands. Knitting comes in super handy when it comes to babies, I can’t wait to finish* these and a few other pairs of boots. I’m making these in Rowan Wool Cotton, in a neutral sand-like colour. I suspect that at least one boy is on the way.

*Finish? Imagine! It's been so long since I've finished anything, I hardly know the meaning of the word.

Help?

2005-07-18T09:42:00.000-04:00

Hello? Anyone out there have a copy of Debbie Bliss Cotton Knits for All Seasons? I started these lace and bobble boots last night, and the pattern's causing me grief. For the top section, the instructions refer to a Pattern 25, and a Pattern 33, which I truly don't understand. It seems to me that the instructions for these patterns are missing. Is it me? Am I missing something?

I've read and re-read, and still don't get it. If you can lend a hand, please do. Much appreciated.

Pants malfunction, and other

2005-07-13T18:44:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Honestly, I don't understand how it is that I've started to forget the zipper portion of dressing these days. I swear I've discovered my zipper being down twice this week, and multiple times this summer. Today, I went to the washroom at 1 PM, and discovered another instance--I'm sure a result of morning forgetfulness. I blame the Gap: too many button closures, slide hooks and belt clasps to deal with. Hello, Gap? Less fancy on the closure design next season, ok?

A very non-cute display of the Summer Sampler

Yesterday brought my susbscription to the Summer Sampler to the door. I've been crazy excited in anticipation of the delivery of this package since May, so things have been building. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but I feel I was waiting for something more thrilling. There were a few things that I liked, but as I was going through it, I kept on thinking "what am I going to do with all this stuff?" Trinkets galore. And a 20 plus ziploc bags! Ziploc bags, I believe, are an integral element of the Sampler.

16 Sparrows note card and lip balm

From Beccalights, a seriously addictive scented candle

My cat has a real hate-on for this giant cloth bone

Of course, there are a few items that really grabbed me. I'd expected to get lots edgy, quirky, well-made items, and I'm super happy with what came from 16 Sparrows. I just had a look at her store, and after a quick tour, I think I'm instantly hooked on Kathy's blog. Such cute stuff! I think she'd like my retro board game collection.

Good Will Hunting

2005-07-10T14:13:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Now, where were we? Yes, of course, the crazy Salvation Army find of July 2005. Quite a massive score, found completely by fluke. The story and more details go quite simply like this:

Thursday morning, Anna still has laryngitis, and decides it's time for a medical visit. Success! Appointment arranged for 3:15 that afternoon. Anna leaves work early to arrive on time for appointment, and finds herself at her doctor's office 20 minutes earlier than anticipated. Rather than read magazines and watch soap operas in the waiting room, Anna notices a Salvation Army thrift store next door, and pops in for a visit. Anna is somewhat of a retro board game collector who rarely misses an opportunity to scour for new games. No board games to be found, Anna strolls through the store to kill time. Past the old lamps and tapes and records, Anna finds a bin filled with 20 or so bags of bright coloured yarn. Heart racing, Anna paws through the bags to assess. Unable to determine which bags should be bought, and which bags should be left, Anna takes two bag-filled trips to the counter and gives the salesclerk ten dollars. The salesclerk is speechless, Anna is speechless.

And there you have it. Crazy, no? There were so many surprises inside these bags, it just got crazier and crazier every time I put my hand in and grabbed a new ball. Most of the bags were filled with wild-coloured Filatura di Crosa kid mohair and mohair lungo, and some Filatura cotton, but there were some real gems hiding in almost every bag.

alpaca, mohair, and lots of orange superwash wool

angora! cashmere!

I feel like I haven't even gotten to the bottom of it all. So far I've come across a few odds and ends of angora in pink and green, and some full balls in brown (yes, brown!), a ball of purple cashmere, lots and lots of alpaca, lots of brown and orange superwash wool, some old Paton's Kroy in black (much softer than today's Kroy), and even some pure silk. Crazy, crazy, crazy--what a collection, thanks a million to whoever donated this.

I've been thinking lots about the origins of these balls of yarn, wondering how this strange collection might have come to end up in one person's stash. Most everything has a german label, and I've been trying to imagine someone shopping in Germany picking out these things. Mostly, I've been trying to get to the bottom of all the mohair. Was fuchsia and orange mohair on sale one day, or was it carefully chosen for a specific project? Are these remnants from finished projects, or the supplies for one or several projects? I can't even fathom. Time will tell what creations these will become through my hands. I'm thinking 47 scarves and one cashmere glove at this point. Any suggestions, especially on the mohair front, are appreciated.

Clockwise from left: Neko Case, a Booga spotting in the market, fresh rhubarb.

I know for sure I'm not 100% knock-down dangerously obsessed with knitting because I was able to spend most of the weekend without thinking about this stuff too much. I'll tackle it for real when things slow down a bit mid-week. The weekend's been busy--former roommate, friend, and fellow knitter Miss G was up (hence the post plagiarizing yesterday--we laughed and laughed and laughed at how funny it is that I found so much mohair), and we took in some Bluesfest and Ottawa Byward Market offerings. Thanks for the visit MG, I'll keep you posted on the Newport action. Let me know when you're ready for a mohair showdown.

Mohair madness

2005-07-09T12:39:00.000-04:00

[no title]

A severely intense amount of mohair

I'm plagiarizing a post from Miss G:

Bad news: some poor old lady with a mohair obsession passed away.

Good news: Anna got all of her yarn at the Salvation Army for $10!

Hello Vancouver?

2005-07-07T12:18:00.000-04:00

Yes, Vancouver, please. Request to visit again; I'm missing your many shopping and good weather opportunities.

Ahhh, the memories of Vancouver Main Street shopping...

Please tell the shoes and the Barefoot Contessa I say hello.

Still no talking

2005-07-06T10:20:00.000-04:00

If you haven’t yet deduced from links on the sidebar, I’m a sucker for a few things. The CBC*, procrasta-blog reading, and random cute things are among them, but way on the top of the like-list is music and signing up to receive things in the mail. After spending the day at home with no talking yesterday, I signed me up to two things:

1. Stitch Ya Kneck Out – Necking With Friends: Pick a scarf from Scarf Style, or from select Knitty patterns, pick up the supplies, send away to a stranger, wait for the mail, receive hand-knit scarf. In return, knit a scarf of someone else’s pattern and yarn choice, and mail it back to them. How neat? Details and sign-up info here and here.

2. CD Swap 2: This swap, I really really like. Make 5 mixed audio (not MP3) cds, and send to 5 people—receive the same. I know for sure that I won’t have a problem finishing this, and am pretty excited to swap a mixed CD from folks out in the farther non-Canada/America parts. I promise, I won’t load my CD to the brim with Avril Lavigne or Celine Dion-like Canadian content. Go check it out, only a few days left to sign up. Allez!

*CBC Radio, that is. And I don’t work for them. Check out the podcasts!

No talking!

2005-07-05T09:53:00.000-04:00

No talking!

At home, sick today. I've been battling laryngitis since last Friday morning, along with allergies galore, and have decided to give my voice a break today. It's next to impossible for me to spend the day without talking, so I'm forcing myself into solitary confinement to recoup. Damn, it's quiet...

A nice surprise, the Knitty Man Issue is up. I haven't been following along that regularly with the Knitty, there hasn't been anything too punchy that's jumped out at me as a 'must-knit'. I do have a semi-complete Shedir which I set down one morning last fall to get a coffee, and then never returned to, and I won't deny that I have secretly thought of making my own Clapotis, but that's about it. Today, I'm happy to report loving two new Knitty patterns.

Mitts!

I love making mittens, so this one's an easy sell for me. I also quite like the Wild Stripes Baby Blanket, which represents pretty near what I was dreaming of while waiting for my order of exactly one ball of most of the Knit Picks Merino Style colours. It's too bad that I didn't hold off, and ended up returning a lot of the brighter colours, they would have come in handy for this. I think I've still got enough of the colours I liked left on hand to make a more muted (girl) version of this blanket though. Hooray, stash reducing project!

This project will make me feel ok about hoarding yarn

Oh, and I also love this clever Necking With Friends scarf-swap project that's brewing up--hard to resist joining, hey?

Almost Canada Day

2005-06-30T20:45:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Today begins another summer long weekend. This is good. So good that I'll start things out by sharing a fun drink I discovered this Spring in Vancouver. I'd been waiting for the weather to get good and hot to spring out this gem, and I think we're there. This drink is superb: refreshing, zesty, cool, with a super unique flavour. It's made with Pimm's No. 1, a British drink. Drink with pinky extended and wave like the queen.

Best summer drink.

I'll get to the knitting in a moment, but first, another thing to share:

If you have not yet discovered Audioscrobber, do click and explore.

As for the knitting... It's been there, but things are going rough--cotton and I are going through another rough patch. Especially the Phildar cotton which has been throwing me ball after ball of yarn with broken ends joined with ugly knots throughout it. Look at this mess:

Grrrr....

They're everywhere, the damned things. Of course I'm too impatient (read: lazy) to start rows over (or an entire piece, for that matter) once I find myself knitting with another ball that's joined in the middle, so this sweater is doomed to be filled with things that will irritate me.

What I can't have

2005-06-24T12:01:00.000-04:00

Ohhh, why do I always want what I can’t have? I’ve had this Vesper Sock Yarn on my mind for a while now, and it’s near sin for me to think about it. What with a giant stash of projects and supplies, it really is wrong wrong wrong to think about starting something new. Really, it is. I’m sure that if I bought this yarn, it would go directly from its package into a basket, never to be seen again, only to be added to the long list of unfinished projects. I think it’s much better that I hold this stuff at bay for a while, and come back to it as a reward for completing at least one project from the pile.

The poisoned apple

Yes, exactly, that’s what I’ll do. But dammit it’s tempting. The colours…ohhh, the colours! Sigh, another time.

By the way, happy St. Jean Baptiste Day.

bird

2005-06-23T20:51:00.000-04:00

[no title]

On my mind today: birds with arms

It's been a while, hasn't it? Another week's just about flown by, and I've been thinking about a whole bunch of things that somehow come back to this bird with arms and wooden feet. This image was the center of a somewhat controversial debate a few years ago when McSweeny's 4 (late winter 2000) came out with the illustration on the left on the cover, claiming to be a Dave Eggers original. Yet, anoter website had previously featured a story with the image on the right much prior to the release of McSweeny's 4.

What am I thinking that comes back to this bird? I'll start with books. I've been thinking about books, specifically what book I should add to the reading list next. Summer reading is up, and I've been meaning to read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius for a long time, written by Dave Eggers, who is also the editor of the bird-debated McSweeny's 4 (see above). A Heartbreaking Work has been recommended to me for ages by a fellow knitter, whose most recent recommendation has weighed heavily in favour of us attending the Newport Folk Festival (by the way, Miss G: do you know that this is the Dunkin' Donuts Folk Festival??) to see Emmylou Harris and Bright Eyes (and maybe the Pixies and Richard Thompson if I can do some clever convincing to attend Saturday as well).

So, I've been thinking about books, and about Dave Eggers, and about the Newport Folk Festival, and road trips, and mostly about summer. And of course, about the bird, and somehow these have all found their way here today as I procrastinate on just about everything. Fun.

Ritter Day

2005-06-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Ritter Sport chocolates

This is me, hard at work, greatly distracted by a box of chocolates at home, which were brought back from a friend's work trip to Germany. I'm confused, distracted, and drooling... Thinking of the Ritter choclates that await me, and also a bit about John Ritter.

Domino Deciders???

2005-06-15T21:53:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Secretly, I love magazines. Really, I do. I rarely buy them, I rarely read them, but I love the idea of magazines--quick, easy, glossy, fun. I especially love new magazines because they offer an extra promise of freshness. I have a major issue with magazines though, which is that I hate the over marketing and selling of things, and the idea that everyone should go out and buy the same beautiful things to keep up with the style of the day. I'm also not a fan of Hollywood in general, so that keeps me clear from most magazines.

But, of course, because I do secretly love magazines, I am prone to compromising from time to time, particularly in favour of summer beach and travel reading. I got bored while doing groceries today, and got distracted by the magazine section, so I decided to nose around to see what's going on in magazine land. I was really surprised at all the new magazines--Tango, Weekend, and Domino caught my eye, but I'm just so torn... They look so pretty and fun, but they deep down drive me kind of crazy. Do I really need a magazine to tell me how to have the perfect weekend (let me guess, it involves shopping)? What will Tango say about my relationship? And, will I be able to read Domino (who, by the way, have thought out their marketing strategy right down to naming their forum members Domino Deciders) without it enabling me to run out and buy things?

Two of the 8 kabillion new magazines out this summer

Like this, for example. How will I be able to resist the most beautiful ironing board on earth?? Bahhh.

Surfing

2005-06-14T16:08:00.000-04:00

I seriously love the internet, there's always something to check out. After lunch today, I took a minute to check Wikipedia to look into something that was under dispute, and then looked up knitting just for fun. The entry on knitting's kind of interesting--I love the caption on the photo below.

Wikipedia: File Under Knitting

The links section lead me to the site above, whose entry page is pretty hip, in my opinion.

No knitting

2005-06-12T21:59:00.000-04:00

[no title]

It's pretty sad, really. The amount of time I've spent knitting these past few weeks has been so minimal, I'm starting to wonder how long it will be before things pick up again. Time's just flying by, and I keep finding myself at 10 at night wondering where the day went.

And so, during this drought/intermission, I bring you one scarf found crumpled in the closet, completed before this blog's existence:

Echarpe from Marie Claire Idées Hiver 2004
Knit with Alpaca Peru (Rose)

Plus one lonely knitting basket:

Sigh...

Good day, sunshine

2005-06-11T09:10:00.000-04:00

Finally, Saturday!

Coffee's brewing, it's sunny and nice, though I doubt there will be knitting. Looking forward to checking out the Ladyfest Craft Sale today, which I know will be filled with great finds.

Here's quite a neat art project:

knitting photo project on flickr

Very interesting, do check it out. Add this to the list of reasons I love flickr.

Tired, blah

2005-06-08T21:42:00.000-04:00

[no title]

It's Wednesday, and I'm greatly looking forward to waking up on Saturday morning to a nice cup of strong coffee. And after that, maybe I'll get some knitting done.

One can hope...

Road Trip Mania

2005-06-02T20:00:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Another road trip looms large. Heading to Fredericton, NB tomorrow morning, due back on Monday. Love 12-hour drives. Happy weekend!

Morning

2005-06-01T07:44:00.000-04:00

'Morning!

It's not quite 8, and I'm procrastinating getting dressed for work. Instead, I thought I'd post 2 random pictures. First up, a book we gave to our friend's daughter, who turned one on the weekend. A bit advanced reading for a one-year old, but I think she'll like the music.

And, the other, more multicolour yarn I'm liking. I love that knitting is popular in my age group now. 5 years ago, you would never see anything with colours as cool as this.

Knitterly Things Vesper Sock yarn from Knitpixie. Sigh...

And with that, on with the day.

Snaps!

2005-05-31T20:52:00.000-04:00

[no title]

It's been a while, hasn't it? I put the final touches on the felted bag last night. I decided to go with the snaps, and not the zipper, but in a different way than I'd been thinking of originally. Wanting very much to speed up the finishing process for this, I decided to use the snaps to attach the straps. I'm super happy I came up with this stroke of genius because I really like the results. In hindsight, sewing the straps on would have taken less time than the accuracy and finagling that's required to use the "APPLY-ER", but the end result gave me a more flashy fun and snappy bag. Literally.

snap buttons can't be beat

Careful using the pearlized buttons, they break easily. I learned this the hard way, sadly. In addition to the snap buttons, I also added a pin in the corner. I really really dig that this bag turned out to be a bag I would possibly consider purchasing, as in I like it not just because I made it.

The trek to cotton sweaterdom continues. As you can see, I'm hard at work.

To Whom It May Concern

2005-05-29T13:20:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Hey Secret Pal, thanks for visiting! Here's some info for you, drop me a line if you have any other questions.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
Yarn snob, yup. I love great quality wool (keep me away from the scratchy kind)--almost every time I've compromised for something of a lesser quality, it's made me angry. I also like great quality cotton.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I know how to crochet, but I prefer the look of knitting. I'm amazed by spinners, but I'm not one.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Dislike smoke and dog hair. I have a mild trinket and knick-knack allergy.

4. How long have you been knitting?
Off-and-on for many many years. I knit ridiculous projects as a kid, then mostly boyfriend and gift-like items in my late teens and early twenties, then picked it up again steadily last winter.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I don't buy a lot of books because I can get most books from the library. I do I have a YesAsia wishlist with things that I can't find locally though. I can't seem to get the link to the wishlist to work, feel free to log in and check (user: click.clickety@gmail.com, pass: clickclick -- there's no personal or credit card type info in here or anything, it's basically just a list).

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) I generally don't care for scents, but I'm a big fan of anything Bath and Body Works, especially their new lemony lotion products. I wish Canada had BBW stores.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Chocolate, yum!

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I really like it all. I've always wanted to be better at sewing, my only contact with a sewing machine these past few years has involved a duster, only to make myself feel that I'm not neglecting it. I believe one day I will make a cute japanese purse, and possibly parts of a quilt (I have little confidence in my ability to finish anything of this size).

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like most music made by musicians. Actual musicians. I like live shows and listen to a lot of radio, of the public radio variety--I think KCRW really hits the mark in promoting talented musicians in a variety of genres. My computer/stereo plays MP3s; I love discovering new artists.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I've been all over the cool baby blues and pinks this year, especially the multicolour yarns, but I love just about everything. I would say the only colours I stay away from are hunter greens and burgundys and wild neon-y colours, everything else is just peachy.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Live with boyfriend and cat.

12. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I don't like scratchy wool, and am always looking for nice butter soft stuff that wears well. I've recently fallen in love with Cascade 220, and am loving the merino wool. I've also recently made amends with cotton, which is nice and cool to knit with in the summer. And then there's the bamboo and soy yarns I keep drooling over, and Lornas Laces that keeps catching my eye. Mostly I'm falling in love with yarns I can't get locally.

13. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Scratchy wool, acrylic and mohair make me scowl.

14. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
I've just started making sweaters, and am a bit daunted by the commitment it takes to make these. I have great respect for sweater knitters, and I'm a bit afraid that I won't be able to bring a finished object of this variety around the bend. I keep thinking of small projects I can make instead of working on one of the 3 sweaters I've started. Currently, I'm thinking that knitting socks would be neat, but I haven't been able to find a pattern that I like. Does a pattern that has a smooth heel and toe exist?? Plus, I feel like I'm cheating on the sweaters by even thinking of socks. I really do think I'll make socks one day, especially because I suspect that the first time I come face to face with some Lornas Laces, or some other variety of butter soft hand-dyed sock yarn, I'll want to buy it up immediately and start knitting socks. (Please don't tell the sweaters.)

15. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Mittens! So fast, so easy, and loved by all. Who doesn't love mittens?

16. What are you knitting right now?
Officially, 3 sweaters, all in cotton, although none of them get much attention. I knit 6 rows of a Phildar sweater last Sunday. :(

17. What do you think about ponchos?
Bad.

18. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circular, love love love addi-turbos and addi bamboos.

19. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?See above.

20. Are you a sock knitter?
Contemplating it. ...Guiltily.

21. How did you learn to knit?
My grandpa taught me when I was 8.

22. How old is your oldest UFO?
8 years. I have a few knit in the round fair-isle-y sweaters that I started with a roommate years ago. Sweaters really are hard to finish. I blame the acrylic yarn for these unfinished objects.

23. Is there anything that you collect?
I have a weakness for vintage and strange board games from yard sales and second-hand stores.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
None, but I flip through the Rebecca and Phildar magazines at local shops, and sometimes pick up Interweave Knits.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
I'm really amazed by the quirkiness of Japanese styles, and would like to get my hands on some actual patterns.

Long weekend bliss

2005-05-23T13:04:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Ahh, Montreal: so much to see. Saturday brought a quick roadtrip to Montreal, just for the adventure of it. I love that a small road trip gets me somewhere so interesting. Kind of like having Europe in your backyard.

Random Montreal sights, plus a random shoe shot on the Orange Line Metro

I love the architecture in Montreal, there are so many unique details to take in. The people watching's phenomenal, and it's a cinch to get around. Notice the shoe shot above? I took this of our shoes at the subway station, in part because I loved the orange tiles, and in part because I love that the colour schemes of the Metro stations correspond to what line you're on. Literally impossible to get lost.

Something neat that I like to look for while in Montreal are the Distroboto machines, which are old cigarette vending machines converted to sell art stuffs. They don't have much of a website to give you more info, but it's part of the Artomat project, and you can happily read more on their site. Didn't find any machines this time, but I was in Montreal in the fall, and the Distroboto gave me some fun local music and funky hand-made jewelry. Very fun.

On the drive home, I was happy to have been accompanied by Grant Lawrence and CBC Radio 3. I love good radio, and I really feel there's a real shortage of it, so I'm always happy when I tune into something good. We just missed a special with the Arcade Fire, incedentally, from Montreal, so I checked around on the CBC website to see if I could find it archived somewhere. Sure enough, there it was, along with over 100 other great performances, which I highly recommend you take your mouse and click here immediately (and then click 101 Music Stories) to check out. Seriously, more than one hundred recordings.

I had to laugh though, when I found the playlist for Radio 3:

CBC Radio's generally pretty uptight and stuffy, the good music programming usually airs late at night, or during weird times on the weekend. It's government-run, and generally pretty conservative, so I find it pretty amusing that they can get away with this. For those of you who've heard my endless "But the CBC really IS good!" rants, file this one under "But the CBC really CAN be cool!".

By the way, no yarn shopping in Montreal, no knitting either. Perhaps this evening?

May Two-Four

2005-05-20T23:36:00.000-04:00

[no title]

It's Friday evening, and we're gearing up for a weekend of fun, May Two-Four-style. The much-anticipated first long weekend of spring/summer is here, and us Canadians are off to buy two-fours for the weekend, aka cases of 24 beers. I think tomorrow's got a day trip to Montreal in the works, shoe shopping, I imagine patios, and I wouldn't be surprised if we end all or some of the evenings this weekend off with fireworks. But, before we get to any of that tomfoolerly, here are the final results of the felted bag.

Before and after felting

Why do craft tools have such ridiculous names?

I'm really happy with how this all worked out in the end. Cascade's great to work with, I recommend it highly--it felted thick and sturdy after one wash. I let this simmer for a wash and a half, but I wish I'd have taken it out after the first cycle because it came out a bit smaller than I intended it to be. It's just shy of a magazine in size.

I'm not entirely decided on how I'm going to finish this. I picked up some snap buttons, thinking I'd add one as a closure, and then I fell in love with the blue zippers you see above. I've been loving blue and red combinations of late, so I'm entertaining adding some sass to this bag with some blue. But, of course, this will mean zipper installing, which, given the choice between that and using the "APPLY-ER" to rig up some snap buttons in 2.5 seconds... And, there's always the option of leaving things in the flesh and letting everything hang out with no closing mechanisms at all. We shall see.

Quick update

2005-05-18T13:03:00.000-04:00

OOhhh, everything’s just so close with the red felted bag. The main bag is all ready to hit the wash, I’ve only the straps left to finish. Similar to how I failed to read the material requirements until I was well into the project, I also failed to read the measurements of the finished product. Turns out this is actually quite a large bag; it looks like it’s just a bit bigger than a magazine in size from the picture, but it’s actually much larger. I compensated by making it shorter, which also awarded me with the bonus of casting off sooner. Final product to be revealed shortly, I hope.

In the meantime, the Tulip Festival is well underway, which of course means that us Ottawa folks can expect rain every evening until the festival ends. At least while there are concerts scheduled.

Parliament Hill a la Tulip Festival

P.S. - I have no idea who took this picture, it was sent to me a few years ago. Lest you think I'm a photographer, or image thief.

Rainy Saturday

2005-05-14T18:45:00.000-04:00

Pretty miserable out today, complete 360 from last weekend's great weather, but very much a deja-vu from Miss G's visit a few week's ago. It's rainy out, just like it was when she was in town, and I started out the morning by heading to the same yarn store we started our Saturday day out on, to pick up some more of the same wool I picked up during her visit. Lots of sames, I'm sure you can see the deja-vu-ness I'm referring to.

Much-needed supplies to finish the felted bag

I'm about 5 inches away from having the main part of the felted bag finished. Things have slowed down considerably due to my not reading the pattern properly (or at all) when I bought the wool, and not picking up enough. With more than enough supplies now, I'm so looking forward to the upcoming felting fun.

I got restless during the week, and cast on another project:

Ugh-- 2mm's!

This will one day be the zippered cardigan from Phildar Printemps 2005--or parts of it, anyway. I've had the supplies for months, but had intended to make the Ribby Cardi first, as a practice cotton sweater. As I continue to be frustrated with the cotton I'm using for the Ribby Cardi, I far prefer the idea of starting 8 or 9 more projects before going back to it again. All to say, don't expect rapid progress, certainly nothing to match the magnifigance of this!

Sale-bin superfind: $1.99 each!

And finally, I was happily surprised to find some Rowan Wool Cotton in a sale bin today. My mind went quickly to toques and mittens and scarves, which made me quite afraid. So, for those of you who may be suffering the same affliction: Reminder: It's only May!

Oasis

2005-05-12T20:58:00.000-04:00

[no title]

I've been thinking a lot about this soy-silk yarn from Southwest Trading Company; a few months now, even. I don't own any of it, but I thought it was time to share at least a photo. I love the colours, I love the feel of it, I love everything. I don't love that I can't think of anything to make with it. Most anything would be impractical, and I'm just not so impractical.

Southwest Trading Company's Oasis: Made with soy!

Small post, large picture. Enjoy.

Sign me up!

2005-05-09T19:11:00.000-04:00

[no title]

I love getting things in the mail. Who doesn't, really? I confess that one of the main reasons I started blogging is so that I can take part in Secret Pal. I wish something like this existed for every one one of my interests. So, you can imagine my excitement now that the sign-up for Secret Pal 5 has started. Hurry over, you have until May 29th to get your name in.

Similarly, I'm also excited by the upcoming Sampler subscription date, which is next Monday, May 17th. Subcriptions are limited, so get there fast next Monday. Here's a peek at what to expect:

Imagine, fun hand-made things from all over the place delivered to your door.

Felted bag update

2005-05-07T15:59:00.000-04:00

[no title]

It's really, really nice out today. Not really a day for knitting.

Here are some photos of the felted bag I'm working on:

From Summer 2005 Interweave Knits

I really really like this wool--Cascade 220 Quatro

I'm making this bag in Cascade 200, which I'm told is excellent for felting. It was recommended to me by the ever-friendly staff at Wool 'n Things, a great store in Orleans, an Ottawa suburb. I have to make mention here about how well I think this store is doing. The shop opened in December, and they've far surpassed the selection that was previously available here in town. When I went in on Saturday, I was surprised to find a very complete line of Rowan (hard to find in Canada), and lots of fun stuff like Southwest Trading Company's Soy yarn, which is like candy on a string. They also stock lots of Phildar, have lots of sales, and keep very current on what's going on in knitting land. They take online orders, but their website doesn't do much to show what they actually stock. Kudos to them for doing such a great job in giving us Ottawa knitters something different.

I haven't spent much time on this bag since I picked up the materials last weekend; I've really only sat down with it once during a one-hour show earlier this week. Much of that time was spent learning how to knit continental, and I'm eager to sit down with it again (when it's not so nice outside). I'm loving the colour, I think this stuff's going to be a regular part of my collection from now on.

And now, time for a bike ride!

I suppose it's time to make up.

2005-05-06T17:36:00.000-04:00

[no title]

O f course this is how this works. Of course! Now that I'm happy to be working with wool, and am not wanting anything to do with cotton, of course a batch of cotton arrives in the mail.

Darn.

Grrr! Evil cotton!

I'd mentioned earlier that I'd made a big Knit Picks order, and that I'd post more on it at another time. I suppose now would be as good a time as any to bring this up again. About a month ago, I ordered a sampling of Knit Picks wool, mostly all Merino Style, a few balls of Elegance, and some Shimmer. I just couldn't make a decision on one or two colours of the Merino Style that I liked the most, so I ordered 2 balls of a bunch of their colours, and some larger quantities of colours I really liked. I wanted to see what everything looked like in real life, and, well, I went 100% crazy before finalizing the order--somehow I justified purchasing 2 balls of multiple colours. Maybe I was thinking mittens? A striped sweater? Tea towels? I'm not sure really, but I had big dreams about it at the time.

But then when the order came in, I was pretty disappointed with the colours. I was really impressed with the quality of everything, but the colours just weren't right for me. The Knit Picks website's colours look so rich and bold, and much of what I got was mostly dull colours. A few exceptions here and there (grass was my favourite), but for the most part I wasn't thrilled. Thinking that I wouldn't want to knit with wool in the summer, I exchanged the colours I didn't like for the bag of Shine you see above. Which, as we've covered, of course was delivered at the height of my distate for cotton.

I really like the colour, I promise I won't return it. Hopefully I'll get over knitting with cotton, and make something possibly nice with this. Not quite sure what yet. The back of another Ribby Cardi, perhaps?

cbc scavenger hunt, oh my!

2005-05-05T21:08:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Oh, such fun! Ottawa celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. The CBC folks have cooked up a neat scavenger hunt, to be held Satruday May 14th. Ironically, many of the prizes are trips to Montreal. Interesting...

Ottawa through the eyes of the cbc

...Still working on the felted bag, and am happily enjoying my reunion with wool. I'm using this opportunity to try my (left) hand at continental knitting. After only a few minutes of feeling like I'm learning how to knit all over again, my speed ramped right back up to my regular right-hand style, even a little faster. Here's a great step-by-step guide on continental knitting. I'm looking forward to trying this out for ribbing and other purl-inclusive stitches. This is the main reason I decided to give this continental mish-mash any attention--moving back and forth between knits and purls in English style is lame-o slow.

p.s.

2005-05-03T17:46:00.000-04:00

[no title]

This is the store I fell in love with in Vancouver: www.gravitypope.com. (I forgot to include the link in my last post)

I [heart] Rocketdogs!

2005-05-03T17:45:00.001-04:00

[no title]

Couldn't be happier today--got some shoes in the mail. I was in Vancouver this past Easter, and found these Rocketdogs that I love love love. I thought there was something a little off about them while I was trying them on in the store, but the sales lady made me feel like I was being paranoid, so I brought them home with me anyway. After wearing them around for a bit, I couldn't get over the fact that one felt looser, so I had a good hard look at them. After a few days of feeling crazy, I finally took the insole out of each of them and discovered that one foot was a size 10, and the other a 9. The store was great about the exchange, and quickly sent me 2 shoes of the same size. I'm happy to have the shoes, but it makes me miss Vancouver. Sigh... I fell in love with this more than amazing store while there; I wish it was at my immediate disposal.

As for the knitting, I continue to harbour resentment toward cotton. So much so that I've put the Ribby Cardi on hold for a few days while I work on the very cute and functional red felted bag from this month's Interweave Knits. I'm using Cascade 220 in a great red, and I think I'll forego the embroidery and use fun buttons or pins instead. No need to drive myself bananas with embroidery.

TBIM (Too Bad It's Monday)

2005-05-02T20:22:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Sigh, another weekend over.

Great visit this weekend--we did a good go-around of Ottawa yarn shops, some all-round regular shopping, and a giant blast at the Alberta scene.

ahhh, such a good weekend

Too tired to say much more, other than that I can't help but think we left one of our destinations on Saturday without paying the tab. Miss G, if you're reading, does your steel-trap memory have anything on this?

Company's coming!

2005-04-28T19:41:00.000-04:00

[no title]

I'm eagerly anticipating a visit from Miss G this weekend, who has been considerably enamored with felting of late. In her honour, here's a fun felting book I found online.

Do also check out the most amazing beer cozies she made this past winter.

Made for crawling

2005-04-27T18:54:00.000-04:00

[no title]

I have such a weakness for small projects that finish quickly, and are guaranteed to be put in use. These are two pairs of baby shoes that I coudln't resist making while visiting my parents a few weeks ago. The beige pair are my first stab at fair-isle-y type knitting, which I think I'll do again. I wasn't a huge fan of having to sew in all the ends afterward, but I made it through.

Both of these are made with Knitpicks Merino Style from Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits Book. Lots of great patterns in this book--check your local library.

I miss wool!

2005-04-27T00:32:00.000-04:00

Ugh, things are moving slowly with the Ribby Cardi.

I'm having intense issues working with this yarn. I'm using a Cotton/Acrylic yarn called Aviso that I picked up for a super hot deal at Wool Tyme--$25 for 10 balls, how could I resist? I should have known better though, I had pangs of "you-get-what-you-pay-for!" while I was paying for the lot. The yarn's been twisting like crazy, and I'm not so hot on the colour now that I've been looking at it on a daily basis. But, I'll keep my head down and keep moving; like I said, I will finish this.

I've re-knit this a number of times, using a variety of techniques, to help make this a better looking sweater. Things are looking striped, due to my knit rows being tighter than my purl rows, which are a lot more exaggerated with this evil cotton. I've tried using the combined knitting method, which I'm told is a miracle solution for tension issues, and I've also tried another suggestion of knitting with a smaller size needle on mypurl rows. Neither produced a result I was happy with, so I decided to move on to a tried and true cotton-knitting solution: bamboo needles. Things are looking up, but the sky's still cloudy.

So, I've resigned myself to the idea that this sweater is not just an exercise in me finishing a sweater, it's an exercise in patience in learning the finer techniques needed to knit with cotton.

Who knew this would be so hard?

Time to start starting

2005-04-24T20:11:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Ok, so I think it's high time I start getting some things done around here. Ever since I picked up my knitting needles again last year, I've been thinking of making a sweater. I've been putting that thought off forever now, and I think it's time to just dive in and do it. A few months ago I bought the Ribby Cardi pattern from Chicknits, which I think will be a perfect starter sweater to get me back into things. It's got everything you could want in a pattern--simple, yet enough of a challenge to keep you going for the whole thing (I hope). The extra bonus is it looks to be highly wearable. A rarerity in knitting land, in my opinion.

Progress so far:

Trouble is, what with the lack of snow, I'm feeling a bit sluggish toward knitting, so hopefully forced progress reports will help. I've got most of the back worked up, fingers crossed on the rest.

Love love LOVE flickr!

2005-04-15T19:03:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, the joys of flickr... Now you can spell things with photos here: http://metaatem.net/words/. So many possibilities with flickr--I think it's time I get my pro account up again. I'm due.

Easter Hat

2005-04-08T11:00:00.000-04:00

[no title]

Baby knits: just too fun!!

Hard to resist fun baby hats, really-- I'm a sucker for the little knits. From Stitch and Bitch Nation, knit in Debblie Bliss Wool Cotton. I chose not to stitch on the rabbit face that the pattern reccomends, my embroidery skills just aren't up to par.

ENBALERS!

2005-03-16T19:57:00.000-05:00

Falling victim to reading too many knitting and craft-like blogs, I've found myself drooling over high priced yarns that I can't get in town. I'm just itching to get my hands on some of the yarn I'm constantly reading about, but my selection's pretty limited, nothing at all comparable to the land of yarn that I read about online.

For example, I read about Rowan all over the place, but my experience with it up close is next to none. I've experienced exactly 2 Rowan spottings to date: I found a few skeins of Magpie in the bargain section at one of the shops in town, and they sold for the insane price of $19 for an ugly grey colour. The other sighting was in an amazing shop in Kensington Market in Toronto, a few balls of amazing-coloured balls of Kid Silk Haze...$22! Not realistic in the least.

So, I've made a compromise and ordered some stuff from Knitpicks. Not being great decision maker, it took me a good week of solid hemming and hawing before I finally made the decision to order a whack of product.

Knitpicks satisfies the shopping need

I'll post some specifics later, but I will say that the Merino Style really is great to work with. Their colours aren't quite up to what their web site makes them appear--most of what I got came in a lot duller than they'd have you believe. Regardless of what your monitor settings are.

No title for you

2005-03-15T21:50:00.000-05:00

I am a test post and a test picture. I will say though, that when in Victoria or Vancouver BC, do visit Smoking Lily.