Everybody's doing it!

Everybody's doing what, you ask?

You'll have to read on for the answer, but to distract you on the way here is a picture of a cat belly. An all out, catchin' a sunbeam, laying flat, no interest in rolling over, cat belly.
Thank-you Thursday.

NO TOUCHING!!!

The end of KAL#3 is fast approaching so I thought I would show you a shot of how we started way back in OCTOBER! Yeah, the last KAL to start before Christmas is going to suffer from Knitting Interuptus---everytime!

So, that was some fine blog content; a cute cat and some socks, but I need to get to sewing and I wanted to post about the latest rage around here...
BIRTHDAYS!!
I have two friends' with birthdays this week, my son's girlfriend's mom and me. So, apparently it's the week for birthdays.
***HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNIE!!!***

Happy Family Day!

Today is "Family Day".
I still think it's a silly "holiday". It's taken quite a few years for us to get the hang it and usually it just sneaks up on us as, "What?! There's no school on Monday?!"

Well this year the weather has finally co-operated with my ski-lovin' family and they've headed off to the ski hill for the day leaving my pets and I to enjoy lounging in the favourite sunbeam of choice and to work UNDISTURBED on a dance costume or two. :-)

And now, because blogs are more interesting with photos, here is a shot of our final night on our summer holiday (see post before last---HA!). We had enjoyed a really lovely meal at Rhubarb (and there's my link to keep things interesting) in Haliburton; I totally recommend it to anybody passing by.

Now, that's what a tan looks like! Not this wishy-washy Mexico one.

WHEW!

That was a close one!

Yes, I know, it's been awhile. That was then; this is now.

I wanted to send a little note to my dear friends with regard to some comments that were made last night at Knit Night and thought, 'Hey! I could blog that!' My husband just left for the weekend and I'm feeling kind of free spirited about the whole thing and if I don't want to do laundry right now, then I won't and if I want to blog right now, then I will!

I got an iPad for Christmas and have been using that most of the time, but haven't figured out how to blog from it (yet), so I grabbed my camera and came down to my computer to load some photos and catch everybody up on what's been going on. I put the card in the computer and said yes when the computer asked to load the 1446 photos that was on it. (During my absence there was a computer re-furb and photos are kind of scattered throughout the innerds of this thing.) I also thought that since that was close to a years worth of photos and I KNOW that most of the pictures are already in there I also gave the o.k. to 'erase after download is complete'.
At some point during that transaction the screen went wild! There was some kind of error and bits of windows flashing in and out and it was in the middle of erasing and I wanted to back up the photos before the thing crashed if the card was wiped like it was supposed to....and you know, this whole blogging thing wasn't very relaxing at all; laundry was starting to look good!
I finally was able to shut it down, walked away to get a little lunch (everything is better after a bit of Toblerone Chocolate--that was dessert). While I was waiting for the pages to come back I put the card back in the camera and.....Voila! Photos intact! They were also loaded here!

So now, I shall blog away. I have chosen to only deal with knitting related subjects today.

KAL #2 complete. (we have a no face policy)

For Christmas I was gifted some lovely Noro Sock yarn and the pattern Bermuda. I. Love. it!

One of the Red Hot Mama's turned 40 and in what appears to be becoming a tradition of sorts there was a basket of goodies put together and I included some mittens.
Yarn Harlot's Cloisonee and they too, were a lot of fun to knit. I've made more (and will continue to make more) for the new yarn shop in town that I am also teaching at! Yay! I'm working at a yarn shop that also is a quilt shop! I'm not sure how much money will actually make it home with me. ;-)

I didn't get to see the recipient of these mitts open her gift as my husband and I were in Mexico during the celebration. And as with any of my holidays, knitting was a big part of it; a good thing too, because it rained everyday and was mostly cloudy the rest of the time.

I worked almost exclusively on our KAL #3 (my pick) Jewelled Steps by Cat Bordhi with an added one of a kind detail of my own design. It was not all smooth sailing down there in the not-so-sunny south. There was Yarn Barf. And when one is faced with Yarn Barf in Mexico at an all inclusive resort the only thing to do is....

Grab a couple of glasses of Champagne and deal with it.
The socks are now complete and when our last KALer completes her pair (no pressure) there will be another photo shoot and there are a couple of neat plans for that...wait for it...
UNDERFOOT!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!

Now for the purpose of this whole blood pressure raising endeavour.
As I sat knitting quietly to myself (because I was really tired) last night, the question was asked not once, but several times if I was knitting from my stash? (I'm sure there's a picture of my stash in some post of mine; believe me when I say it has grown) I replied clearly and succinctly that, 'No, it was not from my stash.' and that, 'I had purchased one ball of yarn to start the Biker's Jacket from the lasted Knitter's issue.' It sounds a lot more polite here than when I yelled it across the room last night. (I was really tired). There's a flower as an embellishment on the back, but it totally calls for a basket of yarn or a big ball of yarn with needles sticking out of it or CASTOFFS written in funky yarn---anything other than a stupid flower! I wasn't using the yarn called for and I wanted to see if it would work so I only bought the one ball because one ball is always o.k. Ask my sock yarn stash.
So a couple of days ago, I cast on for the sleeve---it's like a swatch---and found that I did indeed need to go down a needle size to get gauge. Yay me! I did some pro-knitting there. Anyway, I kept knitting and this morning was examining the fabric and thought it's quite dense so it will be warm and substantial; I might line it with some funky fabric. I'm going to look way cool and other knitters will be envious of my whole Biker Knitter Logo....

But I'm not liking working it. It's hard on my hands. It's black. I don't think I really love it, but I did like the idea of the logo.

(There's other stuff in my stash; other stuff that I've already started that I know I will love!)

It's off the needles, going to be undone and all it cost me was one ball of yarn that may or may not find it's way into my stash, but it's not a whole sweater's worth and that's something that I feel really good about!

Try Something New!

There's this thing called "Blogging"?

I thought I'd give it a try...

Hi. Me again. My computer has been, shall we say, 'fussy'? So, I've cleaned my discs, defragged and done a complete back up; so now, I'll try posting something.

So far, so good. My photos got loaded. Yay!

When last we spoke, I was heading to the cottage with the family.

Here is a shot following the first exodus of people where the children and I enjoyed a quiet 36 hours. This quiet time included driving an hour to go see the last Harry Potter movie and a drop in from some cottage friends, which lead to a dinner invitation. I said 'quiet' right?

My kids and the dog went to sit at the end of the dock and have quickly adapted to the cottage etiquette of waving to the boats going by. We were in a very quiet (no really, we were the loud ones) bay; so there wasn't a lot of waving.

I did manage to knit a little when the crowd dispersed.

And then we were home again.

Some dear friends presented me with a tree a couple of years ago after my mom passed away. My gardening skills are 'poor' at best these days, but this lovely gift is thriving and I wanted to show it off a bit. I smile and think of the lovely women who have been, and who are in my life whenever I see this tree.

These same friends and I went on a bit of a 'Yarn Crawl' upon my return from the cottage where we celebrated the start to one of their Vacations!

I call this, "Yarn on a Mini."

So, there you go. A fly-by post. I hope all is well with all my friends and family who read this and---fingers crossed---the computer keeps going; so that I can post again.

I finished KAL#2. Fiddlehead Mittens. I won this kit in a draw at our Cast-Off Annual Christmas Party. The kit was generously donated by Connie at Pick Up Sticks. (unfortunately, 'fussy', seems to include an unwillingness to create a link)

Thank-you, Connie; a pleasure, as always.

My turn to choose the next KAL project. I'm embracing the 'learning new skills' mandate of our little group and including some 'never seen before' elements.

I KNOW!!! The fun just never stops!

NEWSFLASH!!

WE'RE HAVIN' A HEATWAVE!!!

So, of course I'm going to show you knitting stuff...

KAL Project #1 completed by four knitting friends:

Same project (Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf**sorry, computer won't let me link!**); different yarns...aren't they wonderful?

KAL Project #2 started by the same four knitting friends:

(Fiddlehead Mittens**still no link!**) in 40 C weather! We're nuts!!

I don't have this one lined yet, but some of the others in the group are working these mittens two at a time; either on the same needles or a little bit of one and then a little bit of the other.

We plan on a photo shoot at the completion of this KAL too.

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I haven't been a very consistent blogger over the past few months...I had great intentions at the beginning of the year...be advised, however, that I will likely not be posting over the next couple of weeks as the family holiday will begin in approximately 48 hours.

I've done little to nothing in preparation for this holiday and thought that today, I better get things moving!

First?

Wind the yarn that I'm planning to use.

Cascade 220 for Christmas presents.

Did I mention 40 C? 48 C, with the humidex forecast for tomorrow!

Yeah, gimme some o' that Cascade 220!!

That's Knitter With a Capital "K"!

I took knitting on my weekend away and actually did quite a bit of sweater that I had tucked away in the stash. I really would like to make a full size sweater that I'll wear when I'm cold, will look nice and show that I really am a Knitter. Yes, that's Knitter with a capital "K"!

After all my knitting, however, I don't have one stitch to be able to show you. Aww, yes, the negative knitting curse struck again. Here is how it goes...

Pick out pattern, yarn and needles and pack it along with your other weekend treats.

Take new set of interchangeable needles...just because.

Find a comfy, quiet place to knit when away with friends where there is "no judgement."

Cast on specified number of stitches for the back, using the specified needle and knit away.

Reread pattern several times while doing this and answer, "What are you knitting?" many times as well.

After a dozen rows or so, decide that you should go down a needle size.

Rip out back of sweater.

Cast on using one of the interchangeable needles.

Knit a few rows and decide that the cable is too long and change cable mid-row.

Knit another dozen rows or so and determine yet, again that you should probably go down a size again.

Compare gauge called for in pattern to gauge listed on ball band.

Wonder if close is close enough?

Allow the fact that you are still choosing not to knit a gauge swatch enter your reality.

Note at this time, that the interchangeable have an alternate numbering system and the 4mm you think you need will actually be substituted with a 4.25mm.

Cast on for the sleeve.

Knit more than 30 rows of the sleeve to get a true 'swatch-like' measurement and determine that the previous needle size: ie. 4.5mm would likely give a more correct measurement after all.

Rip out sleeve.

Pack up knitting, pattern, interchangeable needles and will to live.

Pour your first (but not last) Margarita of the day.

Wonder if you'll really be able to rip the pattern up and discard the yarn if you don't get gauge using 4.5mm on the sleeve?

Aaahhh, Margarita.

There Are Few Things Sadder Than...

A blogger who doesn't get to blog about all the wonderful things that have been going on over the past couple of weeks/months.

A couple of weeks ago I went to watch my daughter in the Area Track and Field Meet.

She got FIRST!! So this week I'm going to go watch her at the Regional Track and Field Meet.

Last Friday night, the family and I attended a little event called Relay For Life. My son's school hosted the event for the first time. The kids organized the whole thing. They set up tents so that those who weren't walking all night would have a place to sleep.
I got a yellow T-shirt. I gave a little speech. I did a lap around the track.

We let the balloons we were carrying go in celebration of being a Survivor. My kids helped.

It really was a special night.

Over the past month or so. I've been participating in a KAL with some of my knitting friends. We chose to do a Linen Stitch Scarf. I've made this before and in the post in my head, you would see pictures of the first one I did. I was happy to do it again as I remember it being very much a 'Zen' kind of knit; not 'mindless' but 'mindful'. There are four of us participating and we each chose vastly different colourways---always a fun part of different people working on the same project; seeing how the different colours affect the outcome---here is a photo of my completed scarf. AKA Christmas Present #1.

This photo isn't fabulous in terms of colour representation, it's more black than brown, but look closely...
Cast On? Cast Off? Can you tell which is which? Pretty close match don't you think?

As some of us approached the end of the scarf, so began our discussion as to how to cast off this particular stitch. Some research had been done prior to even beginning the project for tips from others that had gone before us. Every time anybody started stressing about it, or any stitch that wasn't quite perfect, I was the first to lean in to the concerned knitter and clearly and firmly state, "It's a scarf." My intent was to remind them that it didn't have to be perfect; that a blind man would be glad to see it and that if it was something that couldn't be noticed as you wore it riding by on a horse, then it didn't matter.

Then it was my turn to cast off. First I decided I needed another row after the pattern said to stop to balance my colour progression from the cast on. The other's concurred. Then I tried casting off knitwise, purlwise, knit two together cast off, knit one - slip one - pass stitch over cast off and then repeated each of those a number of times. I dug out several of my knitting books. My friend sent me a link from Ravelry. Everything I tried did not give me the look that I wanted, because apparently, it did matter what the cast off looked like.

This really should not have come as any surprise since when doing this scarf the first time around, I chose to work two scarves for half the rows and do a three needle bind off to keep the edges identical. So finally, in complete desperation, I found a crochet hook to attempt a slip stitch cast off. As far as mirroring the long tail cast on edge it wasn't too bad, but something still wasn't right and so back to the beginning for one more try. I worked another linen stitch row using the same colour as previously used, went back to the beginning of that row, worked a slip stitch cast off and....TAA DAA!!! I DID IT!!! I am just tickled with the result and more tickled that my friend at one of my favourite LYS couldn't tell the difference either. HEEEE HEEEEE!!!

Speaking of LYS...

There are few things sadder than a knitter making a last minute decision to go to a yarn shop that is having an awesome sale (that her friends got to go to before she could!) only to find that it is closed for the day.

It all worked out though. It was open the next day.