Thursday, February 26, 2009

A week's work




So , another week has gone by and no posting . Too busy knitting . It's amazing how much productivity goes up when you stay away from the computer . There's one finished knit , an almost complete pair of socks and a new baby sweater on the needles . I'll give you the finished knit first ....




The Icelandic style pullover , sized for a 2yr old . The red and cream yarns were from the stash and I bought 2 balls of gray for the body . The yarn itself is Paton Shetland Chunky , an acrylic wool blend . It's soft , but it's really fuzzy , so I'm betting that it will pill like crazy . I'm not worrying about that too much because Jessey will probably outgrow it in no time flat .


I had the oddest dream last night . I dreamt that someone had left a truckload of fiber and yarn in our driveway . The icing on the cake was that there was also a spinning wheel amongst it all . Do you think my subconscious is telling me to get going with my efforts to learn how to spin ? Soon .....


I'll post the other projects in the next post , by then at least the socks should be done . Have a great day !

Friday, February 20, 2009

Hibernating




I've just been too lazy to blog this week . I've been busy hibernating , reading and even doing a little knitting here and there , The hibernation is due partly to the fact that I've been without wheels for part of this week . The kids have had to borrow my car for few days for one reason or another . It seems that 's one thing that never changes no matter how old they are . More of the same next week .






Winter is not releasing it's grip . We had a mini storm mid- week , so we're back to icy roads and shovelling . Just when I got used to bare asphalt , . It was so nice to walk the dog and not be slipping and sliding , worrying about fractures .






Knitting progress .... Jessy's sweater has sleeves and I've completed the first pattern chart on the yoke . This size should fit a two year old . He's only 4 months old and the little munchkin is already wearing clothes to fit a 12 month old . I'm hoping that he'll actually fit this for next Fall .




Speaking of the munchkin , here's a photo Chantal's mom took of our funny valentine ....

Friday, February 13, 2009

Beach glass socks


The socks are done ! I put down the books long enough to finish up these socks .This is the first pair knit from stash yarn . Something unusual happened this week . I actually went into a wool shop and didn't add to the sock yarn stash. That's not to say no yarn was bought because I needed something for a special baby on the way . There's a mini baby boom going on around here , so expect to see more baby knits on the blog this year.



Back to the socks , the pattern is one from Charlene Schurch's sock books "More Sensational Knitted Socks ". The colour reminds me of beach glass . I guess I'm dreaming of summer and the beach these days . The yarn is Arequipa , a wool , alpaca and nylon blend that was super to work with . I'm very happy with how they turned out . Now to decide which socks to cast on for next ...



Hope everyone has great a weekend and wishing you all a very happy Valentine's day !

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Non Sequitur







brought to you courtesy of No Knitting Progress because I'm Reading Instead and this is just how I feel right about now (click for a bigger image ) . Their calling for freezing rain today . Man , how I hate that stuff !





Thursday, February 5, 2009

What's new in knitting



Things are rolling right along on the knitting front . I'm actually at the heel on the second sock . I had bought the yarn (Arequipa) sometime late last year . It's a really beautiful yarn , gorgeous colourway and I put it away in the stash for a "special" knit . I have this idea that the costlier yarns should be put aside for something really special . What happens then ,usually , is that they sit there collecting dust and I knit with the "everyday " yarns . It's sort of like never using the "good " dishes . I don't have that many expensive yarns in the stash , but rest assured the ones I do have will see the light of day this year.


The other project on the needles is something for Jessey . I've been feeling the urge to knit something for the little guy , and finally settled on this sweater . The pattern is ancient , in fact I knit the same sweaters for the boys when they were little . It's knit in the round so there's not much to do in the way of seaming , always a plus for me . I'm just about at the yoke and will put it aside to knit the sleeves and then join it all together to continue to the neck . Best thing , I only needed to buy the grey yarn (2 balls ) .
So there you have it , my week in knitting ....

Monday, February 2, 2009

Stash busting

Having finally finished the baby blanket I was anxious to cast on for something new. I've been looking at the stash and thinking that I should really start using up some of it . I don't have an overly large amount of yarn but enough to feel a little guilt about adding to it , especially sock yarn . There's enough there for at least 35 pairs of socks , and at the rate that I knit socks, that's about a three years worth of projects . Add to that various balls/skeins to do hats and scarfs and other small items and there really is enough to keep me busy for awhile . I seldom knit sweaters ans such so there's none of that in the stash . I do have some ideas for baby and toddler knits , thanks to now having a grandson , but there's not much in the way of yarn for that , so I can feel guilt free to add yarn whenever the mood hits . Can you tell that I was raised Catholic , guilt about something or other is never far away :0 . I'm calling 2009 my year of slow stash busting and from time to time slow stashing .




So having assessed the situation here's my first finished knit from the stash . The photo doesn't do it justice , the colour is much nicer , but it gives you an idea of the stitch pattern . This is the Forest Canopy Cowl (rav link) . It's a great pattern and the cowl length and width is perfect in my estimation . It's not too long and overly wide . I wore it on the weekend and loved it , nice and cozy . The yarn is Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed ; the colour is called wintergreen .


There's new socks already cast on and thanks to a good deal of watching sports on the tv this weekend , good progress was made on those . Photos in the next post ...