Thou Shawl Not Knit

Something happened yesterday and I didn’t finish my shawl in time for the end of MadMay 2012.   I didn’t drop a stitch but I think I knit more together than I was supposed to.  All I know is that I was short a couple (a few?) stitches on a 12-stitch repeat.  I looked at it over and over again, from different directions, in different light and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what I’d done wrong.  And no, I wasn’t using a lifeline.  Why would I need a lifeline?  I was only working on some 240 stitches (and more with each row).  I finally realized that tears were only blurring my vision, making it harder to see where the yarn had turned on me. It happens, you know.  You’re knitting along without a care in the world and bang, the yarn has decided to do something else.  Something that has nothing to do with your shawl/sock/scarf.

The only thing left to do was tink (for those who don’t know, “tink” is “knit” spelled backwards and it means to unknit – one stitch at a time).  I had to go back 156 stitches one way, and then 156 again the other way.  Halfway through, I hit a wall.  I couldn’t look at another stitch.  Could not.  I got in the car and drove to Canmore.  You’re thinking I went to Knit and Caboodle  for yarn therapy or a shoulder to cry on, but that wasn’t it.   I needed something from Kitchen Boutique, something I’ve had my eye on since I started working there.

Epicurean Pizza Cutter

A pizza cutter.

Yes, I have one of those rotary ones and it works just fine at cutting.  But I got tired of having the pizza slip around the cutting board.  I don’t have that problem anymore.  While I was at it, I bought a cook-it-yourself fresh pizza too.  Time saved cooking dinner was used on the shawl.  It was a good call.

I had every intention of picking up the shawl this morning but then this appeared.

It’s not what you think.  It’s all very innocent, really.  I got to thinking about Ravelympics 2012.  Ravelympics is a Ravelry group whose antics projects coincide with the Summer Olympics.  The idea is to challenge ourselves with new techniques or project types and start and finish one or more of these projects during the Olympics. I’m really counting on the “finish” part this time, but my record has recently been sullied.

I’m on a team (Team SYR2) and have been trying to decide what events I want to participate in and what patterns I want to use.  You know I love knitting socks but I always start them from the cuff down.  I’ve been meaning to try toe-up for some time, but I’ve managed to find an excuse not to at every turn.  I’ve decided that will be my Ravelympics challenge.

Sifting through patterns on Ravelry led me to a tutorial for Judy’s Magic Cast-on.  I was sitting there, assorted knitting needles next to me, as well as a couple of skeins of yarn, so what the heck.  It took a couple of tries but I think I got the hang of it.  Figured while I was at it, I may as well find out what my gauge is with this yarn that I have plans for (Noro Taiyo Sock – plans are a secret for now).  See.  Totally innocent.

Now back to my shawl.

PS  I lost a little time this morning after someone (I won’t mention any names, Tricia) led me to a link for “The Sock Report”, a new emag dedicated to sock yarn.  You can ooh and aah over it here.  It’s gorgeous.  You’ll love it.  You can thank me (and Tricia) later.

Reprieve

Happy Wednesday!  And it really is a happy day for me.  For starters, even though it’s a bit chilly, the sun is shining (mostly).  Yesterday was too dull and rainy and cold for the end of May.  Most importantly, today is not the last day of May.  Since the weekend, I’ve been thinking that today would be May 31.  As you may have read previously, my MadMay 2012 shawl is due to be finished by midnight May 31.  I got just over halfway through the second lace pattern last night and was feeling a bit blue; I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish by tonight, not with all the beading that’s yet to come.  And that’s when it hit me.  I have one more day.  I have one, whole, extra day!  Maybe I can do this after all.

Here’s where I am now.

Yes, I know it doesn’t look like much.  My needles are short and, well, it’s lace.  Lace never really looks like anything special until it’s been blocked.  Here, let me stretch it out a bit …..

There, that’s a bit better.  Now you get the idea, sort of.  Patience, my friends.

I’m off and running knitting to the finish line now.

MadMay 2012

I realized on Friday that I had 7 days to complete a shawl I’ve been working on haphazardly all month.  First I had to finish BB’s socks.  Then I really felt I needed those fingerless gloves I finished last week. And since it’s gotten even cooler, if that’s possible, I started thinking light mittens might be the order of the day.  That’s when I realized I only had one week to complete the shawl.  Now I only have a couple of days and I’ve hardly had a chance to work on it.

You see, it’s Mad May in the Madelinetosh Lovers group on Ravelry.  There are contests, and KALs (knit-alongs) and CALs (crochet-alongs) and there are prizes.  There have been special savings on gorgeous patterns from the designers and there is, of course, the yarn.  Everyone loves Madelinetosh!

I got swept up.  I bought the most beautiful shawl pattern from Boo Knits, called Fragile Heart.

“Fragile Heart” from Boo Knits

Knit and Caboodle  had the yarn I wanted, Madelinetosh Lace in Fig

I was so excited to start!  Never mind that I’d never knit with lace weight before.  Never mind that the pattern called for knitting in hundreds of beads – something else I’ve never done.  I was making this shawl!

The shawl is cast on with a tab and for the life of me, I couldn’t do it. I tried more than a dozen times. No luck. I couldn’t see the stitches. Knitting with lace weight yarn is like knitting with sewing thread, only softer. I wasn’t about to be beat by a cast-on. Someone very wise once said, “There are no knitting police” so I made my own way. I cast on a few stitches and made a couple of increases to get the proper number to start with. I did leave a long enough tail that I can go back and reinforce those first stitches if needed. That was the only hard part – so far. Even the beading hasn’t proved very difficult, tho’ 2 more hands would be helpful.

And here I am, after the weekend, having only completed 4 more rows. I could start the lace border right now and surely finish up in time but I really want a bigger shawl than that. That means at least one repeat of the 16-row lace section I’ve just finished. I’d feel more confident about finishing if I could just call in sick to work these next couple of days, but I might have to settle for finishing after the deadline. That would make me ineligible for the final prize, but seeing as I’ve already won a prize in this contest, I think I could live with the disappointment.

A post of my progress was randomly selected for a surprise prize last week.  The prize was a pattern from Boo Knits.  Here’s what I chose.

“Quite Continental” from Boo Knits

I think I have the perfect yarn for it, something I’ve been saving for a special gift, but first, to finish my Fragile Fig.  Maybe I can get a couple of rows done before work.

It’s been another dull day in our part of the mountains.

It doesn’t feel much like the end of May but I did find my first wildflower in the woods yesterday,

                                      Calypso bulbosa or Fairy Slipper

the ferns are unfurling along the Bow, and the Wolf Willow is getting leafy.

I know Summer is coming but it’s taking it’s sweet time, as usual.  I could just see my breath this morning while walking the dog.  Good thing I finished these.

May Mitts.  The pattern:  Mitt Envy.  The yarn: Diamond Luxury Footloose

I think they’re going to see a bit of wear before summer finally gets here.

Saturday night is movie night at our house.  Sometimes there’s popcorn, other times licorice, and most always there’s yarn and needles in my hands.  Last night’s DVD was “The Grey”.  I’d never heard of it, but it stars Liam Neeson and for me, that’s enough.  Without giving anything away, it involves Alaska, a plane crash, survivors and wolves.  What we thought was interesting was that spoken dialogue was muted and almost indiscernable throughout the film.  Only the sounds of weather and wolf cries were loud and clear.  A bit avant-garde, but we tend to give directors’ the benefit of the doubt (except for Moulin Rouge – there was absolutely no excuse for that piece of ……).  We watched all 117 minutes of it and quite enjoyed it even if we didn’t completely get the whole thing.  It wasn’t until we switched to TV afterwards that we discovered one of our speakers had a loose connection - the one that pumps out sound from dialogue on HD programming, and apparently Blu-Ray.  We laughed ’til we cried and then laughed some more.  Avant-garde indeed.

Because I actually had to watch the whole movie to find out what was going on, I wasn’t able to work on my lace-weight shawl.  Instead, I started a pair of fingerless mitts.  It’s still cold here during morning dog walks, sometimes even mitten-cold, but these will certainly help.

The pattern is Mitt Envy using Diamond Luxury Collection Foot Loose in Evening (#26).  This is possibly my all-time favourite sock yarn.  Love it!

My desk keeps getting the better of me.  It’s a sizable space, with just enough drawers (one would think) but maybe there needs to be more – of something anyway.  My desk is where my computer lives.  And my computer is where my home-based businesses start their days .That area of the desk stays fairly organized until a couple of days before orders are due to be submitted. Then there’s a wee explosion of brochures and flyers and scraps of paper with jottings on them and you’ll find the occasional bottle of shower gel or pack of perfume samples.  Every second Thursday that all turns neat again – mostly.

More importantly, my computer is where Ravelry lives.  For those of you that are unfamiliar, think of Ravelry as Facebook for knitters and crocheters (and spinners and dyers, and ……. well, you get the picture).  We “friend” each other, we share favourites, we share our work.  We are a community of people who help each other, not only with our craft/hobby/obsession but through it.

Having Ravelry in my life has filled the empty spots on my desk with things like skeins of yarn from swap boxes that have come to me from the US and around the world, socks that need repair help from YouTube, and file folders of patterns that need to come to life,

finished projects that need page updates to turn them from this,

into this,

and works in progress that require photo updates to keep them eligible for contests, among other things.

It’s still pretty bare right now, really, but I did clean the desk off last week.  I was feeling overwhelmed by all the clutter that was pretending to be my life. I put away all the projects-in-progress, filed the bills, shredded that which couldn’t be recycled and did my accounting.  I can breathe better when my desk is clear, and that’s not just because I’ve dusted.

Now that that’s done, maybe we can spend some time catching up.

Some Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

It’s rather cold this morning -  only 13ºC (55ºF) and the sky is patchy with clouds.  Whether through stupidity, bravery or hopefullness, I’ve put laundry out on the line.  There’s a goodish breeze, which will help things dry, but I’m a bit worried about the sunshower that’s just started.  Maybe it’s just one of those days.  Maybe tomorrow will be too, as the forecasters are predicting wet snow for the morning hours.  Gee, I can’t wait. 

Here we are mid-month and I’m halfway through 3 projects.  There are 2 pairs of socks:

Vine Lace Summer Socks using Knit Picks Risata in Waterslide.  Sadly, the Risata has been discontinued and this is all I’ve got.  It’s lovely to work with.

Faceted Rib Socks , Stitchjones 100% Merino in Milan

 and a wee shawl,

Azzu’s Shawl, Bohoknits Fingering Weight Sock Yarn in Bazooka (perfect name for this colour!)

The Vine Lace socks are a KAL in the Sock Yarn Round Robin (SYR2) group on Ravelry.  They were designed by a fellow member,  and for no apparent reason, proved to be very challenging for me.  The KAL was originally set for May.  I cast on these socks 6 times, tried 2 needle sizes, and 3 different yarns.  I could not, for the life of me, get them to work out.  Dropped stitches missed stitches, there was always something.  On 2 separate attempts, I managed to knit up more than 2 inches of sock and thought I’d conquered my knitting demon.  Both times I ended up having all the stitches fall off of one needle.  By the time I’d retrieved them, (which involved frogging a number of rows) I was too fed up to continue.  I started on another pattern, with yarn #1 and flew through it.  Fortunately, the KAL was extended through June (I wasn’t the only one bedeviled in the group); I chose yet one more yarn and started again without a hitch.  I can’t explain it; I’m just glad the curse has been lifted.

Before I knew I’d try the Vine Lace again, I started my June socks, Faceted Rib Socks from The Little Box of Socks.  I now have one KAL sock and one June sock (minus the toe) complete.  I’ll go back to working on the second Vine Lace tomorrow but once June’s toe is done, the rest of today is for my shawl.

It took forever to find the right yarn in the right colour to go with my Spring hat (no, I haven’t worn the hat yet as I’m still waiting for Spring – any day now, I’m sure).  I finally came across the perfect colour in a yarn by a new local dyer who just happens to work at my LYS.  Kelly has started her own line of fingering weight sock yarn called Bohoyarns and it’s gorgeous stuff.  I found the perfect pattern for it in Azzu’s Shawl, by Emma Fassio.  Kelly also designs knitwear.  You can find her patterns on her bohoknits blog or on Ravelry under bohoknits.

This just in:  Seems two of our local elk cows have recently had their calves.  I heard them bleating across the river and managed to get a few pics.  Enjoy!

It’s a Good Day When ……

Cold but sunny today and overall, a good day.  The “good day” part was confirmed for me as I drove back home from town and looked over at the passenger seat. 

Two library books  – Mother-Daughter Knits, because there’s always the chance there’ll be more time to knit something fabulous; and a little something by Cathy Kelly ’cause who doesn’t like a little Chicklit from a bestselling Irish author? 

A blu-ray DVD copy of HP7 (that’s Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Pt 1).  I finally got to see it at the theatre in Orlando and LOVED it.  BB has yet to see it, so it’s dinner-and-a-movie at home tonite.

Our voter information cards, fresh out of the mailbox.  No scurrying around this year to make sure we’re on the list in order to claim our right to vote.  Oddly, BB and I have different addresses ….

A caramel macchiato from Starbucks,  because who wouldn’t want something hot, tasty and COFFEE in the middle of the afternoon (not actually on the seat mind you, more like, in the cup holder)

A lottery ticket for tonite’s $50 Million dollar draw (or whatever the amount is.  Winning anything over $5 would cover the costs and be a boon, no?)

A store-roasted chicken and a bag of salad.  Dinner anyone?  I want to knit for a couple of hours before devoting all my attention to HP7 so that means no cooking.  Sorry, hon.

And now sitting in front of me is this lovely skein of yarn I picked up the other day (2 skeins, actually).

It’s Impression from Louisa Harding and I’m thinking of turning it into a scarf, using Knits with Penguins’  A Little Bit Bohemian

Glorious day, isn’t it?

Springtime in Alberta

Lucky break here in Banff.  We didn’t end up with the predicted snowstorm overnight,  but we are getting some of it now.  Things went ”snow globe” for a while, but seem to have settled down again.  “Springtime in Alberta, chills me to the bone”. (Thanks to Ian Tyson for that – never were truer words spoken)

April is passing by so quickly, much more so than March did.  Maybe it was soaking up all that REAL Spring weather in Vancouver last month that did it for me; I didn’t want it to end.  BB and I drove to a conference in Vancouver and the time on the road allowed me to start and finish my March socks.

Harris Tweed Rib socks made with Diamond Luxury Soxy in Taupe.

While in Vancouver, a friend asked me to make her a cowl.  Something warm but light, that could be worn long and loose, or doubled up around the neck.  We went to Urban Yarns  and she came out with some Dream in Color Starry.  Picking a pattern was a little more difficult as most cowl and infinity scarf patterns just didn’t fit the bill.  Instead she picked from a couple of long scarf patterns and I stitched the ends together.

Checkerboard Lace Scarf in Dream in Color Starry, Ruby River

The scarf only needed half a skein and I wanted to use up all the yarn so something else had to go on the needles.  Fingerless mitts seemed the perfect thing for  200 yds of yarn

Mitt Envy.  Aptly named.  When I finished, I wanted a pair too.

I also made my first shawl.  Storm Cloud Shawlette has been in my queue for awhile and I’d even bought the yarn for it.  I had no idea it would knit up so quickly.  Once done,  I realized that I’d need more of a shawl than a shawlette to keep the chill off here in Banff (yes, even in summer) so I added a few more inches before binding off.  Now if I could only wear it.

 

Storm Cloud Shawlette in Knit Picks Imagination Handpainted , Looking Glass

April Showers?

It’s snowing …. again.  I came in from the  lunchtime dog walk, made a cuppa,  and suddenly, the house seemed dark.  Next thing you know,

 It’s been doing this a lot lately, but more often in the form of sunflurries.  You know, like a sunshower but with snow instead of rain.

I am reminded that I’d like to crawl into bed for a wee nap.  I can’t though, as my duvet is in the dryer.  King-size duvet.  Small dryer.

If I dry it on low heat, it’ll take more than 6 hours to dry – maybe longer  (it’s a crummy dryer).  It only takes about 3 hours on medium heat, but I need to turn it every 30 minutes so it doesn’t get scorched.  I can avoid that by drying it on low heat but …….. There truly is no rest for the weary.

So while I wait for the dryer to beep me back into action I will knit.  I’m working on my April socks and loving everything about them.

The pattern is Evelyn A. Clark’s Go with the Flow and the gorgeous yarn is “Sweet Pea” Fingerpaints from Cherry Tree Hill for Yarns on Stage.  Love it!

Also in progress is

Woodland Turtle Cowl in James C. Brett Marble, Berries.

Yes, the yarn is acrylic, but the colour’s lovely and it’s very soft –  just what I want for a warm wintry cowl.  If you think it’s too late in the season, start reading this post again.  I’d love to do a drapey version in Madeline Tosh DK.

Still need to cast on a scarf to go with a jaunty little Spring hat I bought recently.  I’ve finally decided on Silken Ease using Wendy Happy in Libra.  I figure I’ve got some leeway in the timing of this project and just hope it fits the bill. (Sorry, the hat looks better on my head – really.  Maybe next time).

Oh good, snow’s stopped – for now.