Kinda sorta promoted, knitting with string to truss chickens

By Lisa | May 31, 2008

Thanks to everyone who commented over the last few days – it’s nice to know that some people still visit after my long hiatus. I was thinking a bit about that this morning and I think that almost anyone who was just trying to get through this winter with their sanity intact probably got a bit blah too. This winter was a serious bummer.

Knit With It: allhemp6

Let’s say you took my Berrocco Ultra Alpaca and decided to make “yarn” that was exactly OPPOSITE to it? Or you were watching Bridget Jones and decided that the blue string she used to tie up the leeks in her failed cooking attempt at the end of the movie would be good to knit with?

And then you decided that not only would you knit with it but you would allow yourself to be lured into buying two skeins at $11 apiece to make Amy Singer’s Everlasting Bagstopper because the $.99 cent environmental shopping bags available at EVERY SINGLE GROCERY STORE IN TOWN are just not good enough for you? (they are not knit so this should be self-evident)

If so, then you would be knitting with Hemp for Knitting’s allhemp6 (bought here: seriously great yarn store) and you might be wondering why the hell you were doing this to yourself. At least I am. At least besides feeling the righteousness of using politically correct fibre and making a bag that will not sit in a landfill for 2 billion years.

Conclusion: hard on the hands. If you want to knit with this I recommend slippery metal and pointy pointy needles and knit loosely. My main frustration is that the fibre is so stiff that it doesn’t bunch up on the left needle so you can’t cue up stitches beforehand. If you knit loosely the stitches slide up more easily so it is only half as annoying. I also wrap my yarn around my finger and when the hemp comes off it doesn’t slide off…it leaps away. The stuff is stiffer than Euroflax linen by a long shot – and I suspect it won’t improve with repeated washing either.

So…try, don’t try…YMMV as always!

Pictures from my stash
Number of skeins: 10
Reason for purchase: Damn sale at KnitKnackers against which I was powerless

I’m knittin’ it now…


Pattern: Susie Hoodie from More Big Girl Knits
Colour: Oceanic Mix
The knitting so far: I love cabling so this is a fun knit for me. The yarn is terrific and slides so nicely over my needles (KnitPicks Options). I am a bit concerned about gauge – swatch was 17 per inch (as called for) – washed it came in at 16.75 which would have given me an extra 3 inches of width…but now my gauge is around 18. I am hoping this means that once it is blocked it will be closer to the 17 called for.
Spinning/Spun/Dyed

This is a new spindle I bought from Gemini Fibres at Knitter’s Frolic last month. The wood is black cherry and the whorl is Corian. The roving is from Karaoke from SWTC. I don’t like the spindle as much as the wheel but it is nice to have something portable . I will probably spin the next length on the wheel and ply off the wheel and spindle.
News that’s fit to print

Meeting with boss: good and okay outcome. Interest in having me act in position higher than I am now: Good. Chance to have own clients and finally have big picture: Good. Client I already partly support now and often “troublesome”: Okay. No longer having safety net of reporting to a manager: Scary.

So basically I said yes because these opportunities do not present themselves very often and it is a good chance to try something and I can come back to my job if I don’t like it. But it is a big change and it is not guaranteed I will get it. They have to open it up to others – if anyone else is interested then they have to do informal interviews etc. So we’ll see what happens. Please cross your fingers for me that no one else wants it because the idea of competing for an informal position kind of irritates me although I wouldn’t want the position if I knew others thought it had been unfairly given to me without considering others.

Today: Car shopping…
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Priorities

By Lisa | May 30, 2008

From my email…

From: Lisa
To: Monique
Sent: Tue May 27 09:34:40 2008
Subject: Okay…you made your point!

Found my purse – thanks for putting it in a safe place. Ian didn’t realize it, but there were five people running around the floor for 15 minutes looking for it. I was on the phone trying to get through to VISA to cancel my card when Ian clued in to what was happening and came to tell me you had hidden it.
So…now that I know exactly what its going to feel like to have my purse stolen, I’ll do a better job of putting it away somewhere safe!I just wish my pulse would return to normal.
Lisa
_________________________________________
From: Monique
To: Lisa
Sent: May 27, 2008 9:37 AM
Subject: Re: Okay…you made your point!

Shit — I was supposed to send you an e-mail when I got back to my desk. Sorry, I didn’t want to cause a heart attack – I’m just concerned about your stuff – you have knitting in your purse!!!!!
Monique
______________________________________
To: Monique
From: Lisa
Sent: May 27, 2008 9:38 AM
Subject: RE: Okay…you made your point!

I must admit, my first thought before the “I have to replace all my cards” and “someone could steal my identity!” was, “Damn it, my knitting is gone – now what am I going to do on the bus!”
Lisa

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Blog makeover, proud mother moment, more fibre confessions

By Lisa | May 26, 2008

You know how one day you walk into your house and suddenly realize that the fact that your couch has been against the same wall for YEARS is irritating as hell? Or suddenly your books have to be re-organized – maybe by colour this time instead of height? (except fibre books – they still belong in random piles around the bedroom – its a STYLE people, work with me here).

Well, my blog was pissing me off. It NEVER changed – oh stop laughing back there! I DO realize that for blogs to change one should probably post something on them every now and then.

Time for a spring cleaning. I wanted some of my own fibre in the picture at the top…new colours! A fresh spring feeling. Let me know what you think…I’m not sold on the light green yet but its growing on me.

The other thing I think I need to do is find a direction for the blog and it occurred to me that, given the…um…strong support I have been showing to my local LYSes, bookstore and pretty much any place willing to sell me something to do with sticks and string, the least I could do would be to turn my financial loss into blog gain. So I am going to start subjecting you to my opinion – little reviews – patterns, books (knitting and not), cat breeds, coffee, podcasts, yarn…whatever strikes my fancy.

Knit that: pattern review

Today I give you: the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan by Anna Dalvi.


This pattern originally appeared on the sadly defunct Magknits but has been put up for free download through Ravelry or Anna’s site. Anna Dalvi who lives here in Ottawa and was the mind behind the Mystic Waters Shawl (which I started and frogged – beautiful pattern but I was having fidelity issues because I still hadn’t finished the Swan Lake stole).

I think this is going to be my grand opus. If I can finish this, I can do ANYTHING – climb Everest, do the side splits again, eat only sugar and fat and never gain weight, become patient, perfect and loved by all. I may be a bit optimistic, but its good to have goals. (OOH! lightening outside!)

The picture is less than a 1/4 of the first of three panels that will make up the afghan. It is absolutely to fascinating to knit. For one thing, the Trinity Stitch (the columns on either side of the big Saxon Braid) is made on the wrong side so purling rows are as interesting as cabling rows on the right side. Also, every one of the three patterns has a different number of rows – remind me to take a picture of my chart where I keep track of all this for you.

The pattern is absolutely perfect. Its fun to knit. If you like BIG projects, cabling (learn to cable without a needle for this one – there is a LOT of cabling going on) and knowing that you are making a family heirloom that you may be knitting for years to come (if you are like me), I recommend it.

The yarn is Patons Classic Merino – I couldn’t afford the full 20 balls but I think a basic grey should be safe. (more lightening!)

Pictures from my stash

In the newly purchased department – Cascade 220 Wool Heathers and purse handles for a medium Noni Carpet Bag. Wool purchased at Yarn Forward in Kanata.

Spinning and spun

Right now I have some copper superwash merino I purchased at The Black Lamb when I got my wheel last year. I had spun up the first 50 g right away and it has been sitting on the bobbin for over a year. I am finally spinning up the rest – I am not a fan of spinning superwash because I find it way too slippery but I admit that the singles are really pretty and shiny and will be lovely when I ply it up.

Off the bobbin is an absolutely gorgeous 2-ply silk/merino blend from Fleece Artist. A larger skein has gone to its forever home - and this smaller skein is going to follow it there whenever I see Leanne next (Yes, hon…there’s more…I’ll trade you for a gallstone!)

Non-knitting news

Alex competed in his very first baseball tournament on Saturday and his team (the Yankees) came in second place in a very close final playoff game! This is his first year doing any kind of organized sport and he got off to a bit of a rocky start. But on Saturday one of the parents did some one-on-one with him to help him get his batting technique down and in the final game he got a run batted in, a triple and eventually got to home plate for his first point! I am so proud of him and really glad he had some success – he was getting very discouraged and nothing we could say was going to be as good as just hitting the ball.

Here he is at bat – just before his very first hit. Sorry for the fuzzies but it was really sunny – I couldn’t actually see what I was photographing so I just shot the picture on faith.

Alex is super strong – and built like a 1920’s slugger – if he can connect I think he’s going to hit them out of the park.

Stuff I’m looking forward to

I have a 1 pm meeting tomorrow with our Director General to “talk about my future”. This could be anything from a fun project to a minor career change and no one wants to tell me what its about but everyone seems to think I’m the one for it (whatever it is). Curious huh?

Test drives – my lease is up in mid-July so its time for dreaded car shopping. I’m going to pretend I am looking forward to this the way I look forward to checking out a new yarn shop. I am hoping the power of positive thinking will find me a decent price on a lovely heathered 4-door with cashmere-alpaca-quiviut seat covers and plenty of room for my wheel and knitting friends. Oh and an Ipod docking thingie would be nice too so I can listen to podcasts while driving to yarn shops. Oh, and it should probably have an engine and other car stuff in it. And somewhere to park kids and groceries. Are you thinking that maybe my car salesperson is going to be as confused by me as I am by him/her?

Have a great week – kids are back from dad’s for the next three days and I’ll line up my next review for the weekend. Let me know what you think of the new look and format!

Posted in kids, knitting, life, spinning, weather | 5 Comments

I fell off my yarn diet…

By Lisa | May 25, 2008

I was SO good for 3 whole months!!! Seriously good. Didn’t even look at other yarn good. But then..I couldn’t help myself. It was no big deal really. One lousy skein. The trollop screamed at me from afar (after I routed through the basket for a colour I liked and then stepped back to admire it from a distance…but still…IT seduced on ME).

Yeah…there’s no denying Handmaiden Fine Yarn

That’s Casbah - a gateway yarn if I ever felt one. It is so soft that it has been living on my computer desk for regulary snuggling.

And this might be some Sea Silk - destined to be one of these (and its all Leanne and Nancy’s faults). Plus mine for needing to join everyone on the bandwagon.

There’s more – I updated my Ravelry stash if you have access and want all the gory details – I’m too embarrassed to roll it all out here at once. But I went to Knitter’s Frolic…and it was an excellent way to part with some of my tax return.

In the done-with-that Department, we have Icarus.

Icarus from Interweave Knits from Summer 2006 – which I knit in about 6 weeks – breaking my all time knitting record.

Last weekend I ended up – through a series of coincidences – do a spinning demonstration at the Canada Agriculture Museum (click for cute cows). In about 6 hours I spun up just under 100 grams of some South African Fine I had dyed last year. I chose really bright colours because I knew there would be tons of little kids. The funnest part was watching the kids get completely mesmerized by the wheel. They would walk in and literally sink to the floor. Had I known the wheel had so much power over toddlers I would have bought one a LONG time ago!!!

And lastly – Madeline and I went to Toronto a few weeks ago (conveniently when Knitter’s Frolic was happening) and delivered the Tomten Jacket to its rightful owner.


Miss Ava – 9 months and the best model a knitter could ask for…

With Icarus done I’ve turned my sights on the Susie Hoodie from More Big Girl Knits. This will be the first sweater I have ever made for myself. I am nervous about my gauge (.25 of a stitch less than the 17 called for) but I think when the waist decreases are done I’ll take it off the needles and make sure it isn’t too big.

And if it is…I guess I’ll have to eat more.

Edited to add: Wanna-Baa reminded me of these great pics…amazing what 9 months can do for a baby (scroll way down)

Posted in finished objects, kids, knitting, spinning | 7 Comments

Uhhh…where did the last two months go?

By Lisa | May 1, 2008

I’m here…

And there is a long post in me somewhere. Please stay tuned…and I’m really really sorry its been so long.

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My new cable needle

By Lisa | March 2, 2008

First of all…a little instructional bit for the non-knitting readers who read this blog…all four of them. The rest of you may skip down below the line for the actual adventure.

Righto – the bent needle on the right is a cable needle. The obsessive types who prefer to make their own sweaters instead of doing the sane thing and buying them from the store use needles like this…

…to make these (photo blatantly stolen from here and they use a different style cable needle in this drawing but you get the pciture):

Okay – short tutorial is now over.

____________________________________

Now personally, I am not a big fan of the cable needle. It takes no small amount of dexterity to manage it, the cable needle flops around in front or in back of your knitting…etc. etc. Plus I like the idea of extreme cable knitting - letting those stitches hang out in space for a few moments and risking it all.

Seriously though. The universe, it appears, has something different in mind. The universe seems to think I need a cable needle.

On Saturdays the kids have music lessons. Unfortunately, the place where they have lessons does not have a waiting room. Also, the kids do not have lessons at the same time. This means I get to hang out in the car with whichever child is not in a lesson for that half hour. I had just come back to the car after sending Alex off. It seems Madeline generously put my bag with my knitting and my book on the front seat so I would have them.

In my bag were four of these – beloved sock needles (el cheapo Aero 2.75mm for the detail-oriented)

Even though I SAW the bag, for some reason I figured I would pull the bag out from behind me AFTER sitting down.
When I regained consciousness* – I had a new cable needle. Plus a hole in my jeans and a very sore behind.
So its true. You too can make your very own cable needle. All you need is your ass.
*In my defence I did not actually lose consciousness. After the searing pain I caught my breathe long enough to squeal “Get it out! Get it out” to Madeline.
Edited to add: No worries – Tetanus booster is up to date.

Posted in kids, knitting, life | 7 Comments

Flying in…and out again

By Lisa | February 27, 2008

Beret out of vintage (1980’s) alpaca…done!

Pattern? Basic Tam from One Skein Wonders
Needles? 4.5 mm Options DPNs
Yarn? Mousarde (I keep calling it “moutarde” which is French for mustard)

It was minus (insert ridiculously cold sounding number here) degrees this morning and this hat was a godsend. I look really dumb in most hats – anyone remember when the Yarn Harlot modeled the toque? I look worse than that. But I can do the beret/tam. So can Madeline as you can see. I particularly like the top.

Tomtem jacket – done! Pics don’t include buttons but I will save that for when the jacket is modeled by its rightful owner…

Pattern? EZ’s Tomten Jacket as described in Knitting Without Tears

Yarn? KnitPicks Bare DK Superwash – hand-dyed with Profast Acid Dyes in coordinating colours

Needles? Boye 4.5 mm straights

Sudden appearance of spacing between lines? Blogger.

Jacket back – love me some hood!

Lastly – a recipe…

Prepare 9×13 baking dish.

Turn to stove and begin to preheat.

Turn back to baking dish.

Voila!

Cassoulet de chat noir

I recommend a nice Pinot Noir.

Posted in cats, finished objects, knitting | 7 Comments

Blog Post of Reckoning

By Lisa | February 3, 2008

Today was the day. The day to pull out the knitting basket and find out what the hell is actually IN there. And it wasn’t pretty.

But first up – kitchen pics because someone has been asking and who am I to refuse?

The counter is actually a bit more rosy than the picture which makes it warmer than it looks. I absolutely LOVE it and now that it is 99% done I couldn’t be happier.

New in the knitting stash

My mom was cleaning out and found a sweater she had started sometime in the 80’s. The wool is long since discontinued Laines du Plassard Mousarde – a wool alpaca blend that was probably pretty expensive back then since there was far less alpaca around than there is now. There is a whole lot of this raspberry colour and some lighter pink. There is also a very small amount of shiny pink silk. I had to frog a sleeve and a half – its roughly a worsted weight from what I can tell and I’ve decided to try a tam from One Skein Wonders.

Next – a lovely package arrived from the most awesomest Secret Pal Angel ever and contained two skeins of SWTC Kara – thanks Lorena!

Some dyed stuff

I also had a few dye days at the end of December -

On the yarn front:

I dyed two skeins ofKnitPicks Bare DK Superwash in coordinating solid and variegated colours.

I also did some coordinating DK in blues and started the Elizabeth Zimmerman Tomten Jacket from Knitting Without Tears – a great and quick knit. Utter genius design.

And another skein of KP Bare Fingering Weight Merino in black and blue stripes.

Dyed rovings

Two 4oz Merino-Tencel rovings

And two 4oz Merino rovings

Lastly – the WIPs in addition to those above…

A couple of second socks

A new homework sweater – EZ EPS sweater for Alex with a cable in the front in a lovely bulky brown wool who’s exact name escapes me.

The Mystic Water Shawl KAL – in Infinity Lace Weight from my local LYS. This is supposed to be in blues but I just love the yellows and oranges. The yarn is a bit stiff and shows the stitches just beautifully. I have to confess that I am not entirely in a lace knitting mood – am I the only one who prefers to knit lace in the summer?

Still – I am continuing to plug away at my Mystery Stole 3 – I’ve finally gotten to the wing and it was a nice change from the rows upon rows of Cat’s Paw in the previous section. I do think I will dye the stole another colour when it is complete – I am leaning towards a light turquoise.

There are more FOs but I won’t put them all here. Lizard Ridge, the Dale of Norway sweater, felted clogs for my sister’s (now past) birthday…

So there it is – the reckoning is done and now I had better sit down and actually knit…after I get over to Ravelry for the all important update there.

Posted in dyeing, knitting, socks, spinning | 12 Comments

A severe case of blog ennui

By Lisa | January 29, 2008

Anyone else have a bad case of “January”?

If you aren’t sure, the symptoms associated with “January” are:

1. Regret at having foregone making resolutions because it’s now the end of January and you haven’t even failed at anything yet.
2. Sore toes from kicking the humungous block of ice stuck to the bumper behind the back tire on your car.
3. A bill from the repair shop because even though you finally got the ice off the bumper? It also took out the electrical wires that run the brake lights.
4. A nagging sense of not moving forward.
5. Sick of all your hand-knitted winter stuff? Yeah, me too.
6. Inability to even imagine what being warm when outside feels like.
7. The realization that even a touch of beige would brighten things up outside.
8. You recognize winter festivals for what they are: pathetic attempts by the establishment to keep the masses from becoming angry (and therefore riotous and looting) as winter grinds on and on and on and on…

Just me?

Anyway – there is some knitting happening. But there is also a BUDGET.

And as any knitter knows, the budget has many drawbacks but the worst of it is the need to knit from stash. And spin from stash. Back before the Great Money Sucking Kitchen Renovation of 2007, I pulled out the spinning stash and people? I may not have knitting stash beyond life expectancy but I would if I spun up everything!

So for my next post (i.e. when I am NOT blogging on company time) I will get some purty dyeing pictures up for you…and some WIPs.

No FOs though…cause everyone knows that when you are on a severely restrictive yarn diet the only sanity lies in casting on as much of the stash as possible.

Just me?

Posted in dyeing, finished objects, knitting, life, spinning | 7 Comments

Picture heavy, text light

By Lisa | December 20, 2007

I can’t tell you how nice it is to be back – typing, knitting and not handing out my credit card to Home Deput/Rona/Canadian Tire four times a day for stuff that should be way cheaper seeing as how its invisible. Like plumbing for example. And electrical outlets. So…

Kitchen update

Remember this (scroll down to the bottom for the horror that was)?

Here it all is on my balcony waiting to be hauled away. That was one fancy kitchen I had going!

See the flat pieces on the left side with the regularly spaced marks? Those would be massive NAILS. Taking up the floor was probably the most tiring and labour intensive part of the job.

But let’s not dwell on the past any more than necessary (plus I like the debris picture – how much crap can you fit on the corner of your balcony?).

In with the new! Still work to be done – one last cabinet, hardware and a countertop but much much better…

Play time…

My Christmas present to me this year was some new dye colours that I ordered last week from Pro Chemical and Dye. I tend to like the Washfast Acid dyes…lots of colours and good lightfastness etc. Plus the price is right.

Last night I pulled on the gloves and went a little nuts on about 100 grams of South African top. It started out looking less than promising…

But somehow, it always turns out in the end. This braid (yes I learned how to braid roving – there is something about braided roving that just makes my ridiculously happy) is so much prettier than this picture – there is a lot more turquoise, deeper purples and blues and bits of magenta in there. I really need to figure out how to take good pictures of roving and yarn.

I deliberately kept the dye from fully penetrating. When it is spun, the white portions will lighten the darker parts when it all blends together a bit.


A few finished things…

The Fleece Artist favourite soft mittens mentioned in the previous post. Perfect for the snowy weather we’re having right now.

I have a few skeins of Mirasol Miski burning a hole in my stash. This started as a hat band (as I was inspired by J and Leanne and their beautiful Coronets) but when I picked up the stitches for the brim it really didn’t work so now it is a neck warmer. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the naked baby llamas in Peru for their fleece – this stuff is nice! And the stitch definition is better than I hoped. It also has a lovely halo without it being “too much.”

An EZ EPS Raglan sweater for Madeline. I really enjoyed knitting this – particularly when I finally got past the arms and was knitting up the chest. I followed the directions in Knitting Without Tears - including the instruction to start the neck when there are 10 stitches left to decrease at the shoulder but next time I will follow The Sweater Workshop instructions instead which have you begin the neck when there are still 20 to decrease. It was challenging to get a loose enough cast off to fit a head through.

Madeline likes it although she seems to think its a bit too warm. I think it will be really great in the Spring when the days start out cold but it gets too hot for a winter coat in the afternoon.

We have put up our mini-tree. Presents (except for the Santa gifts of course) are making little fingers a bit itchy. I will be able to get some photos of the Wedding Dress Quilt when it is revealed on Christmas morning…I can’t wait to show you all how it turned out!

Happy holidays to everyone who celebrates this time of year!

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