Knitting with possum!

It's been a long, crappy couple of days. I never got very sick at all, but the 5yr old did. He ran a fever for 6 days. He was super lethargic, whispery, no appetite and pale. So not himself. By day 3 of fever; I tried to get an appointment with his pediatrician but she was booked solid and about to go on vacay so off to the Children's Hospital we went. I wanted confirmation that it wasn't meningitis and they suspected it was something viral, but to come back in a few days if the fever didn't go away. Yesterday I decided that if his fever wasn't gone by morning, we'd be heading back to the Children's this morning. Luckily, his fever broke last night and this morning he seems to be doing much better. Maybe now I can sleep! Ahhh the first couple of years of school...all the sick, all the time.

On to the knitting-and the title "knitting with possum". I've been knitting from stash, and one of the yarns I've had in my stash for a looooong time is Zealana Eco merino Possum Chunky.

It's only 20% possum and according to ravelry, it's been discontinued. I got it at a deeply discounted price a couple of years ago, and I bought it solely because I was intrigued by the fibre content. I don't remember there being any other colours available at the time, though the ravelry page does show some very nice shades.The colour is 102, and I'd say it's a mustardy yellow-but I can't find the actual name of the colour any where on the 'net, if anyone knows, please msg me or leave a comment! I hate not knowing the names of the colours. (I'm weird like that) I'm using the one ball of it that I have, combined with 2 balls of black Knitpicks Swish Bulky (stash) to make another pair of Leethal Mary Janes  as the last pair I made was too small. It's a little scratchy, but it does seem to soften as I knit it up, so I'm hoping once washed, it'll be lovely and soft.

Apparently, the Brush Tailed Possum is quite the menace in New Zealand, doing incredible damage to native forests and wildlife. This is actually a really interesting page about the possum and why it's considered a pest.  So, while they are kind of cute, I would have no qualms buying yarn that has possum fur in it, especially if it aids conservationism.

Anywhoo, I finished one slipper (really, these slippers knit up so quickly) but haven't actually done much of the finishing. I'm worried I'm going to run out of Swish!

Will definitely have to get started on that second slipper soon though...

In my last post I wrote about how I started to knit kiddie cadet in some leftover Chadwick by Juniper Moon Farm , but the sizing seemed off so I frogged it. I did end up re-casting on, and using a smaller sized needle. The size was just fine, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out! Super cute, and a fairly quick knit.

Then, in an effort to use up even more stash, I decided to knit stella. It's actually the second time that I've knit Stella, the first time I used Madeline Tosh Vintage in some beautiful colour that I now forget the name of (I *think* it was Violin) and I made it super big and super slouchy.

 This time I used the leftover Cascade 220 from my Myrna cardy, and a little bit of Malabrigo Worsted in Polar Morn for some contrast. I made it less slouchy and more beret-ish and I don't like it on me. I didn't like the first Stella I knit either. I ended up giving it away on Facebook. I offered this one up, but no takers. I washed it with Eucalan and it softened up nicely, it'll probably sit nicer on my head now.

The project I am currently working on is weekender cap by Claire Crompton, and it's in the book  Simple Knits: Hats and Scarves. I was actually just flipping through the e-book on my Kobo Vox (kobovox in case one does not know what a kobo vox is) looking for a hat pattern that I thought was in that book (but isn't) and found this one and noticed that the pattern calls for Aran weight wool. Aran is a weight of wool I've never bought or used before, but when my mom went to Ireland a few months back, she picked up some yarn for me-Kerry Woollen Mills aran! Nice! And perfect for this pattern as it's a bit stiff (though apparently it does soften somewhat). This hat has an unusual construction, which at first I thought was neat and now I find irritating. Instead of being knit in the round, you knit it in sections, and then sew up the pieces. I've knit 5 pieces so far, only 3 more to go.

But before I sew up the sections, they'll need a good soak and then some blocking because it's stockinette which has curled up a lot! Ugh. 

Recently, I switched my mobile phone provider.  I couldn't ever be called a Luddite, but I'm not someone who wants to be able to do everything on their phone either, and I certainly don't want to pay 50$ a month just to text and have a portable alarm clock... so, changed providers, got a new phone, lower bill and then the best thing happened! The old provider sent me a check! whoo! I guess at some point I had overpaid my bill. Well, with that refund check I'm going to order me some Miss Babs Yowza! Whatta Skein!

 As soon as I decide on a colour...

Project in Hibernation

Welp, I suppose it was only a matter of time until I was posting again about being sick. Another school year, another cold. I really need to work on boosting my immune system. Everyone in the house is either getting over it, dealing with it, or coming down with it. Lots of sniffling and coughing going on here.

We're more than halfway through Spetember, and it has been chilly-brisk mornings and not much warming up by the afternoon. Which leads to the title of this post Project in Hibernation.  I put Dew Point in Hibernation. Not because I was annoyed with it, or making mistakes-in fact it was going pretty smoothly, I finished the ribbing, and was working on the sleeve-about half an inch from starting the sleeve ribbing- when I decided to put it down.

What am I doing making a little shrug when it's cold? Even if I finish it, I can't wear it for at least 7-8 months. I don't want to knit things I can't even wear. So, hibernation for Dew Point, and I'll come back to it in April or May (if I remember hahahaha).

The Lion Brand Shrug pattern is a faster knit but I just haven't been working on it very much.

It will have long sleeves, so it'll be wearable longer than Dew Point, but I was pretty meh about this project to begin with and I don't really like the yarn, it was more of a stashbuster project so if I drop it for a few months, fine. Why waste my time knitting things I'm "meh" about? It's a hobby, not a job.  And that brings me to the sock I've been knitting foreverrrrr (or so it seems)

It's been stuck in my bag, so I've been knitting a few stitches here and there when I'm on the go-pretty close to starting the toe decreases. I'll keep that sock out of hibernation, it's close to done and portable.



Last night I started knitting the  kiddie-cadet  hat for B, using some leftover Juniper Moon Farm Chadwick (sadly, discontinued) and it just seemed way to big and I frogged it. Which is incredibly difficult with Chadwick because its a single ply, very loose Merino/Alpaca blend. Of course I didn't bother with swatching (who swatches for a hat??) but I think I'll re-cast on at some point this weekend and maybe just go down a needle size, and if it really is too big, I'll just offer it up on facebook.
I'm also going to knit barley for B as well. And some mittens, because it is that time of year. But i'm not going crazy like the last couple of years, it's expensive and time consuming keeping up with kids who lose knitted things. I'm going to grab a bunch of cheap hats and mitts from the dollar store to keep around the house(and in his schoolbag) for emergencies.
 I have my eye on a couple of hat patterns for myself as well, I have a book (can't remember the name atm) of hat patterns and there is a vintage-y looking one from Cecily Glowik Macdonald that I might knit if I find the right yarn in my stash for it.
I want new yarn. I'm obsessed with getting my hands on some Miss Babs Yowza (huuuuge skeins!) I can make all the things!

submissive knitter

I was trying to stick to just one project (Dew Point) and it was going fairly well until I had to pick up stitches. The pattern was written so that there's no number of stitches given-you're told to pick up 3 stitches for every 4 cast on stitches and pick up 2 stitches for every 3, ending with a multiple of 6. Which was waaaaaay out of my comfort zone. I'm a submissive knitter-tell me what to do, boss me around, punish me if I don't follow the pattern but for the love of cupcakes give me a stitch count!!

So I just picked up a fuckload of stitches and hoped for the best. I was over by a couple-I dhad to do some k2togs to get my multiples of 6 and have managed to knit a few rows of the fussy (but pretty) Italian Chain ribbing.  But, it's a lot of knitting that I have to pay close attention to-I have to actually devote serious time to knit one row of the ribbing. I don't always have the opportunity to devote that time, so I picked up the other shrug. The shrug by Lion Brand is pretty straightforward knitting, 3x3 ribbing for however many inches, then stockinette. And eventually back to the ribbing. Super easy, and fairly portable. At this point anyway. It gets weird at the finishing-I'll have to seam up the arms to a certain point then pick up stitches and do some ribbing. or something. I haven't exactly read through the whole pattern yet. haha. 

And then something else happened...it got kind of chilly. Chilly enough to wear socks *blargh* but also *yay* because I wore some socks I knit myself! socks -remember these? I still lurve them. This  made me realize that I will probably have to start wearing socks on a regular basis and since I gave most of my knit socks away I'd better start knitting more socks, so I picked up the second celtic sock and knit another inch, knit the heel (eye of partridge-so pretty) and turned the heel (still fun!)  and now I'm knitting the gusset decreases,

So nothing is getting finished, it feels like I'm not getting anywhere with any of the projects since I'm bouncing around the three of them and I'm itching to start more projects. I still have some hat patterns in mind, socks (especially now), plus i still need to start my new leethal mary janes since the old ones didn't fit (and the yarn has been sitting in cookie tins waiting to be used for over a week) and I want to start knitting a pullover-I have some ideas for adding some colour work to a plain black pullover, thinking little octopi above the ribbing at the bottom, or little skulls, or maybe bad-ass little llamas...

WIP pictures-

Dew point:

Lion Brand Shrug:

Celtic Sock:

Back to school blah blah blah EDITED

So the first week of school is over and done with. I'm not gonna lie, waking up to an alarm has been rough. The teens are in grades 9 and 11, and the 9th grader has already lost his transit pass. On the second day of school no less. The 5yr old is in Kindergarten and is staying at school for lunch. I'm not super happy with the decision to have him  at school all day but I'm hoping to find work or go back to school-better to have him enrolled in the lunch program now as transition is difficult for him. I called up my former employer and left a message asking if she needed anyone to work but she never returned my call. It'll be awkward to go and pay lunch fees next week.

But enough of that-on to ze knitting! I decided to do some more knitting from my stash, I cast on for two projects; dew point and knit shrug. For dew point I'm using Knitpicks Galileo (50%wool, 50% bamboo) in Luster which is a lovely olive.

 For the LionBrand knit shrug, I'm using Berroco Vintage Chunky (50% Acrylic, 40% Wool, 10% Nylon) in Black Cherry. I'm not crazy about knitting with this stuff, it doesn't feel great in my hands, but I bought it before I realized I generally do not enjoy knitting with acrylic/acrylic blends.

I started with the knit shrug, it's knit on US 9's and 10's and should go fast. After all the ribbing from Myrna though, I couldn't handle doing 5inches of ribbing right away-even if it is on big needles. I got about that (points down) far before grabbing the Galileo.

So, I cast on for dew point and it's knit in one piece, on US 4's. Which for me, makes for slow going. Plus it's stockinette, with lots of increases. Many, many  M1-L and M1-Rs which I keep messing up and finally had to make a little cheat sheet on which direction the needles goes. I'm dreadfully bored by this knitting, but, I've finally finished the increases and after a row of (lots of) purling, I'll be able to separate for the sleeves. I should count the stitches on the needle of course, make sure I have the right stitch count.But I almost don't want to know, as the thought of having to rip back is so very daunting. If I'm off by more than a couple of stitches, I'll likely have another totally unattractive tantrum.

I think the only reason I've gotten as far with this shrug as I have, is thanks to the stitch & bitch I attended on Wednesday.  I met up with T and  her old friend for a knitting night. It was so great to be able to knit with other people. I can see why people like to get together and craft. I wouldn't pick a complicated pattern to knit if I was being social, but stockinette is perfect for conversation.
 Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll count all the stitches, finish the last purl row and maybe this cute little shrug will get more interesting.


EDIT: Dammit. I just counted  my stitches. Supposed to have 238sts, I have 240 sts. I've counted 3 times. 240sts. That's not so bad, I won't rip back (I avoid that if at all possible hahaha), I'll just do a couple of p2tog in the section that has 2 extra stitches. Luckily, I was able to figure out where the extra stitches are (though I have no idea how they got there) thanks to markers dividing the sections. Meh.