Plomo Pixie Dust

     I'm not sure if this is January blahs or that it was because I was coming down with a cold but this week has been loooong. I've been lethargic and meh. I'm on the baking squad for school fundraisers and had volunteered to make 2 dozen mini chocolate chip banana breads for the bake sale. They needed to be at the school Thursday morning, I really regretted offering to bake. Mashing the bananas was literally exhausting. Getting out of bed has been very difficult this week.
     Last night I went to bed at 8:30, and woke up with definite cold symptoms: sore throat and runny nose. At least B has a ped day today.  I still had to wake up early to get the teens up and out the door (am I the only mom of teens who gets permission slips that were supposed to be returned to school the DAY BEFORE?)

I only have one finished object this week-B's mitts. Just a very simple mitten pattern-can't remember where I found it, it was written down in my notebook and not printed out. I used some black Malabrigo worsted which is soft and warm and yummy.

I'd love a sweater made in Malabrigo worsted...it would feel so good...but it would pill so so terribly. I can't, knowing what I know now, spend all that money on a sweater quantity of MalWorsted.

Speaking of Malabrigo, I'm still working on my Plomo Sweater using Malabrigo Rios. I've not made anything with Rios before, so making a whole sweater is a real leap of faith-I have no idea how it's going to wear, but so far it has been working up very nicely.  Rios reminds me of a softer MadTosh Vintage; and if it holds up anywhere near as well as Vintage I'll be thrilled!
 Anyway, I wasn't making much headway, maybe finding it a little boring with all the stockinette, and was looking up sweaters on Ravelry (instead of knitting the one already on my needles). Particularly patterns with lacy panels and there wasn't anything that really caught my eye. I decided to make my own panel! Now, I couldn't do one on the back or the front because those areas were pretty well established, buuuut, I could do something under the arms, a side panel! (sleeves are a possibility too). I didn't want to do anything too complicated or super textured-just something simple, but with a little interest. I liked the look of the pixie-dust-socks from Socks a la Carte 2 Toes Up! so I copied out the pattern, and thought it would fit nicely. I'm only doing one stitch repeat, but I'll keep to that pattern all the way down to the ribbing.

Even having such a wee bit of lace makes the stockinette go so much faster. I love seeing how the pattern is turning out so I actually devoted a larger chunk of time to knitting, than I would have given how crappy I've been feeling. I'm hoping to get a few rows in this weekend, it's not likely but who knows? I'd like to have plomo finished for my birthday, which is a little over two weeks away. Of course, now that I've given myself a deadline, I'll spend the next two weeks(and a bit) farting around on Ravelry, maybe making another pair of mittens that B doesn't need, or another hat that I don't need. Anything but knitting the sweater.

But back to Pixie Dust, It's a dead simple pattern to remember. Unless you're me, that is. I cannot keep track of where I am, or what round I'm on ever! I've got the pattern written on little cue cards (recipe cards actually) so I can always look back at where I am. Cheat sheets are my jam!
They don't always help me though, my own worst enemy... I have this bad habit of getting cocky. Midway through a pattern, I'll have memorized the yarn overs and k2togs and get super confident, start thinking that I don't need to check off every row as I knit it, I'll do every other row. that goes smoothly and I get extra bold, only start marking off my rows every third or fourth row.
Then, I get distracted. A cat knocks something over, or the phone rings, or I see sparkles, my toe itches, whatever it is-it throws off my count and I'm lost. And my count is fucked up. Did I knit this row? or was this a patterned row?  Fucksticks!

Anywhooo, it's a very handy way to carry knitting info around-I keep one with my sock info in my travel bag; needle size, # of stitches cast on, how many inches of ribbing I did, and how long the leg of the first sock is.

Speaking of socks- C has an appointment at the optometrist. C will be joining the ranks of the wearers of glasses, like his sister A and myself. This means I'll get some metro knitting and some waiting room knitting on my Twilight sock! yay!

Cheating on the yarn diet

                                                             ^ This is me.
This is why I don't regularly visit my LYS . Of course it helps that my local yarn store isn't really all that local. It's hopping on the metro, changing lines and then catching a bus unless it's nice outside.

I've been pretty good about my yarn diet. Obviously any yarn that I bought for xmas gifts or yarn that was purchased with xmas cash/gift certificates doesn't count. I've been knitting from stash or slowly selling off yarns I'm not crazy about. But that changed last Thursday when I went to Mouline with T. She needed yarn for a shawl/wrap project, and I tagged along because I wanted to get some Addi turbo sock rockets. We happened to go during their winter sale...it was tough, but I managed to keep myself in check. They didn't have sock rockets but I did get some Addi Turbo Lace circs. (my birthday is coming up so who knows? maybe some sock rockets will find their way to me haha!) I bought two skeins of sock yarn, one skein of Piccolo by Julie Asselin, in the totally stunning Nebula.

And then as I was going to get another ball of yarn for T, I was distracted by some Manos del Uruguay Alegria in Cabaret. Could not resist it.

I have a sock yarn problem.

But hey, yay for sales right??

I also (and this is vry vry exciting to me) bought a Fleece Artist Thrummed mitten kit!
How neat is that? There was a basket on the floor with a couple of these kits, I didn't notice them at first, they were under the Handmaiden yarns (gorgeous but pricy!) that I had walked by like 4-5 times. I'm pretty sure I squealed out loud (i'm so attractive) I was just talking about getting some roving, and it practically fell into my lap-which I obviously took as a sign that I MUST buy the kit.

I don't know when I'm going to get around to knitting the thrummed mitts, next week is a 4 day school week, and B sounded all sniffly today so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a day or two of him at home. Plus I volunteered to make 2 dozen mini chocolate chip banana breads for the bake sale this coming Thursday (or is it Friday).  And I want to make B another pair of mitts, the kid growth spurted right out of his mitts...How does that even happen? all of a sudden his wrists are exposed! and his thumbs are too big!

I'm going through my purple phase. I feel like I have a lot of purple in my stash. Which is odd because I don't have much purple in my wardrobe. There's this weird thing where whenever I buy yarn, I feel like I have a lot of blue and green already in my stash so I stay away from those colours and buy more purple. Meanwhile, there's very little blue or green. I need to expand my palette. I'd like to add more yellows and oranges, but not bright or neons (ugh) I like the darker, earthier yellows and oranges. You don't seem to see much of those colours though, and I'm afraid to order yellow online, i'm worried that the colour will be to acid-y or baby-ish. Overall i'm not a big fan of bright colours or neons (ugh) or pastels.

 Aywhooo, there's been a lot of purple knitting going on. I'm still working on my twilight sock.

Making real progress on it since it's my travel sock and there's been more public transportation taking  than usual over the last week and a half. I'm very charmed by this yarn. The striping isn't perfect, the dye isn't totally even, it looks like it's done by hand (which it is) and I like that-I appreciate that someone did it. It gives the sock character.

I've done a little work on my Vneck sweater knit with Malabrigo Rios in Plomo (from now on, it shall be referred to as the plomo sweater k) Note: ALL THE PURPLE ARE BELONG TO ME!

The arms have been separated, now it's a buttload of stockinette-wheee! I did a little bust shaping with the last sweater, but I lost my notes, so now I have to figure out when/where to do some decreases. As I got to the end of my ball, I decided to learn a new technique-I wasn't really satisfied with my usual "tie a knot in it" way of dealing with joining a new ball. It just doesn't look nice, and since I wasn't coming up with any better way on my own, I looked up the tutorial for the Russian Join by Staci at verypink.com (Fantastic tutorials-my go to) which I had glanced at moooonths ago and bookmarked for such an occasion.
                      You can see the ends and the needle, joining the new ball to the old.

Voila! Look at that? Joined! No knots! No ends to weave in! Who's a bamf? ME!

It's really quite easy to do, Staci explains it so well, and it just looks so darn neat when done! I was vry pleased with myself. I know spit-splicing is the method that suits natural fibres the best, but I can't be arsed to learn another new thing at this moment. Maybe when I stop thinking the Russian Join is cool, I'll want to do some spitting and splicing.


It was my sweetie's birthday yesterday <3. There was cake. (and cupcakes)

Yesterday as well as today-my mother had a little birthday dinner for M and also made cake. om nom nom. However, nomming and knitting do NOT go well together (at least in my case, there may very well be someone out there who isn't a complete slob like me). Sucking chocolate icing off of a sock is not very dignified. I don't know why I keep attempting to knit and snack at the same time. Isn't that the definition of insanity? Repeating the same behavior and expecting different results?

Now, off to bed-B is sleeping at his grandmother's tonight, I may actually have the chance to sleep in!  I just want to sleep in until 8am-maybe 8:30...oh man, that would be sweet...


Random cat picture, because why not?

One year blogiversary!

     That picture makes me want cake.

     Welp, this blog made it a whole year. Yay me! Yay anyone who's ever read what I've written (and thank you as well)
It's been a year of lovely yarn and shitty pictures. In one year I've knit: flax twice. Cypress cardigan,  winter-white-hat, wrapping-ribbed-cowl twice, leethal-mary-janes maybe 6 times? basic-ribbed-socks, 2 pairs of plain socks (in sock yarn and in worsted) krauses-wellenspiel-garter-waves, eyelet-rib-sock, one dishcloth, silky-drops, myrna-3, one-skein-wonder, one moss-the-sheep, kiddie-cadet, stella, weekender-cap, toddler-knitted-helmet, easy-raglan-v-neck, a-bulky-cowl, 2 pairs of mittens for the 5yr old, gyr, askew, super-easy-chullo, scurvy-eye-patch, maize twice, vanilla-latte-socks, twist-hat. (that was a huge pain in the ass to write out btw)



    Righty, so I had cast on for the Twist hat, so I could be matchy matchy. Finished it!
Washing:

 and wearing:

    And then I hunkered down and finished Vanilla Latte!
I magic looped the last bit of the sock, and wow, it definitely makes knitting faster. I wish the points of these circs weren't so blunt. I'd like to get some really pointy circs, like the Addi Sock Rockets! I'm coveting those pretty hard core at the moment.

  Awww yeahhhhh!

    So while I was working on this last sock, I was watching the latest season of American Horror Story.  I wasn't digging AHS:Freak Show (except for Twisty the clown); so I decided to give Supernatural season 9, a second chance, I'm glad I did, because I really enjoyed the 2 eps I watched, since they were more in the spirit of the first couple of seasons and not all angels blah blah good vs evil blah blah blah. It's all just time wasting until the whole season of Portlandia (which started last week) has aired.

 

     Today was also stitch n' bitch with T and A (lol, why yes, I am immature and dirty-minded) I brought two projects to work on, easy-raglan-v-neck and just some plain socks (I don't really need a pattern for plain socks)
The V-neck is one I cast on last November, I'm knitting it in Malabrigo Rios in the colour Plomo. I took a picture of it, but didn't actually get around to knitting it.

I'm about to join it in the round but I wanted to cast on first and do some ribbing on the sock. So, I put the vneck wip away and started casting on, then started ribbing and I totally got sucked into ribbing this sock because the yarn is so very very pretty.

     I'm really in love with this colour, it's TurtlePurl Yarns Striped Turtle Toes in the colourway Twilight.
    I cast on with dpns (casting on while talking never goes well with me, I cast on too tight, I lose track of my stitches I split stitches-it's a mess!), then after the ribbing I changed to the circs, I can rib with circs, but I still prefer to use dpns.
   I may hit the local yarn stores this weekend on the hunt for some Addi Sock Rockets. I checked online,  but I don't want to order from the U.S atm because the CAN$ isn't doing well, and predicted to go even lower. I'd like to order from Canada, but shipping for a measly pair of circs is still going to cost me 8$. If I was ordering yarn as well, then paying 8$ shipping is totally fine, I just want needles!
    The only problem with going to the LYS is that I may buy something I don't need because I am so very weak-willed. I'm trying to only knit from stash (minus the yarn I bought in December with gift cards-those really don't count)  I know what will happen...I'll go to the cash (pretending i'm not going to get anything but needles) ask if they have the sock rockets, something soft and lovely will catch my eye, and in the time it takes for the clerk to help me, I'll be fondling something merino in grey, purple, olive, orange or blue. Possibly smelling the wool as well!

Knit Fast Die Warm!

I finished my third askew (since I had resolved to finish it before starting any other projects-ugh). And I am so so irritated with the resulting item. THIRD time knitting this. It's official-I hate this project. I don't like how it looks. I hate the straps, they curl even with aggressive blocking (also, full disclosure, owning my error and not the pattern-the straps were too long, but still, that's easily dealt with, the curling is not) I'm going to post the unflattering pictures only because shitty pictures are the mainstay of my blog. UGH.

Anyway, I'm never making Askew again, and I only finished it so I could move on to other projects! YAY!  Maize version 2.0! Knit with Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Camel heather (neutrals, how I love thee!)
Started with one lovely cake!

Turned into these lovely, mittens that fit my hands perfectly, and have a long enough cuff to protect my wrists from those nasty, freezing winds that go up your sleeve (it's been cold here-polar vortex'ing all up in this biatch). Started watching the latest season of American Horror Story: Freak Show, while knitting Maize 2.0-I'm not super impressed tbh. Except for Angela Bassett; she just blows everyone away. She should be starring in a show about Marie Laveau; none of this freak show nonsense. Anywhoooo:

Mitten leftovers. (shitty pic making camel look grey)

This was a satisfying project; quick, easy and will be worn! Mittens never ever end up in the Drawer Of Knitted Unwearables. (Which is totally where Askew the third ended up)
I'm thinking of getting some thin fleece or flannel and sewing a lining to the inside of the mittens and make them extra toasty. I'm not a sewer (wait, is that the correct term?) but I think I can manage something that simple. Next time I make myself mittens, I'm getting some roving and doing thrummed mitts. There seems to be a lot of really great tutorials on thrumming, that i've bookmarked if and when I get my hands on some roving. (I've never noticed any roving at my lys)

BOOM. it got really. fucking. cold. Apparently, according to the Weather Network, it was colder than Mars. That is pretty damn cold. Brr. Luckily for me, I stayed inside all day. However, my downstairs neighbors are never home and never heat, combined with how poorly insulated our flat is-it was pretty chilly inside as well. HydroQuebec (ask me why I detest HQ someday) put out notice that even though it was the coldest day ever, you really shouldn't crank your heat or like, use electricity at all if possible *biggest eye roll ever*. Anywhoo, I wore my knitted V-neck, but then my neck was cold so I also wore an infinity scarf, and then knit socks and knit slippers plus some finger-less gloves because my hands were cold. I was swathed in wool and kind of sad that I forgot I knit legwarmers a couple of years ago.

Here's me keeping warm in my cold flat:

KNIT FAST DIE WARM!

And then, I started a hat. Using the second cake of WOTA in Camel heather (and my new Karbonz interchangeables in sz 8) Because I like the matchy matchy of hat and mitts in same colour (won't go as far as a matching scarf/cowl though; that seems a little toooo much for me)

I'd like to share the link for this pattern, but I can't find it. The hat is called Twist, and from the print out, it seems to be a Malabrigo pattern. Seems kind of small...but maybe it'll be stretchy?

It was a good week for getting packages. I love packages. Packages are not bills. Lovely packages <3
Especially the packages I received this week...the first was from Chapters/Indigo book store : socks a la carte 2 by Jonelle Raffino and Katherine Cade. There are some super awesome patterns in the book and even if I don't actually sit down and learn to knit socks from the toe up, I can still use the patterns for socks made from the top.
The second package was from Etsy shop OtterburnPQ! *Squeeeeal*

Love, love, loooove it! Perfect for taking along that one sock. I really want to get the larger sized pouch as well. The workmanship on the pouch is great, lots of great little details. It even shipped faster than expected.

Hey, next week is my one year blogiversary!

Happy New Year!

(yes, I am aware this is from the Chinese New Year-which doesn't happen until mid-February but it's a sheep so I'm co-opting it for my own nefarious purposes)


I did not make it to midnight. I had a (mild) sore throat and an earache (also mild) last night. I did not feel like staying up, only to get up at 7am when the 5yr old jumps out of bed. When I heard him walking around at 6:30am, I was especially glad I did not stay up late.

I do not generally do resolutions, though this year I'm going to attempt to keep my inbox clean and orderly.  Particularly, the social and promotion sections of my inbox...Do I really need sale notices from 3 years ago? Do I need 700 emails notifying me of sales from 3 years ago?  I think not!

I was also going to resolve to finish the three WIP I started in 2014, before I start new projects...but then I realized that I don't just have  3 WIPs going, I actually have 5 (two shrugs, one sock, one sweater and one vest) and that realization overwhelmed me and made me want to start all new projects HA! So I'm going to finish one WIP (the vest) before I start anything else. Baby steps!
I'm going to finish this wip using my new Karbonz!

On the 26, I used the gift certificate to Knitpicks and the Visa gift card to order some things; and my package actually came yesterday. I don't think I've ever received a pkg from Knitpicks in such a short time. Anywhoo, so I ordered Stroll sock yarn in Pumpkin and Wool Of The Andes bulky in Camel Heather .

I plan on using the WOTA to make another pair of Maize mittens with it, as the first pair are just too small.  And of course the Stroll will make a lovely pair of socks.

I also ordered some circular needles-sizes 2.25mm and 2.5mm (US1) with 32"cables so I could magic loop socks when I'm on the bus or metro; last week, I was on the metro working on socks when I dropped one of my dpns (one of my karbonz *gasp*) down the side of my seat. I actually had a hard time getting it out, and I didn't knit the rest of the ride, or on the way back. The fear of losing a needles on public transportation makes me want to attempt magic loop on socks, and no better way to try it out than with knitpicks affordable circs.

I also got a pkg of small coils-to keep my dpns together.

My Vanilla Latte second sock is coming along! I turned the heel, and picked up the stitches along the gusset, I'm just starting the decreases. I will finish it before January ends. (maybe)

And finally, I ordered a small knitting project bag from Etsy store OtterburnPQ (with the leftover Visa gift card) and it's due to ship out on the 9th. I'm pretty stoked about it-it looks like it will be perfect for knitting in public! I've been coveting these project bags! I put some more stashed yarn that I'll never knit with up for sale or trade on reddit; this time I'm getting rid of 7 balls of knitpicks comfy fingering in Blackberry. I love the colour but I hate comfy-it's cotton and acrylic. I bought it as part of a kit a couple of years ago and didn't notice that the yarn was comfy *sigh*.
 Someone has already expressed interest though, so that money will go into my "large project bag from Otterburn PQ fund"!