Just one more row...

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by projects at the moment. Those sweaters are starting to weigh heavily on my mind. With absolutely no desire to finish either of them.
But I did finish some other things...the first pixie dust sock is finished and will be waiting a hella long time for it's partner.

I cast on and finished two pairs of mittens for B. The first pair was made with (stashed, leftover) Bulky Wool of the Andes in Wallaby. I'd like to link to the pattern, but I don't have any of the information! It was one of the first patterns I knit in the round and I copied it into a notebook instead of printing it out. It's a great pattern, very basic, easily customizable and always turns out great.
The second pair I made in (stashed) Berroco Vintage chunky in Black Cherry.

 Because I still have a significant amount of that yarn left in stash, I also cast on an ear flap hat by Sandi Prosser.  As you can see in the picture, I've made it as far as the two ear flaps.
I've made a bunch of these hats for him, although I knit them in the round, not flat and then seamed like the pattern calls for.
The Berroco Vintage was originally meant to make a short sleeve sweater, until I bought the pattern and realized it called for mostly seed stitch (which I wasn't able to tell from the picture) and fuck that. I am not knitting that much seed stitch. The second incarnation was a pair of Leethal Mary Jane slippers. Which I adore and wore the hell out of , until one of them got a hole! (I'm actually still wearing them) But they did not use up a terribly large amount of yarn.  The third incarnation of the yarn was to be a long sleeve shrug that was knit from arm to arm and then seamed... I knit up the sleeve all the way to the shoulder and was like, fuck this. and frogged it. Mittens and a hat for the 6yr old it is!

I also knit a bulky cowl using a pattern by Andi Satterlund, it's a cowl I've knit before. The first one I made, I ended up giving it away because the colour didn't look good on me (you can read about it here). Anyway, this time I used (stashed) kp Swish Worsted in Lost Lake Heather.For some reason, holding three strands together seemed like a good idea (when really, 2 strands would have sufficed). So, it was not surprising that I didn't have enough yarn to finish the cowl but luckily mah knitta had 2 balls leftover from a sweater she made and was generous enough to give me both balls. The last ball had to divide in to three  mini balls just so I could complete the bind off. Eep! When I tried it on before blocking, I was able to wrap it around my neck twice, after blocking it wraps around my neck three times. *sigh* So much growth with the swish.

Oh well. I'm still quite happy with it! I will definitely not be giving this one away. Plus, it matches my maize mitts made from the same yarn! Matchy matchy for the win!

Knitpicks, I just can't quit you...I want to be done with you, but you make it so difficult! I needed some cotton in brown (for teacher gifties, I have a plan that I will share closer to xmas) and could not find some ANYWHERE...except knitpicks. Meh. I'm not paying shipping that costs more than the two skeins of cotton (which were on sale, as was pretty much everything on the site) so I added 2 skeins of the Felici sock yarn (in Fanciful) that people rave about. And then I threw in a mug, because I love mugs. Especially knitting themed mugs.

My 17yr laughed out loud when she saw it, saying "that is so you!".


Stitch & Bitch Sunday has been homeless for a while, and we've been trying out different places, last weekend we knit at the food court on the metro level of Place Alexis Nihon (which is basically a mall) I got a hot chocolate from Tim Hortons (how vry Canadian of me!) and mah knitta brought me a piece of cheesecake she made.  

Om nom nom. She also brought a fork-isn't she fabulous?!

While we were knitting, we met Laura, a knitter, and fellow Tincanknits fan,  from New Brunswick, she showed us pictures of her knits, and her quilts, and chatted for a bit. It's always nice to see other knitters-a very "one of us" moment. Especially when it's women my age. Not that I have a problem with elders, but you know, when you knit (and I'm only speaking to my experience having started knitting in my 30's) you hear the jokes about being a old lady/grandma. Meanwhile, I wish I had learned to knit in my teens, I was always so anxious and antsy, I think it would have been vry beneficial. Also, fuck those jokes, mittens and slippers from grandma rock!

I've been having some thoughts about socks lately. About what I like about knitting them, the way I wear them. My preferences. I've come to some conclusions: I do not need to make fancy socks. By fancy, I mean not plain vanilla socks. I know I can follow patterns to make patterned socks, but I don't like patterned socks around my feet, I don't like how they fit with my mary janes or my boots (which are basically the only things I wear, besides sandals and I do not wear sandals with socks). As for the legs of the socks-no one sees them, so why am I bothering doing patterns? I don't need to impress myself. Combined with the fact that I generally prefer to keep socks for my travel project, I'm just going to stick to vanilla socks. They're satisfying, they're super functional, an if I need them to be more interesting, I'll buy snazzy yarn.
That being said, I have a few inches on my Whozit sock (made with the sparkly boreale yarn) and I'm going to rip it back.
I may possibly be overthinking socks.


I haven't just been knitting, I've been getting crafty in other areas as well. I made the ratties a new hammock out of an old sweatshirt. They have a habit of biting new exit holes in their hammocks, and it gets pricey replacing them every couple of months.
I've also started making my own facial scrub (honey and almond meal plus eo), chamomile facial wash (which is too drying, so i'll probably stick with the honey and almond meal scrub) and face/body cream. With the exception of almond meal and beeswax for the face cream, every other ingredient was stuff I already had in the house. I make small batches so I don't have to worry about preservatives, though I may invest in Germall plus or Otiphen plus at some point. So far, my skin has reacted favourably-which is nice, since my skin can be quite sensitive
Next, I'm going to try making bubble bars, which are one of my favourite products from Lush. But I can never manage to keep a stash of them handy, often when I want a bubble bath, I'll realize I'm all out.
I've not taken any shitty pictures of these hand made items. Maybe next time I whip up a batch of facial scrub, or face cream I'll take pictures.

Rat bites and stash

Warning: I will be including pictures of a wound that may be gross to some people.


Mah knitter and I decided to hold our weekly stitch n bitch in my hood last weekend, so we went to Boulangerie Rustique Sweet Lee's. We did not have any of the foods though they all looked yummy (and I'm definitely going to try the cheesecake next time I go) but we did order tea. It was a bit odd, tea in a glass is kind of weird.
I had Labrador tea, and it was very...umm...delicate. Like, lightly scented hot water. I believe I may have giggled repeatedly over my clear "tea".

Seriously, that glass of water is actually my tea. and I poured more from my little teapot, and it all looked just as clear.  At least A's was slightly yellowish?


My kids' school board had two strike days, so it was a long weekend for all the students in the house.
Tuesday, I got bitten by one of my rats. It was not his fault, it was totally mine. Long story short: Cas (the fat-ass) was stuck in a box, he started freaking out, because there was another rat in the box being a dick, and I tried to help him out and my finger got in the way of his face. It was kind of brutal. It bled a lot, it really hurt, and I washed it out and bandaged it up.
Did I mention this was my index finger?? my KNITTING FINGER!!!  The next day it was vry vry swollen and painful so off to the clinic I went. Apparently, I was the first rat-bite victim treated at that clinic so there was lots of conferring and phone calls to government health agencies. Rabies was their main concern, Rat Bite Fever (which I sung to the tune of cat scratch fever, which amused no one but myself) was my concern. I got a tetanus shot (a day later, my arm still hurts), and preventative penicillin.

Needless to say, there's not going to be much knitting in the next couple of days. I've been trying to knit with my middle finger, and while it's been slow and frustrating...I did manage to finish a hat, since all I had left to do was the decreases.

About the hat: I cast on the Antelope hat, a free pattern by Bohoknits using Quince&Co Lark in the colour Storm. Before I hurt my finger:

After I hurt my finger (waiting in the dr's office, trying to do the decreases with my middle finger, vry difficult)

Anywhooo, it probably took  me about three hours to do the decreases, when it really should have taken about 45 minutes. But it's finished, even weaved in the ends. I think i'm pleased with the hat. It has an interesting picot edge and eyelets. But I'm not sure I like it on me. I love the colour, love the wool. I'll have to wear it a few times to really decide if I like it.

Now, I've knit items with Quince&Co Lark and Chickadee and both were quite enjoyable to knit with. No splitting, no weird growth after blocking. Lovely colours. Comfortable against my skin. I would very much like to knit a sweater out of this stuff... Ooooh, I wish they had a sock yarn! I bet there sock yarn would be awesome, and would no doubt have a clever bird name (in keeping with the theme of using our feathered friends as yarn names)


Before the bite, I had also cast on a pair of socks with some sparkly Boreale yarn from Biscotte&Cie, it's a pretty sky blue and I'm using the Whozit sock pattern from Socks a la Carte 2. Haven't gotten very far.

I still have my pixie dust sock on the needles, I have about 2 inches left before the toe decreases.

And now on to the stash pictures-mostly worsted weight.

 Leftover balls, mostly worsted weights, some bulky, some sock yarn.

From the stash balls, I grabbed a couple of balls that are mostly full skeins, I'm going to use 4 or 5 of them, held together  to make another pair of leethal mary janes. At some point. When I can really knit again.

Sock yarn stash <3 Look at all mah pretties!

All laid out like that, really doesn't seem like a lot...I feel like I need more Noro, some more Quince&Co, some more Malabrigo, some Madeline Tosh (it's been so long since I knit with Madtosh) I'd like to add some Blue Sky Alpacas, some Juniper Moon Farm, some SweetGeorgia...I could go on and on.
Maybe I should start working on my Christmas wish list!

Perfect...

Still no finished sweaters. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I do have a bunch of finished objects though!
-I finished the pair of Maize socks in Lost Lake Heather.

What can I say about these mitts? They are an easy, relatively quick knit. I like them. I like the colour. They won't be worth wearing when it hits -15c, but I can remedy that by sewing in a fleece liner. Or I could just make that thrummed mitten kit I bought on sale last year...

-I finished the second chocolato sock.

Yay socks! These feel pretty damn comfy, and warm!  Made with  stashed yarn from my visit to Wabi Sabi last year.  I enjoyed knitting with the Misti Alpaca Tonos Carnival very much. Of course, the final verdict rests on how they wear.

-I finished the second attempt at a chullo hat with alpacas on it.

This hat was made with bulky O Wool,which I would definitely buy again. It's not rustic exactly, but not merino soft either. It feels like it will withstand a lot of wear, without sacrificing comfort (ie: it's not itchy) It feels substantial. And I suspect it will be hella warm. I may also put in a fleece lining. Because I live in a cold, cold city and being cold makes me sad. I made the ear flaps striped because I was worried I was going to run out of the brown yarn. It came pretty close.
I did the floats wayyyy better this time. Go me!

-I finished one fucking ugleh sock.

But, it's Alegria. The feel makes up for the ugleh. This may be a lonely single, I do not know if I can knit another one. I have nothing else to say about this sock.



Now, while I have not finished any sweaters, I have done a little bit of knitting on my greenfield cardy. I believe I wrote, a few months back, that I would like to have greenfield completed by the end of October. Nope. Did not happen. Gave myself a new deadline-by my birthday (mid-February) and this is so I'll finish it sometime in December and be all "look how awesome I am! I finished it ahead of schedule!"
I'm not feeling this sweater, and I'm blaming the sleeves. The sleeves are so irritating to knit around. I thought I was sooooooo clever knitting the sleeves first. Hah!
HAH!
Never again will I knit the sleeves before the body. The floopy sleeves get in the way, can't keep them bagged while I work on the body so everything is in my lap, and the yarn gets wound about the sleeve and I have to stop and untangle shit. So annoying!

Also, knitting a sweater body, that already has sleeves on it, does not make for easy public transportation knitting. I know this because when I was taking the 17yr old to get her bus/metro pass renewed, I brought the sweater with me. It's a somewhat longish ride on the metro, so I'm sitting there, autopilot knitting the painfully long rows and this woman sits in the seat across. She's watching me knit, intently. Which in turn is making me anxious, and I start making stupid mistakes. Can I just brag a little about how I can knit for small stretches without even looking at my knitting? Welp, being watched, getting anxious, I'm looking at my knitting and making mistakes, splitting the stitches, picking up bars from the stitch below. It's a mess. After about 10 minutes of this, the woman kind of leans forward, not looking at me, and whispers "perfect".
I don't know if she was referring to the knitting, the sweater or the colour. But she got off at the next stop without saying another word.


Met up with mah knitta on Sunday, headed to Espace Tricot because I NEEDED some sparkly* sock yarn. I told her about my plan to not buy anymore sock yarn (after buying sparkly sock yarn, and a ball of ScrumptiousPurl  striped sock yarn) and she didn't even laugh. Not out loud that is. My plan is simple; if I want new sock yarn, I have to knit a whole pair of socks from stashed sock yarn. Sock yarn is one of those things, so hard to pass up, you can get a beautiful pair of socks out of ball that can cost as low as $8!!-so of course it's easy to build up a stash.

The top picture is Tanis Fibre Arts Cosmic Blue Label fingering in "Grape".
The bottom is Scrumptious Purl in "Baby Beluga".
NO RAGRETS!!

Anyway, this plan should help me cut down on the sock yarn hoarding. But since I bought those two sock yarns, I will make myself knit 2 pairs of socks before I can buy anymore sock yarn.



Speaking of socks, a few weeks ago I had posted about having lost a good portion of the notes I took on my pixie dust sock. Today, I decided to rip back the sock to the heel flap, and re-knit the foot without continuing the pattern. I got that all sorted out and it's in my little sock bag for travel knitting. I suppose I could have figured out where I was in pattern if I really sat down with the book the stitch pattern came from, and my sock, but it's socks. I don't want to put that much effort into my socks. I like socks I can knit without looking at a pattern (except to note how many stitches I cast on, how long I knit the leg, and did I do a three needle bind of with 20 toe stitches or 24?)



Another pair of my Leethal Mary Janes has bitten the dust. Sigh.

Brutal. This means I have to make another pair of slippers. I think I'm going to weigh out all my leftover balls of worsted weight and bulky, and russian join a bunch of them randomly and then, knitting with several strands, make myself a crazy pair of slippers. (this led down a weird road of searching for Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colours on youtube, and ending up with "Islands in the Stream by Dolly and Kenny-let's not even mention what was in between)






*oh god, sparkly sock yarn. I was taking pictures of my stash because I was going to add pics of my stash to this blog post, but I never finished taking pictures of all the yarn because I can't stick to one task long enough to complete anything ever, but anyway, while gathering all of the sock yarn together, I found some sparkly yarn. Yup, I had some Biscotte & cie Boreale in a very pretty blue. I did not desperately need Cosmic Blue Label yarn. (no Ragrets)