Lies and FOs

In knitting:
So I'm a big ol' liarface. I did not stop knitting on Reyna.

But I also worked on Age of Brass and Steam. So I'm not that bad! Which leads me to the FO: the Age of Brass and Steam! It's been blocked, though not super aggressively, and it's really quite lovely. The fabric is lightweight, drapey, and very warm. I enjoyed knitting with the Manos silk blend, I definitely would knit with it again. I still have a skein and a wee nubbin leftover that I'm thinking may become a hat in the future.

 I'm very happy with how the shawl turned out, even though I strayed from the pattern a wee bit. I knit the last row of eyelets, then a row of garter, and then I bound off, which is not what the pattern calls for, but I think it worked out rather nicely.

I wore it around to do errands and it feels so nice next to the skin, i'm kind of sad I won't be keeping it. I'm going to be giving it to my mom for her birthday (at the end of the month). I didn't knit it up intending it to be a gift, but when I put it on after it dried (which was super fast, btw) it just seemed like the shawl should be hers. (Nikki helping block)

Back to Reyna,

What a fantastic knit! It's completely gorgeous, but wow, those last mesh rows are bloody tedious! The price of beauty, eh?
I left off the last four rows of mesh, figuring it's big enough, plus, bamboo grows.
The bind off is nice and stretchy and hella long. But it's done and it's perfect. I think this shawl might be my favourite. So there ya go, two FOs!

I was asked to go to the cabane a sucre (english translation: sugar shack-because it's maple syrup time) with B's school last week, so I needed some knitting for the ride.  But I needed a knit that was small and portable and fun and not socks (because I'm so over socks yo) yet would shrink my sock yarn stash- so I did some stash diving and came up with a skein of  Mattawa sock (80% Canadian wool 20% nylon) by Trailhead Yarns in the colourway Blood Curdling Scream.  I picked it up at Twist last summer, It's a mix of greys, red and pinks, which, besides the greys, are really not my colours, but I was trying to broaden my colour palette and the name was just so awesome that I couldn't resist. I cast on a scarf called For Travel by Caitlyn  Ffrench. I've favourited a number of her patterns, and I thought this would be a good on to start with.
I liked the pattern well enough, simple, a little bit interesting. As the name suggests, it's good for travel, being very easy to memorize. That being said, I got home from the field trip and frogged all that I knitted.                          (Blood curdling scream)

I just didn't like the colours, and the pooling bothered me. *sad face*  I stash dived and came up with another yarn for this shawl, this time using Tanis Fibre Arts Cosmic Blue Label fingering weight yarn which is 84% merino and 16% sparkling nylon in Plum and 100% gorgeous.

Which I then had to frog as well. Because I hated it. I think I'm just not meant to knit this scarf. I don't like the knitted fabric. I don't like the eyelets which look accidental.  It's just not for me. So I frogged it again, for the final time.



Update: April 27th-I've had the post written and waiting for pictures for a few days, but I hadn't gotten around to taking pictures. On Monday morning, when I would have posted this blog, B's teacher messaged me and let me know that shortly after recess, he started shivering, lying down in the quiet corner and not talking. Scarlet fever and chicken pox have been going around. I went and picked him up and he was feverish, his throat was sore, and he was coughing a lot. Both A and I had also just come down with colds so I waited until Tuesday morning to bring him to the clinic, in case he just had a cold as well. No one wants to wait around a clinic for 4 hours just to be told "it's a cold".  The triage nurse did a strep test, which was negative (because she barely waited 30 seconds for the results) and when we finally saw the doctor, I asked for a repeat of the test, mentioning she only waited 30 or so seconds. The doctor checked B's tonsils ("very meaty"-her. *gag*-me) and did another strep test, waiting 5 minutes, and sure enough, there was a pink line.

(this should be in last weeks post)

Anywhooo, he's now on Clarithromycin for the next 10 days. I wanted to avoid the penicillin family because of his reaction to the amoxicillin a couple of years ago (full body rash). Apparently the clarithromycin is vry, vry nasty tasting, and the side effects are kind of brutal (nausea, vomiting, headache, stomach ache, diarrhea, changes your sense of taste) but so far, there's only been one episode of vomiting-an hour after his first dose last night. Poor kid.
There's been very little sleep (B does not deal well with discomfort) the last couple of days, and with all the plague in the house I've not gotten around to taking pictures of the Brass and Steam shawl, or the Reyna shawl being worn. There definitely hasn't been much knitting, but what knitting there has been has been on Harvest. Yes, I am back to some monogamous knitting because I can't find anything else I want to knit.
I'm starting to get concerned about yardage. I've got 4 more inches of knitting on the body before knitting the 4 inches of garter border, plus the sleeves. I only have three skeins of yarn left, plus the one I'm knitting with, which is over half finished. I don't know if I'm going to run out or not. I suspect it'll be close. So I'm thinking I may start the sleeves before finishing the body. Just because I can handle a shorter sweater, but not shorter sleeves.

In baking:
Last week I baked a cheesecake. I suspect it would have been a fantastic cheesecake, except the 6yr old thought he was being helpful and closed the oven and I didn't notice until almost an hour later *sigh* But even though it was a little overcooked, it was still edible! And pretty!

In other crafting:
Last weekend we hit Canadian Tire and finally picked up a hand held stick blender that I had been meaning to buy for months. It's sole purpose is to blend beeswax and fats to make body cream.
I made this recent batch with Neroli essential oil and it's heavenly. Leftover Lush pots are the best for homemade cosmetics!

Okay, now I'm off to coerce and cajole B into taking his nasty, nasty medicine, keeping my fingers crossed that he doesn't throw up.

The post where I talk about knitting, but also, old underwear.

I'm not a shopper. I hate shopping. I do it out of necessity. I was never one of those kids who wanted to hang out at the mall. I don't like window shopping, and I don't get people who go on vacation and absolutely must shop. There are exceptions to this of course; bookstores will always draw me in. And obviously, knitting stores will always grab my attention.  Anywhoo, the other day, M and I hopped in the car and started hunting down a spring coat for B, who's outgrowing every single thing he owns at an alarming rate. So while we were in the mall, I noticed a sign "5 for 20$" and it was like a light turned on in my head. I haven't bought underwear since shortly after my pregnancy with B. All my underwear is tattered and dingy with repeated washing/wearing. So I bought  underwear! It was blissful, and not just because everything was extra-on-sale and the underwear were really 5 for 10$!! Pretty new underthingies with polka dots and lace and microfiber. I never think about underwear unless I forget to wear 'em, or I bleed all over them because once again, I've been surprised that my period has started (you'd think after 25yrs of menstruating I'd be better at that, but nope, hasn't sunk in yet).
It's the little things yo...
(I actually debated on sharing a picture of ze underthingies, but that would be weird right?)

In knitting:
This week ended my foray into knitting monogamy. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Wips:
I finished all of the increases on Harvest,

now it's straight forward stockinette for the next 9 inches, followed by 4 inches of garter stitch. This is not an insignificant amount. It's kind of boring to have so much plain knitting to do so I decided to cast on  The Age of Brass and Steam kerchief by Orange Flower Yarn. Which, by the way, is a free pattern.

So yeah, I cast on, started knitting. The rows grow fast. Knitting with the Manos Silk Blend (the colourway is called Silver) which is suuuuuper luscious. Oh gosh, it's so bloody nice to knit with. Every once in a while, I'll stop mid-row and rub it on my face, or lovingly pet the yarn. It's just that nice! It frogs okay too! Ask me how I know...*sigh* I cast on and knit the first 20 rows of the pattern and realized my count was waaaaay off. Frogged it back, re-cast on and read the pattern properly (oh hey there increases on the purl rows, missed ya the first time around!) and re-knit. The yarn was in good shape, didn't get felty or splitty or wonky! I do have to apply some lavishea often when working with this yarn though, I think the silk dries out my hands.

So I made it to the last garter stitch row before the final section and it's definitely too small for my liking, I'll do at least one more repeat of the stockinette and garter sections before finishing. Which will be a while, because I cast on another shawl...
See, mah knitta and I went knitting on Wednesday, at Maison Tricote of course. I fell in love with the look of the shawl she's making  and I wanted to cast on my own. The shawl is called Reyna and it's by Noora Laivola. It's a beautiful shawl, made up of garter sections and mesh sections. I can't believe this pattern is free, but how awesome that it is! One of the best things about this pattern (besides being free) is the row counter included at the bottom of the pdf! Bloody brilliant!
 Of course, being that I was at Maison Tricote, I couldn't help but walk around the store, looking at all the beautiful yarns trying to decide which yarn I wanted knit with. My heart yearns for some Fox Trail Fibre Arts speckled yarn or Riverside Studios speckled yarns. I physically ache to knit with those gorgeous yarns...but alas, I am yarn dieting, and knitting from stash. It's not like I don't have lovely yarns in stash, but I don't have speckled ones *sad face*
Back to Reyna though; I decided I would cast on despite my lack of speckled yarn, opting instead for that skein of Woobu that I've been writing about knitting with for months. To refresh your memory about my Woobu, it is a 5ply blend of  60% merino and 40% bamboo and  it comes in a huuuuge 620 yard skeins-which my ball winder cannot handle so I had to make 3 cakes. The colourway I have is called Pining 4 Ewe, which is this medium olive-y colour with darker flecks of green, vry neutral, vry perfect. I love the sheen from the bamboo, and the yarn itself is very nice to work with. I'm not finding it super splitty. Pretty good stitch definition...I think a sweater made out of this yarn (knit at a tighter gauge though) would be awesome! There's some fantastic colourways in this yarn, and the names are equally great, Blue Moon Fibre Arts colourways have the most clever names - Motley Hue, Pond Scum and Aubergenius being some of my favourites.
As woobu is a sport weight yarn, and the pattern calls for a fingering or sock weight, I also decided to go up a couple of needle sizes. I'm using  US7s, so I think this shawl will be a better size for my body, and also, should drape fabulously. Best of all, it should knit up faster than if I was knitting it on size 4s that the pattern calls for!

If you're keeping track, that means I haven't knit on Harvest since I started Age of Brass & Steam, and I haven't knit on Age of Brass & Steam since I started Reyna. I've decided to finish this mesh section that I'm currently on, I have 11 more rows to knit to finish, and then I'm going to pick up Harvest again and knit a couple more inches of the body before switching to another wip.  This way, I shouldn't get bored of knitting on just the one project. Of course, this method means no FO's any time soon.  I really should just finish the damn cardy before sweater weather ends.

I almost forgot that I do have an FO to write about; I finished Scowl. I got to 28 inches and decided that was enough knitting, time to bind off. It's cute enough, and it did soften up a lot after being washed (dried super quickly too) but I don't know if I'll wear it all that often, I much prefer having a shawl/shawlette wrapped about my neck.

I had a dream that I knit a baa-ble hat. I've seen a woman wearing one in my neighborhood. Every time I see her, I want to ask her if she knit the hat. But it's always in the morning when I'm rushing B to school. Maybe I should see what I have in stash and knit one so I can be all "heyyyyy hat twinsies" but that my be terrifying for her, and it doesn't seem like the best time to accost someone to gush about the hat they may or may not have knit.  Seriously though,  I have all these wips going why not add another one to the mix, at least a hat wouldn't take too long to knit, and I'd definitely have a fo for the next blog!

Oh! According to facebook memories, the first time I picked up knitting needles and successfully knit was 8 yrs ago.

If I recall correctly, I knit a row on A's scarf.  I thought I was in my late twenties when A was in knitting group at school and showed me what to do, but apparently I was mistaken. It wasn't instant love, it took a few false starts, but I kept coming back to it, and by the time  B started pre-kindergarten I was hooked.
So happy, sort of anniversary, to moi!

Peeing on sticks!

I really regret cutting my bangs. My hair grows so slowly that I have to live with my regret for the next 6 months, until they get to a place where they are tolerable or can be pinned off to the side.

-In Knitting:
I've made good progress on Harvest. I suppose it's easy to do when one knits somewhat monogamously. I've got the sleeves on waste yarn and I will NOT knit them before the body on this cardigan. I've certainly learned my lesson.

I'm knitting the sweater with Julie Asselin Sevilla (a worsted weight merino) in the colour Azul. I can't get over the colour of this yarn, it's so rich and beautiful. Can a sweater be your favourite before it's even been finished??  Maybe i'll change my mind after I'm done knitting the cardy, but I already want to make it in different colours and different yarns (still dreaming about a sweater in Arco Iris).
Could I possibly be setting myself up for disappointment here? What if the cardigan looks awful when it's finished? Ack!


-Have not yet started Age of Brass and Steam, but I love petting, and fondling the yarn.

Manos silk blend is absolutely lovely to the touch, I've draped a skein over my shoulders and just walked around the house with it. I think that knitting a simple pattern is a better idea with this wool because it's a single ply and I suspect it may be difficult to tink and frog.
I caked up a skein so I could have it ready for knitting if I needed a break from Harvest, and due to some of the comments from the yarn page on Rav, I was expecting difficulties, but it went very smoothly, hopefully my other two skeins go as well.


-Scowl is coming along nicely.

Perfect travel knitting, just going to keep it going until I run out of yarn.  I'm three quarters of the way there, at 24 inches in length and the ball of Charivari is shrinking rapidly (there's been quite a bit of travel knitting lately) I think the scowl is a perfect sock stash buster, being knit on big needles, barely have to pay attention to it, just knit until no more yarn-perfect! Maybe a few solid colour scowls might be in order somewhere down the line. I wonder if my daughters would wear a scowl should there ever be gifted scowls in the future.

-Have not worked on Smash. At all. Don't care.

-My greenfield cardy grew in length but not width.  I love it! The sleeves are a tad long, but since I have long arms and cold hands, it works! I am pretty happy with my cardy (though of course I can point out every single flaw), and I've been wearing it a ton. I've gotten quite a few compliments on it already.  Also, one of the women who works at  the lys asked me if I knit my sweater and then congratulated me. I think that means she liked it? I've not noticed her being particularly effusive with other peoples knits, so I'm going to take it as a compliment

Mah knitta had a birthday last week, and with all that was going on I didn't get a chance to see her until this week. For her birthday, I gave her some T-pins for blocking, a copy of Stash Bot by Hannah Fettig (I love my copy-but I really should remember to keep it in my bag at all times) and I made her a t-shirt:

Which is pretty awesome if I say so myself!

In random yarn:
The mother of one of B's classmates gave me a couple skeins of yarn.

Actually I don't know if they can be called skeins because they are on spools. There is no information on the wool, and they seem pretty old so I'm keeping the whole lot quarantined from mah squishies, just in case (buggies of the wool eating variety) The wool seems pretty scratchy so I'm guessing it's Peruvian Highland, or something similarly rustic. The colours are interesting,  I do like an earthy palette. I think they are all worsted weight.  I'll have to swatch at some point, see the resulting fabric and see if it softens with a wash.  I hope it softens, otherwise I'll be making lots of slippers.


In health:

My cat Libby has a UTI (again) I also have a UTI (again). We're both on meds (different meds tho')
Coincidentally,I discovered that a local dollarama sells dipstick UTI kits.

How random and wacky and wonderful! So, of course I bought a box (there's 2 tests per box in case that isn't clear) and while I already pretty much knew I had a UTI (peeing blood is a vry good indication) it was fun to pee on a stick and get confirmation. Now if only it was legal to buy UTI meds over the counter, life would be so much easier! Luckily for me the last time I had a UTI, my Dr wrote me a prescription with two refills, so the next time I had that stabby pee pain I wouldn't have to go to the clinic, possibly picking up alllll kinds of flu germies and I could just go to my pharmacist and get them to fill the prescription.
I love peeing on sticks! While trying to get pregnant with B, I found a website that sold cheap pregnancy tests. I ordered 30$ worth of these pregnancy tests. I would take them just for fun, hand them out to friends, take them even after I had gotten pregnant and passed the first trimester.  During my pregnancies with both boys, when I was being followed by the midwives at the Maison de Naissance, I got to check my urine at every appointment.  The bathroom was quite large and you were to go in and weigh yourself, then take a plastic dipstick from the jar, test your urine and compare your dipstick to the chart on the jar and report back to your midwife.

It was the highlight of the appointments! (well, after hearing the heartbeat of course). It all felt very science-y, which I love. I sometimes think that if I was better at math I could totally be a science-y type person. But I'm crap at math-so I'll just pee on sticks.