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!