The UNBOXENING!

What came in the mail? My yarn crush box! Behold! Pictures of the unboxening!

So, an exciting little box of goodies. Because it was my first box, I got a notions pouch, a sample of SOAK and a backlit row counter. Nice!
In my actual yarn crush box were two patterns, one crochet (which I do not do, but will keep the pattern in case I ever decided I want to learn) and one knit. I got a little bag with 3 large wooden buttons. A little package the size of a matchbook that held a cute little sheep necklace. And finally? The YARN! Lo, this beautiful yarn comes into view...single ply, squooshy neutral grey worsted weight yarn called Marshmallow-Rino by JOMA yarn. I lurve it.
That being said, I don't know if I will knit the pattern that came with the box, it's a cute little pattern, but I don't see myself wearing it. I'm sure I'll find the perfect project for this yarn eventually.

Last week I cast on a hat pattern called Fractured Light by Kirsten Kapur. I needed something different from the shawls/sweater/socks I've been knitting on over the last couple of months. Hats are very satisfying and quick to knit, and they get a lot of use given that I wear hats every day for about 7-8 months out of the year. A cold head is an unhappy head.
Anywhoo, I knit this hat with Artfil yarns Grace, in the colourway Slate. Grace is a sport weight, plied yarn made up of 70% Merino, 15% Cashmere and 15% Nylon. It was super soft to knit with, and frogged well (cast on the wrong number of stitches, didn't notice until 24 rows in *sigh*)  hardly splitty or fuzzy.
The knit was a fun one, a nice break from all the stockinette I've been knitting. The construction of the brim was really nifty, and the pattern is very easily memorized, and looks more difficult than it actually is. There is also a matching pair of fingerless mitts that I may make at some point.

After 2 weeks of missing our Sunday meet-ups, mah knitta and I were able to get together and devote 3 wonderful hours to knitting and conversation. I finished my Fractured Light, which basically just needed 3 more rows of decreases and then the ends.  It's quite lovely, and drying after a quick soak, as I type. I need to find the perfect buttons for the brim, so maybe technically it's not finished? But the ends are all weaved in, yay me! (still haven't weaved in the ends of my uncropped sweater yet-oops)
I also brought some yarn, and some interchangeable needle tips to cast on a sweater called Margot by Linden Down. I'm using Malabrigo Arroyo in Candombe. Margot is a fairly classic top down sweater. Mostly knit in stockinette with the yoke, cuffs and bottom hem being garter stitch. The yarn will be what makes this sweater pop, Candombe is a stunning mix of purples, blues and greens.  I'm knitting a size smaller than what I normally wear, but going up a needle size; 4mm (US6) instead of the called for 3.75mm (US5). Arroyo is almost a dk weight, so I feel comfortable knitting it like this, I like how the fabric looks and feels with larger needles, and with my loose gauge it should make for a comfy, airy-ish sweater, that (hopefully) fits well.
It's a little scary jumping head first into knitting with a heavily variegated yarn, it's so out of my comfort zone, for such a big project. If I really hate it after it's all knit up, I'll overdye it. I've kind of been low-key obsessing about getting into dyeing. Which sort of feels like a trap all it's own right? You start dyeing, now you're buying all the bare yarn, and maybe sock blanks and experimenting with dyes. Next thing you know, you're running a yarn business out of your living room.
Anywhoo, I cast on, and decided to just knit the first couple of rounds and then join in the round, so I could skip the purling (for the garter yoke). When I did join it, it was wonky and twisted. The very thing I was hoping to avoid by knitting the first couple of rounds straight! So annoying, rip-it, rip-it, rip-it.
I re-cast on and just followed the damn instructions and, surprise surprise, no twisting, no wonkiness. I'm about midway through the raglan shaping. The yarn is so, so pretty.

I have finished the first sparkly sock, but have not yet cast on the second.  I have not knit on the Reverb shawl. I have not cast on the second Biltmore or 58 Chevy socks. I have not knit on my Be Simple. In fact, the Be Simple is probably going to be frogged. I should just make some damn socks out of the yarn.

And because I never got around to posting pictures of my Uncropped sweater or my Villeneuve:

Because this is my blog, and I'm feeling a little emotional at the moment, I'm going to vent about some personal stuff.
My littlest dude turned 7 yesterday. Today he started his first day of grade 2. I am highly stressed about his return to school (while trying to maintain a calm exterior as to not feed into his own anxiety) I have concerns about his teachers, about whether or not he'll have an aid (that he is entitled to because of his coding and his IEP)  and about how he will do academically and socially this year.  When I think about his peers ignoring him, or his teachers just chalking his behavior up to him being a "bad kid", it feels like a weight is on my chest and it gets hard to breath. I can't force these kids to be his friends, or ask them to be patient with him, I know how little kids are, and I know it doesn't work that way. I fight for him with the schoolboard, with his teachers, but then I feel like they are viewing me as "that parent" (you know, the special snowflake parent-which is fucking bullshit, I've had 3 neurotypical kids go through that same school and many of the teachers know me and know I don't pull special snowflake crap). I just feel like they aren't believing he's autistic, or that they forget it because he's so verbal, and can make eye contact (mostly) and his tics are not the stereotyped hand flapping (he circles his wrists and wiggles his fingers though). I'm stressed and scared and sad because I know the deck is stacked against him, and it's not going to get easier on him, as his awareness that he is different, grows. I know it's not going to get easier because as he grows there will be less resources and less places for him in the world.  It breaks my heart every single time he yells about how he hates his brain and that it doesn't work like everyone else's, it absolutely devastates me. So yeah, back to school isn't my most wonderful time of the year.
That being said, I do appreciate everything that the school has done for him, despite all the budget cuts, in terms of assigning an aid to his class, in terms of the resources we have accessed, and he has had some really lovely teachers who really worked hard to keep him on track and were willing to work with me to help him do his best.
Well, that was a tad rambly.

It's been a long time running

 This is going to be a long and wordy blog (with a bunch of shitty pics, eh) because it's been a while since I last updated. I'm going to try and write as chronologically as possible, but there will be edits and additional information.

I've got some FOs up in this here mofo! (I would hope so right? It's been like, 3 weeks since my last post)

I finished the Villenueve top and it is sooo very cute! I love it, and plan on wearing it to TWIST! I have a lot of sock yarn, so I may make another, though it would have to be multi colour, as I don't think I have any more sock yarn in that yardage.
(edit: I did wear it to TWIST, and I was very pleased with how it looked)

I finished my first 58 chevy sock. It was an enjoyable knit, for socks. I haven't gotten around to casting on the second sock. Second sock syndrome x2, 'cuz I haven't cast on the second Biltmore sock either.

When I finished the body of my sweater, which was a few weeks ago, I tried it on and found it kind of tight. Not horribly so, but enough that I am hoping there's a wee bit of growth when washed, which was the whole point of making the sweater one size smaller.
Next, of course, were sleeves. Dreaded, dreaded sleeves. I forgot that there was errata to go with the pattern, so when I started working on the first sleeve, the numbers weren't working out. I ripped out the bloody sleeve twice before I remembered there was something about a marker being in the wrong place. Looked it up, found the errata, wrote a note in my pattern and voila! The short rows worked just fine. I used almost a whole skein for the sleeve cap and switched to the Honey. I took very precise notes about the whole process of changing colour; I Russian joined the Marble and Heather, starting from 4 stitches before the BOR marker, and made sure to note the exact length of yarn used, in inches. I'm pretty pleased with how that turned out.
I really love my colour choices.

I finished knitting the sweater on the 21st of August, I took the picture right away, so don't judge too harshly (also, shitty pics remember? it's how I roll) The ends still need to be weaved in. I'll do that after I give the sweater a good soak. My fingers are crossed that there will be just the right amount of growth.


(I wrote about my sad experience with my Baby Beluga socks, in my last post, but to refresh your memory they bled HORRIBLY, and the pearly white now looks this dirty, dingy greyish green)
I went on Ravelry and posted a comment on the yarn page asking if anyone had any issues with bleeding. The dyer at Scrumptious Purl contacted me almost immediately. She's never had that happen with that colourway, and she felt quite badly so she's sending me another skein of sock yarn. Not in the same colourway, there's no way I want to knit up the exact same colour of socks, not when I already have second sock syndrome! I told her that I liked Berrylicious, Business Casual, O Naturel and that she could choose which one to send me. I ended up receiving Business Casual and I really, really like it, and I can't wait to knit them up.

I still feel weird about accepting a replacement skein, because the socks are still wearable. Just not showoff-able. They are still squishy and soft and comfy af. They just look ugly and dirty. But, on the other hand (as I keep telling myself) I paid for them, and knit them-that's a not insignificant amount time that I can't get back, right?


Then, last week, I got an email from Biscotte&Cie asking for my email address so they can send me a free skein of Bis-Sock! How cool is that? I wrote a review of their sock yarn and was entered into a contest. There were four skeins to be won, 3 new colourways and an exclusive, and I got the exclusive!! It's very speckled and very pretty!

Also, it doesn't have a name on it, which kind of drives me bonkers. My yarn must have a name dammit, and I'm just not creative enough.
Contest idea? Name Camb's yarn? Hahaha!


My long time friends invited us up to their cottage the weekend before last, it had been 5 long yrs since the last time we went up. They have 4 kids, we have 4 kids, so there was always something going on, or someone was sick, or someone was competing in something. Very hard to work around the schedule of 12 people. Anyway, we had an absolutely lovely weekend, even though it pretty much rained the whole time, until we started packing up the car to come home of course.
 Because I needed something to knit on the way there (almost 2 hour car ride) I decided to cast on the Reverb shawl by Felicia Lo, and using my Cobblestone mini skeins. (fun fact, the pattern is written for the SweetGeorgia Party of Five mini skein set)

It was a bit slow going, I can never remember the way to do M1L and M1R*. It was also slow going because driving up in the  mountains is so distracting and beautiful,  and the seriously winding roads once we were 15 minutes away from the cottage were making me a little queasy.
By the time we got home, I had finished the first colour section of the shawl, and was just working on the second colour. The shawl was then left in the project bag for a week (until TWIST)
*I've mastered it now, thanks to knitting the shawl there and back

TWIST!!!

(for good pictures go here. My ass is in one of the pictures, as is mah knitta's ass, our asses are fabulous!)
This year my mom couldn't babysit B, as she was going to be out of province. My daughter A offered to babysit so M and I could go, but neither M nor I were comfortable with both of us being almost 2hrs north of home if something went wrong, so we kind of had it in our minds to bring B up with us, but mah knitta decided that she was going to TWIST this year and that I could join her and her hubby. Perfect!
So we were on our way bright and early Saturday morning. For the car ride I brought the Reverb shawl and did some knitting on it, working my way through most of  the second colour. But I also brought and worked on my current sock project. It's the Sparkly Plum (Tanis Fibre Arts) that I had cast on a few weeks ago. I finished the heel flap, and picked up the stitches for the gusset and started some of the gusset decreases before switching back to the Reverb. I'm not really finding the knit all that interesting. It's kind of boring to be honest, but the yarn is soooo lovely. I think I'll be getting a lot of wear out of this shawl when it's done though...if it gets done.

But back to TWIST! We arrive, we greet the alpacas

(little sassy buggers), we walk into the arena and it's wonderful! Fibre and stunning colours as far as the eye can see. Like my first year, the plan was to walk around first, look at all the things and then make another loop and start with the spending of the monies. Admittedly, I bought a bag right away, a special TWIST tote bag. I needed something to hold all my yarn right? A couple of our local yarn stores were there-Mouline and La Maison Tricote. As much as I love my lys' I wasn't planning on spending money at either of those booths, since I can go to those stores whenever I want. I specifically wanted to buy yarn that was not super accessible to me. I did buy a little wooden yarn holder from La Maison Tricote, but I did not buy yarn from them.
Wanna see some shitty pics?

So what did I buy?

I bought three skeins of Merino Dk by The Black Lamb, in Spice.

I bought two skeins of Griffon by Biscotte&Cie in Arc en Ciel.

I bought one skein of Sock Adventures by Red Sock Blue Sock in Dreamcatcher

I bought four skeins of Mericana Dk by Artfils, three in black and one in Clair de Lune

I bought one skein of Sock Star by Fibrelya in Cherry Blossom

I also bought some stitch markers and a black sheep measuring tape from Tricot-The-Serre.

And the Twist bag; with the stitch markers, measuring tape and the yarn holder by Pierre Tardif (that is sold, along with other wooden notions, at La Maison Tricote)

Overall, I'm very, very happy with my purchases and my restraint. It's hard not to be all kid-in-a-candy-store at TWIST. I brought only cash (which I did not completely spend, I actually had a significant amount of cash leftover-go me!) I left the credit card and debit card at home so I wouldn't accidentally overspend.
 I do regret not buying that super cute cat printed knitting bag and there was some yarn Aran weight yarn that I had eyed at the Trailhead Yarns booth that I regret not buying...and I really regret not buying some of that gorgeous Riverside Studio worsted weight merino singles. I blame hunger, my tummy started a'rumblin' and I needed to get a bison burger (so.damn.good)

I'm really bummed that Gaspereau Valley Fibres wasn't there this year, I was ready to spend lots of money on Mineville Wool Project yarn.
Also bummed that the company who sold those awesome felted soaps weren't there.

Hey, did I mention I joined a yarn club? Yarn Crush! I signed up for a three month thingy. Got 15$ off because it was their one year anniversary. I should get my first shipment in the next couple of weeks. I'll write about that a bit more in my next post, after I get my first box.

So yeah, a lot of  yarn. An ass-ton of yarn. I put it all in my Ravelry stash and I'm a little scared by how much I have. It's a little frightening and a little overwhelming (and I still haven't added all those partials and dishcloth cottons).  I have sweater quantities and quantities that are perfect for shawls and other accessories. I do not need to buy any yarn for quite a long time. Maybe not until the next TWIST festival...



Returned home from TWIST in the mid-afternoon and did some of the usual Saturday errands. Then, Saturday night, M and I turned to CBC  to watch the Tragically Hip concert. It was one of those shows that you watch with tears in your eyes, and a big smile on your face. Gord Downie is our poet. His death will be a tremendous loss to music, and to Canada.
I also feel the need to say that I love that the CBC ran the whole concert, uninterrupted, no commercial breaks, no logos anywhere. I'm feeling proud of my country!
Another reason to be proud? Canada won 22 medals in the summer Olympics, and 16 of those medals were won by women! Fantastic!

Yarn found, Yarn bought.

I can't believe we're almost at the end of the first week of August, it's been going so fast. M's vacation is almost over. *sad face* We took care of some things that sorely needed taking care of, like getting a new mattress and box spring for our bed. I haven't been mattress shopping in a loooong time, I didn't realize there was a whole routine to it, a  number of questions being asked and then discussions of sleep habits and back pain and blah blah blah, it took us 45 minutes to get out of there. Love the new mattress though, it's super comfy and I've been sleeping better (which is probably just a coincidence) but it's also made our bed super high (it was already high to begin with) so I kind of have to jump up to get into it (I'm 5'10" btw)

While cleaning up under the bed (before the new mattress and boxspring came) I found two skeins of Noro Silk Garden Sock , as well as finding a partial skein of noro silk garden sock (used for one of my hitchhikers I believe), and some cascade 220 in Teal. Looks to be about a skein and a half worth of yarn. I'm pretty sure I used it to make some wristers and a baby hat. I hope there are no bugs, they were in a plastic grocery bag and not sealed, so I need to keep them quarantined. I'd put them in the freezer but there really isn't any room.
                                  This Noro is so pretty, I really hope it doesn't have bugs :(

B had his best day ever last week. B's best day ever consists of M giving him an old phone (sim card taken out of course) loaded with some of his favourite songs, and a couple of games. Therapy with M.T (his last session, he was kind of sad about it, and I'm sad that I won't get to see the knitting ladies). A two hour ride on the new metro cars (where I knit two heel flaps and turned one of the heels, and defeated two levels of plants vs zombies for B) and capping it all off by staying up late and going to the old port to watch fireworks.  B really enjoyed the fireworks, as did I, I realized that it's been a very long time since I'd gone! At least 8 years! A took us to the spot that she and her friends go to when they watch the fireworks, and we saw everything except for the very lowest fireworks.

On the 2nd, I became the mom of a 21yr old. On the 7th, I'm going to have TWO adult daughters, as A turns 18. That sounds so weird to me. I don't feel old enough to have a 21yr old and an 18yr old. P and her bf V came over for her bday dinner (super hot and she requests meatloaf *groan*) we threw in a cake and presents for A as well, since she basically only wanted money for her birthday, for spending at Otakuthon (her weekend badge at Otakuthon was one of her gifts). The girls were happy with their gifts, I think P really loved her shawl, which made me very happy (but also kind of sad, because I also loved that shawl). I also made P a key cozy using some leftover Cascade Heritage Paints in Celtic, because the colour reminded her of lizards. When my mom saw P's, she asked for one too. She chose some Alegria in a colourway that I cannot remember but that reminds me of spring. I did not remember to take pictures of the key cozies, and i'm sure anyone reading this blog is super devastated not to be seeing another picture of a key with yarn on it, hahaha.

Here's something new: I'm laying some blame on  mah knitter for being a bad, bad enabler, she sent me a link to Espace Tricot, who now carry SweetGeorgia Party of Five mini skeins. And at first I was all "oooooh, very pretty colours" and blah blah blah, with absolutely NO urge to buy, because I am so over sock weight yarns and then the morning of our s&b, she messages me with "going to lys, wanna come? found this pattern to go with the yarn" and then I knew I was going to go buy that set of mini skeins. And she knew I was going to go buy a set of mini-skeins. I have no willpower in the face of beautiful yarn AND the perfect pattern for said yarn. I am not made of steel! In fact,  I am weak, so, so weak. Which is how I ended up with Party of Five in Golddigger

...made up of  Bison, Tumbled Stoned, Pumpkin, Ginger and Saffron(which is the most perfect gold). All of which looked beautiful in the skein, but when I saw the finished projects on rav, I was less than impressed. So I returned the set to the store (not the next day, because they were closed, but the day after) and grabbed Cobblestone instead.

 Beautiful, earthy, neutral colours; Linen, Muslin, Fossil, Walnut and Bison.
Doesn't SweetGeorgia yarns have the best colours??

I cannot wait to start knitting this shawl!

After I finish some of the WIPs from that daunting pile of UFOs.
 I feel like I haven't made much progress getting through those WIPs, though I do have some FO's! I finished my second Baby Beluga sock and I finished my first Biltmore sock. I'm working on the decreases on the sides of the first 58 Chevy sock. Yes!
                                          Baby Belugas

                                          1st biltmore

Speaking of My Baby Beluga socks, they bled heavily during their soak (I had to change the water 3 times). I don't think I would buy Scrumptious Purl sock yarn again. I bought the yarn with a gift certificate months ago, and thought it was quite expensive even though I bought mine BEFORE it went up to 42$ a skein.
I haven't knit on my uncropped sweater, but I did pick up Villeneuve and have made some real progress! I lost some time on the project because I mixed up the BOR marker and the middle marker and ended up with the section to be worked on being the front instead of the back. I had to tink back, un-bind off the two sections, re-knit, fix my markers. Which I feel took me longer than it should have. Very frustrating.
I was very happy to start working on the back, there was a new technique to learn;  Bias Bind Off- and it's awesome! It's super easy, and it looks so good! The pattern links to the Cocoknits website, which explains the process, and has pictures, but I didn't really get it until watching the Very Pink Knits video on youtube.  I stayed up far too late, because I was enjoying doing the bind off, and how well it works! Of course, because I've been knitting only at night, after busy, exhausting days, I didn't knit the back strap long enough. *big sigh* I unknit the bind off and put it on a stitch holder, because I just couldn't deal with it at that moment.  I've just joined the yarn to the front and I'm hoping I can stop making stupid mistakes and  have this tank finished in time for Twist!

And now, off to the pool, with the newly cast on travel sock...(Using my Tanis Fibre Arts Cosmic Blue label Fingering weight yarn in Plum) Ooooh sparkly!