Getting those WIPs off the needles!

I'm kind of bummed. I finished watching season 1 of Stranger Things, and season 3 of Penny Dreadful. Both were fantastic but now I have nothing to watch. I need something to fill the hole left behind. I've started watching Ash vs Evil Dead...and I'm enjoying it, but it hasn't sucked me in like Penny Dreadful and Stranger Things. I am loving the over-the-top goriness though, and I adore Bruce Campbell.

So, going back to the Aeris Shawl- I did not have the knitting stamina to do all the 18 rows of section 2, before starting the garter section. I did manage to get to row 12, but I could not bear the thought of doing one more row of seed stitch. The garter stitch border went relatively quick, and the (super stretchy) bind off took just over an hour.
I ran out of yarn during the bind off, so I had to join another ball for the last 4 inches of bind off.
I've worn it every day since I took if off the blocking mats.
The one bummer? While it's not irritating or itchy in any way, it also didn't soften up very much with soaking.

So with that done, I picked up my Margot sweater and started the sleeves. I added some stitches to the underarm, and am doing a full length sleeve instead of a 3/4 length so I added some arm decreases as well.  The sleeves actually knit up quite fast, faster than I remember sleeves taking.
Finishing the sweater felt so good, and trying it on felt even better. I love this sweater, I think it's the best fitting sweater I've ever made. I'm in love with it and I want to make one in all the colours!
I haven't washed it yet, but I'm wearing it. I'm almost scared to wash it, in case it shrinks in weird places, or grows in the wrong places. I'll be devastated, because I really love this sweater.

Now, according to my Rav stash, I had 6 skeins of the Candombe, I joined a new skein halfway through the second sleeve, leaving one unwound skein in the bag. I've either misplaced a skein or what I thought was my fourth skein, was actually my fifth.
I need to take better notes.

Anywhoo, so now that I'm done with the sweater, or course, I immediately want to make another one, but I can't, not yet anyway.  I'm not casting on anything new. I'm going to focus on finishing all the projects on the needles, or frogging projects that I have no interest in finishing, and reclaiming the yarn for other things. I'm going to start by finishing the legwarmers, because it looks like I'm going to need those pretty soon, it's getting cold, and we might get snow very, very soon (*cries*).  Then, it will be time to figure out if my slip stitch infinity scarf and be simple are to be frogged. If I keep working on my infinity scarf, then I will decide if I want to undo the bind off on the fingerless mitts that I made using the same yarn and turn them into full mitts, or just make a matching hat. Either way, there needs to be something matching. I need two out of three pieces* to be made with the same yarn (or at least the same colour). Then, I need to finish my 58 chevy sock.

My yarn crush box came!

 Sadly, it's my last box as financially, it's just not a good fit for me right now. it was a good experience, and I may do it again at some point. The patterns were interesting, and the little extras were pretty nifty. I really love getting to try new yarns, and this months yarn is absolutely gorgeous! I'm not going to make the boot toppers (which are super cute) because I generally stomp around in  docs, so that would be a waste of the yarn. I may do a hat, since that is one of my favourite ways to try out different yarns. I love the buttons, and they will definitely get used on a future project.

The yarn is by Lichen and Lace, and is a worsted weight merino in the colourway Grey Pumpkin, it's an olive-y grey with reddish orange flecks.

The little extra in this months box is a ceramic shot glass made by JaMpdx; and it's the perfect size for the stitch markers I made.

I've made a lot of stitch markers. I lose a lot of stitch markers.


*just to clarify; by two out of three pieces, I am referring to the trifecta of cold weather woolens- hat, mitts, scarf. So, I need to have: scarf and hat or scarf and mitts or hat and mitts be made with either the same wool or the same colour.
Never three pieces though, that would be way too kookoobananas.

Knitting on Aeris

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! We went apple picking (and grabbed some wee pumpkins as well) and then I made a ton of food and dessert and everyone was full and thankful!

Needle drama: Sometimes needles that are 2.25mm and 2.50mm are both listed as US1. Sometimes 2.50mm is listed as US1.5. It just depends on the website that you are buying from. The website I ordered my two Knitter's Pride circulars has the 2.25mm and 2.50mm listed as size US1. I thought I had ordered the correct US1s, but alas, what I ordered and received were needles that were 2.25mm. I was very annoyed with myself. I am going to keep them though, they might come in handy at some point.
I re-ordered the correct size needles on my second attempt. I ordered from a different website this time around as well. Not because of any fault of the first company (fully admitting the mistake was mine) but because I was hoping this online yarn store would have a quicker delivery time being that it's only one province over, and i'm super impatient. And they did! Shout out to  Main St. Yarns and their super fast shipping!  I ordered them Thursday the 6th, in the evening, they came in on the Tuesday (the 11th) after Thanksgiving, which is pretty incredible.

Since my last post, I have finished the body of  Margot. When I was 3/4 of the way through the body  I realized I hadn't looked at the pattern in a long-ass while. So I grabbed the pattern, and guess what? There is actual waist shaping. Oh. Also, I had misread (or rather, read and misremembered) what the dividing round was, thinking it was referring to the bottom garter stitch of the pattern and not the round where the arms are divided from the sweater.
I tried it on, and I am quite pleased with the fit of the sweater even with the minimal waist shaping that I used; I decreased a little bit after knitting the bust for the waist, then increased a little for the hips. I lengthened the body by 2 inches (from 11 inches to 13 inches) and then split for the garter hem. I knit the garter hem for 2.5 inches instead of the 3 inches called for in the pattern. That all worked out well in the end.

Once I finished the body, I decided I deserved a break from knitting Margot, because next up is sleeves and I haaaate sleeves, so I cast on Aeris by Hilary Smith Callis. It calls for a worsted weight yarn, but I'm using the black Mericana Dk weight yarn I bought from the ARTFIL booth at TWIST! this summer.
I'm not sure how I feel about this shawl.  I love the shape of the asymetrical triangle, and it's a super easy pattern to follow...but there is an awful lot of seed stitch. I like how it looks, but I effing hate knitting it. I haven't been able to memorize the pattern either.
 It's possible that choosing a black yarn to knit a highly textured shawl might not have been the best choice.

Of course the further into the pattern I get, the more stitches there are, the longer the rows of seed stitch are. In terms of the pattern, I'm more than three quarters of the way done, but the rows are significantly longer now. I'm also thinking of knitting the entirety of  the  2nd section instead of the just the first 4 rows that are called for in the pattern, before starting the final (garter) section. That means an extra 14 rows. I certainly have enough yarn for it, but I don't know if I have the stamina for it. I'd like to have it finished by the end of this week, but that might not happen if I'm adding more rows. I'm eager to get the shawl finished, but apparently not eager enough if I'm adding more rows than I need.



I have only one FO to share, and that would be a pair of vanilla socks made with Biscotte&Cie in the Blue Pansy self striping colourway.

I waver in my opinion about Biscotte sock yarn. It's not super soft when you knit it up, and after washing, they don't soften much either. So I always think I like the yarn less than I do...but, yunno, they wear pretty well, and I like the self striping, they're really well done. For example; the Blue Pansy sock, has these deliberate, darker flecks. The Watermelon sock has little flecks of brown to mimic the seeds as well.

With my travel sock being finished, I needed to have something cast on and ready to go. I was envisioning a grey sock with a stripe of colour just under the ribbed cuff. Maybe even two stripes, and then solid the rest of the way down.
Instead, I opted to use some leftover self striping yarn from Biscotte&Cie called Arc en Ciel (french for rainbow) and for the grey, I'm using some deeply stashed Julie Asselin Piccolo in the colourway Shining Armour. Which is beautiful, but kind of splitty. I'm naming these socks Shining Rainbow because I'm cool like that.

It was finally cold enough this week to wear a hat, so I wore my Fractured Light and I love it! Typically though, I was bummed that I didn't have a pair of matching mitts, so I'm eventually going to cast those on as well. Perfect for cooler days. I feel like I should probably drop everything else I'm knitting and just knit the damn mitts. But I won't because I really feel the need to finish up these current projects on the needles.

In non-knitting, but also knitting related stuff; I picked up some lavender czech glass beads at Deserres  and some 8mm aluminum jumprings and made some stitch markers, perfect for small gauge projects, because those are the ones I lose the most.

I may have to buy some more beads and make a bunch in different colours!

Broken needles, broken dreams...

...how is that for a super melodramatic title?

Turns out there were a large number of parents that want to volunteer for the library so it doesn't look like I'll be needed except as a possible alternate! Still on the parent committee though, and we've already had our first meeting and even helped out with the Terry Fox Run/Walk (if you're not sure what that is, check out this link: http://www.terryfox.org/SchoolRun/).  The next couple of weeks will be busy with picture days, vaccination day and interim report card/bake sale duties.

September yarn crush box came!

As pretty as the yarn is, (it's gorgeous, really, and great name!) I'm kind of bummed that it was sock yarn. I knew that was a possibility when I signed up, but I was hoping to avoid the sock yarn. The last thing I need added to my stash is sock yarn.  Anywhooo, along with the yarn was a back issue of PomPom Quarterly and the patterns.

I really like the knit patterns from the September box; a hat and a matching pair of fingerless mitts. I'm pretty sure i'm going to make the hat, I've been planning on making a fingering weight hat for awhile, but I'll probably use stash yarn, instead of the yarn that came in the September box, because I'll already have a grey hat made from a lightweight yarn. I'll probably make the fingerless gloves as well, because I love fingerless gloves.  OOOH! Maybe I should use that Fleece Artist sock yarn that has been languishing as the partially knit Be Simple that I know I'm never, ever going to finish!


FO! Finished those Tanis Fibre Arts sparkly plum socks. Washed 'em up, wore 'em with my chucks, felt super snazzy. I love, love, love having knitted socks to wear every day. Which is the only reason why I ever knit socks.

With the sparkly plum socks finished, I dug through the sock yarn stash and cast on a new vanilla sock using Biscotte&Cie yarn in Blue Pansy which is vry vry pretty self striping yarn. The yellow is a tad too neon, I'd prefer it muted, but that's my only complaint about the yarn.  I was able to knit 3 inches of sock  while I was at the Model Train Exposition with B last weekend

 (There were "stations" set up where kids could build tracks with seating for the parents so I was able to knit while he played with trains).  Over the rest of the week I was able to get through the heel and gusset and on Friday I actually finished the first sock.

I cast on the second sock right away because on Saturday, I planned to take B to the Autorama indoor car show at the Olympic Stadium (the big O to the locals, aka the big owe) and I wanted to have a sock to knit on while on the metro.
The car show was about as interesting as I expected (and by that, I mean I was hella bored) but B really enjoyed himself. He took lots of pictures, and even got to sit in two of the cars. Several of the car owners were pretty amused by his super serious expression while getting shots of his favourite cars from numerous angles, including the interiors. He's very into Buicks from the 50's and 60's, and Camaros from the late 60's and early 70's and Volvos from the 80's (he's got very specific tastes).

Last weekend I had picked up the 58 Chevy sock as well, finished the cuff, and started working on the pattern. It was a turning into quite the sock blitz.

Until I noticed more splintering in my Chiaogoo patina bamboo needles. They are fantastic to knit with, and I totally would have labelled them my favourite needles for socks, but they keep splintering. It's super disappointing.  I've not even had them that long. The first, smallish splinter actually smoothed itself out on the yarn of the first sock but now there are two more splinters, one larger splinter in particular that is catching and pulling the yarn. Not cool. I can't return them to the store because mah knitta picked them up for me at a store that is totally not local to me, and besides that,  I've thrown away the receipt. Buying them "internationally" (aka not buying/living in United States) means I cannot contact the company for a replacement.

I'll see if I can smooth out the splinters with some sand paper, but it is very disappointing and as much as I loved my chiaogoos, I'll likely never buy the bamboo for socks again.
So I transferred the sock from the Chiaogoo to my HiyaHiya bamboo circs.  And all was going smoothly until my needle snapped *sigh* Blitz over...

I don't even know how I did it. One minute I was happily binge watching VH1's I Love the 80's and knitting away, then next? Crack! Dammit. The sock is now back on the splintery chiaogoos and not being knit on.
I ordered a Knitter's Pride Dreamz fixed circular and a Knitter's pride Karbonz fixed circular in 2.25 mm. I have a set of Karbonz DPN's and several sizes of Karbonz in interchangeables, and they are in my top favourite needles, so I'm hoping that the fixed circs will be awesome as well.
And until, the needles come in the mail, my 58 Chevy sock is hibernating again. 

So, I went back to knitting on Margot.

For a little bit.  I did some increases to accommodate my chest, but only decreased 4 stitches when I got to the under bust area. I like the basic shape of Margot and don't want a particularly fitted sweater, this time around.
I only have about 4 inches of body to knit before splitting the hem, but, time has been scarce + sock blitz + I decided to rip out the edging on the All Year Cardy because it's been bothering me that I only knit an inch of ribbing when the pattern called for 2 inches. Yeah, even though I finished the bloody thing almost 4 months ago, and have worn it a bunch, it's been bothering me. So yeah, I had a hard time undoing the bind off, all kinds of stupidness like what I thought was the end of the bind off was not actually the bind off, but just another weaved in end. Then when I finally found the correct bind off, I had weaved it in soooo well that I had to cut parts.  There was one part of the bind off where I actually had to cut a knot of my own damn hair out so I could pull out the stitches! It was super aggravating. I ripped out three rows, because in my vexed state, I just kept pulling stitches out willy nilly before I caught myself. I did  painstakingly*, manage to get all the stitches back on the needles with only minor issues (yay crochet hooks). But then I only re-knit one row before I got tired and tossed it in the basket with my other wips.
I brought the sweater to Sunday stitch&bitch and knit on the edging.

Last night, I started the bind off, which I then finished this morning. Then, using 3.75mm dpns, I picked up 3 stitches on either side, and knit a 7" long I-cord.
When I tried it on, I hated how the I-cord looked tied, so I frogged them. The 2 inches of garter edge make the cardy sit better, so I really didn't need the ties. It didn't take much time, but I still resent that I wasted valuable knitting time on the I-cords.


Still haven't bought any yarn! I'm  kind of having withdrawals though, hating all the yarn in my stash-which is bloody ridiculous. I have some really nice yarn, dammit! Haven't bought yarn, but did buy the coolest thing ever:

Seriously, how cool is that ^ It's a leather bracelet, that has inches (and cms) Beauty and function. It's already come in handy a number of times. I had mah knitter grab me one from one of the local yarn stores, but they also sell online!

*Funny isn't it? you read the word painstakingly and you know the definition, but until you actually do something taking care, and effort and going slowly (when haphazard is your usual modus operandi ) do you fully grasp what painstakingly actually means.