FO: Black Death 2.0

My first shawl knit in 2017! Yay! Knit in the lovely Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend in Black. Have I mentioned that I love this shawl? So simple, so beautiful. I'm so glad I made another one, even though I almost feel bad for the other shawls that are going to get less wear now because this is my vry favourite and is going to be worn allllll the time.

Speaking of shawls, I cast on Zaria, using leftover Malabrigo Arroyo in Candombe.

 It's a garter stitch shawl and I've been obsessing about it a bit, since the last post. As you may or may not recall, I was freaking out over needing a sport weight yarn in a solid colour to knit this shawl. Well, I broke down and went to Espace Tricot (who had just got a shipment of Brooklyn Tweed Targhee yarn in this gorgeous teal colour, vry yummy, I would like to get my hands on some o' that) and bought two skeins of Quince&Co Chickadee yarn in Malbec, which is a dark purply-red that I think will go amazing with the Candombe.

 I need more red in my knits, and this is a good, not overwhelming, way of doing it. Anywhoo, it's a pretty basic looking shawl/scarf that calls for increasing every row until there are almost 200 stitches on the needles, at which point you change colours and knit the lace. I may turn it into my travel knitting because socks, ugh...so boring. so much knitting. such tiny needles. I just have no desire to knit on the second tourmaline sock at the moment...which is a shame, because the colour is gorgeous, and one always needs new socks.

Oh. I also bought a small project bag at Espace Tricot. Because it was just so irresistible. I mean look:

It's a Zig Zag Stitches small boxy bag. Perfect for small projects, socks,  mittens or a hat. Possibly even the beginning of a shawl.

I'm still working on Flax! I'm finished the body and one of the sleeves, and have just started the second sleeve.  I want to wear the sweater, like right now, it's so pretty!

I was kind of hoping I'd be finished it by the end of January, but there's no way I'm pulling that off. There's been too much going on, B's swimming lessons started up again, he had his music therapy last week, we celebrated M's birthday, we had a visit from the Developmental Behavioral Specialist, plus ongoing plumbing issues...I should have the sweater finished by the end of the first week of February though...just in time for the horrid cold that is the shortest month of the year.

It's not just that I want to wear my flax, I want it finished so I can start knitting my Bat Shit Crazy sweater! I have a feeling that I'll be seriously craving solid coloured yarns after knitting with those skeins of Yowza.  My plan is to make another Stephanie Japel easy V-neck sweater with the yowza. I'm hoping that 2 skeins is enough. There might be some serious yarn chicken involved. I have 1120 yards of Bat Shit Crazy, the total yardage for the sweater is 1080 yards. That's cutting it pretty close. Plus, my ball winder can't handle all that yarn, so I'll have to wind the yarn into smaller cakes, and russian join them, which will eat up some yardage.  I'll likely do a longer ribbing, and in a contrasting colour, probably using the SweetGeorgia DK yarn in Charcoal that I recently ordered online (along with some extra cables for my Addis, because only having three does not work for me or my knitting).


We still have B's old IKEA Leksvik changing table, we keep it in the den and I use it to store my hand knits. The cubbies are filled with bags and notions. I keep my swift and ball winder, as well as my yarn bowls and needles on the top. Anyway, there's only two drawers, my sweaters go in the bottom drawer, the top drawer holds all my shawls. My collection of sweaters is growing though, and I've had to start putting sweaters in the shawl drawer. I decided to hang up my shawls in the den. They're beautiful! they're art and I love having them there. Above my shawls are the taxidermy items that my daughter P worked on (except for the bat, that one she bought for me). She's really talented, and the knits and fur really complement each other.
The den is so cozy and warm, and it's my favourite room of the house.
I didn't hang up all of my shawls though, I mailed off a couple. Random acts of knitting! I sent the Milkweed Shawl to my cousin T, and I mailed the first Hitch Hiker shawlette to my friend D who lives in the U.S. They are both knitworthy people, and I didn't tell them that I was mailing them anything, so, surprise!

Browsing through Netflix, I found this program called Slowtv, and it's this 6 hour show of people knitting! Crazy! (still gonna watch it)
Finally finished watching Hannibal. Loved the first two seasons, the third was full of filler, though still enjoyable and the ending was perfect (I also spent way too much time reading Hannibal&Will Graham fanfic. #notevensorry). Still watching Gilmore Girls. Ugh. What's wrong with me?? I haven't even really been watching anything else. It's like I need to finish the hot mess that is GG so I can appreciate great shows like CrazyHead and Call the Midwife. I'm halfway through season 6, but M just started watching the Leah Remini series on Scientology and I found myself sucked into it...maybe I need a crazy cult to break my addiction to GG?

I finished my books and had nothing else to read, so I took out some books from B's school (one of the benefits of being a volunteer librarian heehee), one is a Neil Gaiman book that I took out just for me; M is for Magic, and the other is Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, that I was reading to B. We both adore the movie (well, I adore the movie, he likes when Bean flips out). Anywhoo, we finished it tonight. It was as good as I was expecting, I was a pretty big fan of Roald Dahl's books when I was a kid, and it's been fun reading them again. I'm not sure what to read to B next, hopefully I'll have some free time in the library tomorrow to find something that we will both enjoy...

Flax 2.0 (and no FOs)

I've been knitting on Flax pretty regularly, basically since I finished the bulky weight socks.  It's coming along. It really is an easy, satisfying pattern. I finished the yoke, and put the sleeves on waste yarn. Now it's miles and miles of straight up knitting, and I think I'm going to add a couple of sets of increases at the bust (only at the front of the sweater) plus some minimal waist shaping further down.
Pocion is beautiful. It's so earthy, and soothing, with navy blues and dark reds, some greens, browns and even splashes of gold. It is crazy to me how different the colours look in every picture.

I should have a ball or two of the Pocion left over (fingers crossed), and I've already got plans for it; I'm going to make a Wooly Wormhead hat called Karenin.  I've never made a Wooly Wormhead hat before,  but I'm looking forward to trying it out, and if I need help, there's a ravelry board dedicated to Wooly Wormhead patterns.

I'm having trouble staying monogamous.

I've been craving shawl knitting. I wanted to cast on the Nereid Shawl by Ambah O'Brien but I had so much trouble deciding on what yarn to use that I never cast it on.  I wanted to go up to sport weight (and needles as well) instead of fingering.  I wanted to use stashed yarn, and not have to buy more yarn ('cause i'm back on my yarn diet). I have enough yardage of several different colourways, but I just don't know what to use. Most of the colours I have in the right yardage, are variegated. I'm not sure how I feel about using a variegated yarn in the pattern, and I think a subtle tonal would be fine, but I would really prefer a solid or semi-solid.
    I was so frustrated with not having the "right" yarns for Nereid, I started looking through other patterns on Ravely.  I fell in luuuurve with a shawl called Zaria, which would be a great stash buster for some of my sport weight variegated yarns-except that it also calls for  solid colour yarn in the lace section. Argh. I have no solid (or semi-solid) colour yarn that goes well with any of my variegated yarns *sad face* Maybe going up to DK weight might work in terms of solid yarn, but then I don't have any variegated DK weight.
I finally ended up casting on a second Black Death Shawl. The desperation of needing to cast something on and being able to, thanks to having the perfect yarn in stash! I'm using Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend (70% Merino, 30% silk) in Black. It's a DK weight yarn instead of the Aran weight the pattern calls for, so I'm going down a needle size; 4.5mm (US 7) instead of 5mm (US 8).  I'll be making the larger version of the shawl this time around. It's not a difficult knit at all, but I do need to pay some attention, keeping track of how many knit stitches in between YOs and K2TOGS. Still, it's a good knit for watching a show.

I'm alternating between knitting the shawl and the sweater. I knit on Flax at night, and if I have any time to knit during the day, I'll knit on the shawl. So far it's working out pretty well. Usually, I'll cast on something new, and the older project gets thrown into a project bag and forgotten while I focus on the new project. Then, once the new project is done I immediately start thinking about what else to cast on instead of going back right away to the old WIP. If I switch back and forth, maybe I won't get so overwhelmed by WIPS, but also, I'll always have something on the needles. Plus my bag socks.

Yeah, I still have those tourmaline socks on the needles. I've just started the gusset decreases.

I've been working my way through Gilmore Girls. I didn't ever watch when the show originally played (except for the episodes with Sebastian Bach), and when the 4 new episodes came out on Netflix I watched, and I was kind of...well, not impressed. I didn't much like Rory or Lorelai. So, logically, it made complete sense to start from the 1st episode. I'm now at the beginning of season 4, and I don't know if I'll be able to make it through many more episodes of this season. I still don't really like the Rory character.
In better tv watching (well, netflix watching) I started a new show called Crazyhead, which I'm really enjoying, it's a horror comedy (demons) and it's really well done. A little gruesome at times, but not overly so.

I finished that book about the Pickton murders. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I figured the first half of the book would set the stage, and it did, but the second half of the book was disappointing.  I think I was anticipating more of a True Crime style book...and less about the author's frustrations and PTSD.
So now I'm back on an Ilona Andrews kick. I've read most of the Kate Daniels' series of books and really enjoyed them; fun, light reads with enjoyable characters. I started off with two novellas, Alpha: Origins, and Magic Stars, before going into Magic Binds.  I didn't much care for Alpha: Origins. It started off okay, and then it got clunky. Weird story, and the two main characters falling for each other so fast, given that one of them is meant to be food for the other? Yeeeeah, not buying it.
Magic Stars is wayyyyy better, and also the beginning of a new series, and I think it's going to be a good one. This means, I'll have to avoid the new series until at least 4 books in the series are out. I'll want to devour them, and having to wait for the next book in a series is so hard.

And now I'm off to drink some tea, and do some knitting!

First Finished Object of the year: Escarpment Cowl 2.0

So as the title says; first FO of 2017 is the Escarpment Cowl, made with MalMecha in Arco Iris and it is a beauty! A riot of colours!

Knitting it was long, and I don't know if I'll knit another one ever again, but I really do love the end result. I had some difficulty tinking back when I made a mistake, the Mecha was easier to deal with than the Biggo yarn, but tinking the K1 below was a pain in the ass with both of them.
The provisional cast on was very easy to undo, though I did end up with one extra stitch on the needles, which was so not a big deal. This provisional cast on will be my "go to" provisional cast on from now on.
I thought the yarn would fluff up and fill in a bit more with soaking, but it hasn't. It did grow in length though, making it long enough to wrap around my neck 3 times.

Second FO of the year was the super bulky socks I made using Liat Gat's Super Bulky Socks pattern. Using 9mm needles and 2 strands of (very old) stashed Cascade 220 in teal, and 1 strand of the Knitpicks Biggo in Duchess Heather. I knit the cuff for 4 inches, because even knitting only 20 stitches, it was incredibly boring knitting. The only reason the first sock got finished so fast? We had a power outage one night (lightning hit a power line apparently) and there was nothing else to do.

The second sock was finished while I was at Cafe des Chats* I've been wearing them constantly, so they haven't been washed yet. Oh well.

I cast on a Flax sweater, for myself this time! First sweater of 2017!

 I'm using MalRios in Pocion. Gorgeous, gorgeous pocion. It's a pretty straightforward knit, so there shouldn't be any problems, and I know I'll be happy with the result. I'll be knitting them with mah snazzy new clicks...say what? Guess what came in the mail?!?! My Addi Olivewood Interchangeables! They are lovely, and not at all counterfeit and came way faster than I expected (ETA was Jan11th-Feb22nd, actually came in on the 6th of January)  Also, didn't get nailed for duty/customs fees, since the needles were valued at 5$. Umm. Okay.
The needle tips are lightweight, warm up fast and not at all grippy. The joins are very smooth, and the locking mechanism (the "click") is very clever. The cords are great, very pliable.

I'm vry happy with the set, but I don't think I'll be rushing to add other sizes of tips and cords. For one, they are pricey-I would not have even bothered buying the set in the first place if I hadn't seen it for such a reasonable price on Ebay. Secondly, there's no room for more tips in the case.  Thirdly, I still love my other interchangeables, especially my Karbonz...and really, how many needles does one person need? (that is a rhetorical question)


Going over the projects I made in 2016,  I think it's safe to declare that year as the year I decided to embrace variegated yarns. I don't know how it happened, but I suspect Malabrigo was the gateway drug...all the way back to my early days of blogging when I was all "SOLID COLOURS ONLY" "MAYBE TONALS" and "VARIEGATED IS SO UGLEEEEH" while quietly buying yarns by Manos Del Uruguay and Malabrigo (I think the first Mal yarn I bought was MalWorsted in either Whale's Road or Paris Night?)  Now I'm all about the crazy colours. I can't wait to use that Bat Shit Crazy from Miss Babs, it's going to make an amazing sweater. It's the perfect yarn for a simple pullover, but will look awesome with jeans.


I read the Sebastian Bach book. I enjoyed it, because Sebastian fuckin' Bach! I'm currently reading That Lonely Section of Hell by Lori(mer) Shenher and The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher. The Princess Diarist is entertaining-light and fluffy reading in that rambly Carrie Fisher style. Lori Shenher's book is a harder book to get through, it's about the Pickton case, and what a clusterfuck the whole thing was from the very beginning. It does offer some really interesting insight into what goes into an investigation. It was frustrating in a lot of ways, how little people gave a shit about these women who went missing. How little money was put into the investigation. How much this monster Pickton got away with.  So, a compelling read, but not one that makes you feel good. Princess Diarist has been a good palate cleanser.




*Montreal has 3 cat cafes, I've been meaning to go to them for a long time, but never got around to it. So, while everyone was still off of school and (mostly) feeling healthy; I decided it was time. I grabbed A, and off we went. She had already been to one of the cat cafes, but she had found the cats there skittish. We opted to try out Cafe des Chats, and I think we made the right choice. It was definitely made with cats in mind, lots of high up perches for them and comfy pillows and even a  private area for litter boxes and these adorable wee beds.
There was a super chill vibe, and I could totally see myself hanging out for long stretches of time with some knitting or a good book. If it wasn't sooooo far.
I will end this post with some cat pictures, Enjoy!

Name change!

Hey hey, I have re-named my blog, having grown out of purl purl knit (which does not roll off the tongue easily and I ended up with in desperation of knit-related name); so now I'm SaucyKnitter. I really wanted SassyKnitter, but it was taken, and saucy is close enough :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I'm not a New Year celebration kind of person. Never have been one to go out and get loaded and party and worry about who I was kissing. I don't make resolutions or pretend like the coming year will be THE YEAR!!! I have my family, I have a warm home, I have food and lots of books to read, and lots of yarn to knit, and while I have another effing cold, I have my health. I am content.
My grandmother died this past year, and it was sad, but also not completely unexpected, she was 88 years old. She lived a long life. She had more years than many people get to have.
I'm not generally affected by celebrities dying (beyond feeling sympathy and sadness for their family, like I feel when I hear about anyone's death) but Carrie Fisher dying was a huge shock. I just finished reading Wishful Drinking, and watching her in The Force Awakens. She was a bad ass lady, smart and talented. When I was a kid I wanted to be Princess Leia, riding a speeder bike and hanging out with Ewoks. As far as I'm concerned, she drowned in moonlight, strangled by her bra ;)



So here is the 2nd annual rundown of things I knit in 2016:
Foot Ovens (4x, my interpretation)
Cropped Sweater for Winter (x2, my version, uncropped)
Black Death shawl
Dragonfly wings shawl
Coldest Summer Shawl
Plum Tree Slouch hat
Foliage hat
Optimistic mitts
Greenfield Cardigan
Maize fingerless gloves
Seaforth hat
Meret Mitts
Scowl scarf/cowl
Age of Brass and Steam kerchief(gifted)
Reyna (2 times, one was a gift)
Harvest cardigan
Milkweed Shawl
Jackie O
All year Cardigan
Villenueve tank top
Key Cozies (x4)
Fractured Light hat
Zuzu's Petals shawl/cowl
Bosc Pear shawl
Bitchin Rainbow Legs legwarmers
Aeris shawl
Margot pullover
Windschief hat
plain mitts
Le Biscornu shawl
Not your Boyfriend's Sweater
Escarpment Cowl
Pescovegetarian Mittens
My Head is Swirling hat
Spiralini hat

Socks-if the sock pattern has an actual name, that is how I refer to it. If the sock is a plain sock, I refer to it by the colourway. (I cannot remember the name of the clourway of the felici so it will just be known as felici)

Single socks: felici, biltmore, 58 Chevy, tourmaline
Pairs: cabarat, blood orange, baby beluga, sparkly plum, Blue Pansy, Shining Rainbow


Things I cast on that are still wips; 2nd tourmaline sock, 2nd 58 Chevy sock, 2nd Escarpment Cowl.

Things I frogged;  Be Simple, Reverb, Smash, infinity scarf of own design

Things I will knit in 2017; A Flax sweater (for me). Thrummed mitts.

Things I will possibly attempt in 2017: Cables!