Snow day!

I'm writing this blog while wrapped up in my electric blanket, with a mug of tea and a box of kleenex beside me. It's a snow day today! All of the schools were closed,  and while I'm feeling miserable with a cold, I am still able to thoroughly enjoy being at home with my kids and not having to deal with the absolute chaos that is outside! Montreal (and surrounding areas of course) got hit by a helluva storm last night! I was so glad M left work before it got really bad, it took my daughter and her boyfriend 6hrs to get home (normally an hour drive), and they were lucky! Many people were stuck on highway 13 overnight. It's still snowing...though it's not coming down in blizzard fashion anymore.  I feel the same way as this cat, especially in March, especially today.

It's been almost two weeks since I last posted and I have some finished objects (FOs) I finished the Nereid Shawl by Ambah O'Brien. I also finished a sock that had been in hibernation for quite a while. I haven't gotten around to taking an action shot of Nereid, but I will! Eventually. Like, when I'm not sick, and it's not as cold as a witch's tit out.
So, Nereid; It's very long and more scarf-like than shawl. I love the colours (yay Noro), though it is a wee bit outside of my comfort zone with the reds and the fuchsias.I cut out huge chunks of pink, because while I can handle red, and small amounts of fuchsia, I draw the line at having all three in one shawl. The knitting itself was very addictive and fun.  I learned some new techniques, PFB and P2togTBL. They might not have been difficult or fancy, but they're still new! I'm really glad I weaved in the ends as I knit, that would have been a lot of finishing at the end...4 ends to weave for every section and 24 sections? Oof!
The finishing of the shawl/scarf called for stitches to be picked up along the edge, at a rate of 3 stitches for every 4 rows. I picked up 231 stitches. I don't know if that's too many, or not enough. I have no idea. I just picked up what I could and hoped for the best.
Blocking really improved the look of the shawl, and I can't wait to wear it, yunno, if spring ever arrives.  Unblocked:

 Blocked:

After finishing Nereid, I decided that instead of casting a new project on, that I should finish the 58 chevy socks. I had the heel flap to finish, turn the heel and work on the gusset. It was slow going because the pattern is 3 rows repeated; row 1 is lace, followed by two rows that are knit. Combined with the gusset decreases, I had to pay extra attention so as not to make a mistake or skip a decrease. But it all went smoothly and I finished the sock.  I really like the yarn I used for this pair; it's Mattawa Sock (80% Canadian BFL and 20% nylon) by Trailhead Yarns&Fibre that I picked up at Twist, two years ago. It's not as soft as a merino sock yarn, but it's quite warm and feels like it will wear really well. After knitting with merino sock yarn, you just don't want to knit with anything else, the merino is just so lovely and squishy, but I'm starting to think that non-merino sock yarns might be the way to go for a sturdier, long lasting sock (not that I have any actual proof of this, YET)

Looking at the Etsy page, it doesn't seem like they make the sock yarn any longer, which is too bad, as I would have liked to purchase another skein or two, but it looks as though the owner has developed an allergy to wool and now sells vegan yarn.

I was tidying up my project bags after finishing that last sock, and found a project bag with several more socks in varying stages of knittedness. One of them was barely half an inch of ribbing and I knew it was Knitpicks Felici sock yarn, but for the life of me I could not remember if I had already knit one sock, or was this the first one? I couldn't find the first sock (if it even existed) so I searched the blog, and sure enough this was the second sock.
I doubled my search efforts and did come up with one slightly dusty felici sock (in Fanciful-keeping a blog is helpful).
I decided to work on the felici sock, as my public transportation knitting, instead of casting on a new project, since I was on a roll with finishing '58 chevy. I added a project page for the sock (that's how old the sock is, it's before I started using Rav to keep tracks of my projects), and added the yarn to stash. It'll will be interesting to see how different my gauge is with this second sock, since it's been so long since I knit the first one.

I also pulled Zaria out of hibernation (finishing up those wips!), and got through the garter stitch. I  found it a real struggle to get through it, I just wasn't feeling it. Usually a huge swath of garter stitch would be great tv knitting, but it just wasn't working for me. Luckily I pushed through it and made it to the lace part. I'm enjoying the lace waaaaaay more than the garter stitch. It's fairly easy lace, a 6 stitch repeat that is very easy to memorize (per row) and very satisfying to knit. Even if it is really long at this point, I'd have to time myself but I think it's taking about 30 minutes per RS row, which is just going to taking longer as it has increases on every row. I'm really happy with the yarn I chose for the contrasting colour;  Quince&Co Chickadee in Malbec, it looks really good with the Candombe. I don't quite trust my colour instincts so this was a bit of a gamble that paid off.

Is it too much to hope that tomorrow is a snow day as well?

FO: Bat Shit Crazy! and a SOCK!

Bat shit crazy sweater is finished! It fits well, it's comfy, it's crazy! I love how the ribbing looks in this yarn, it's really spectacular. The drape makes it a good weight,  not too heavy but still quite warm. it's a great layering piece. I've already worn it a bunch (shhh, haven't washed it yet)
And yes, this is a really, really bad picture.

In my defense, I never seem to have time to take a picture, or the lighting is bad, or it's really bloody cold and I dont want to go outside,  and I just wanted to get a picture so I could finally post the blog.


I also have a finished sock...finally! The Fleece Artist socks in Tourmaline are done!

Yay! I love the colour so, so much. I would very much like that colour in a sweater quantity of a lovely worsted merino.


Instead of focusing on Zaria, like I planned, I cast on the Nereid Shawl by Ambah O'Brian. I'm using some leftover Artfil yarn in Slate for the contrast colour (the "spines") and the main colour is some Noro Silk Garden Sock in purples, greys and greens (I think?) It's really old stash. The pattern calls for fingering weight and size 3 needles, but as usual, I'm going up a size in yarn (Noro sgs is a thick and thin, mostly sport weight yarn) and using US 5 needles.
The pattern is really addicting, though slow going because I'm weaving in the ends as I go along. I was going to wait until the end, but as made it through the first 4 sections and the ends kept getting tangled up (and a few times I started knitting with the tails) I decided to just weave them as I go.
Now, I am a fan of Noro, I love how they do colours, and this colourway is no exception. The purples and light grey and dark teal are magnificent. I love the gold that pops up too. I'm not crazy about the pinks, so I did remove a whole section, but I left enough in to look transitional.
I've made it to the decrease section of the shawl and I'm having a hard time with the SSKs; I forgot how stiff NSGS is, how little it stretches. So, to compensate, I've trying to remember to knit the right side very loosely so that when it comes time to do the SSKs on the wrong side, there's more give to the yarn.

I finished the first ball of the Noro and it was a good one; only one knot, very little veg matter. The second ball? Oof. Two knots, one almost immediately after I started knitting with the new ball. Spit splicing took care of that one. The second knot was bad in that it went from a transitional colour (main colour with flecks of the next colour) to a completely different colour.
I'm not explaining it very well am I? The colour was rust, with flecks of gold, so it should be transitioning to the gold colour...instead, there was a knot and the next colour was purple with flecks of light grey. I ended up taking out a whole section of colours (purple, grey, blue) until I got to the next section of the rust colour.
This all in the first 1/3 of the ball!

Speaking of Noro, while knitting at our usual spot last Sunday, mah knitta and I were approached by a older woman who obviously is a knitter herself-evident by the way she stroked my yarn and asked what it was made of. When I answered "wool, mohair and silk" she kind of sighed and said "Noro?"
Indeed.
Anywhoo, back to Nereid; I'm really like the shape of this shawl, and the knitting is fun, so of course, I'm wondering about how it would look in a gradient set with a slow transition.  I'm also wondering how quickly it would knit up in a DK weight...I wonder if there are there any gradient sets in a DK weight??

I bought a couple of patterns using one of those pre-paid visa cards that I got for my birthday, and boy do I ever love those cards for online shopping. Anywhoo, I bought Ingot and Nimbus by Lisa Mutch (also known as NorthBoundKnitting) I have yarn in mind for Ingot, but no idea what to make Nimbus out of; though I know for sure that it isn't going to be sock/fingering weight. I'll likely go up to a sport weight or possibly even a DK weight.
I have a feeling I'll be buying more of her patterns, her shawls are utterly gorgeous. I've spent hours that I could have been knitting, just looking at her patterns. They are absolutely beautiful, and I don't know how I hadn't heard of her before.


Still enjoying Netflix!  I recently watched a sad/sweet indie drama called Short Stay 12, staring Brie Larson and Rami Malek. Good story, good acting. Really solid.
I've gotten totally sucked into Rectify. It's slower paced than what I'm used to, but the writing and acting are top notch. I'm almost finished the latest (and last) season. I'm going to be bummed when it's done. And I'll need to find a new show to watch...speaking of new shows; I tried an episode of Riverdale, I didn't finish it though. It was awful. Really, truly awful.

Not much reading has been happening; I finished The Blade Artist by Irvine Welsh. I enjoyed it. Begbie wasn't a favourite character, but I still enjoyed reading about him, and how he's changed (and how he's stayed the same).
Currently reading Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs. I've really liked this series of books, one of the better Urban Fantasy series in my opinion. I should be able to finish it this week, it's March Break! B and C are off (as am I, obviously) but M has to work, and A only gets March break the following week, so we will be hanging around town.  Not sure we will do anything too exciting, B doesn't do well in crowds and with all the elementary schools and high schools off, all the fun stuff will be absolutely packed full of people, but I know B would like to go swimming a couple of times, and take a trip to the Science Center. I'd love to go to the Biodome/Botanical Gardens as well, but B doesn't particularly enjoy either of those places.  Whatever we end up doing, I'm sure it will be fun! But mostly, I'm looking forward to turning off the alarms on my phone! The alarm to get up, the second alarm to get up, the alarm to go to work, the alarm to pick up B after school-all of them off!  It's going to be great getting up at whatever time my body wakes me (or more likely, whatever time the cats wake me) for one whole week!
Also nice; no swimming lesson the next two weeks, and no class this coming Tuesday!
Yay March Break!