number 46

I'm on a roll. Got another pair of socks done for meeeeeeeee.


Pattern: top down; short row heel
Yarn: ONline Supersocke 6-ply; colour Cottage 1082 (150g; 410yds)
Needles: 2.75mm dpns
Notes: Hands down my favourite 6 ply sock yarn. Great yardage and wonderful colours. I have approx. 62g left which should be enough for a pair of mittens. My 46th pair of hand knit socks. A better representation of the colour:


I updated Ravelry and realized that out of the 46 pairs, only 20 of them were for myself. Last year, I knit 7 pairs and I only got to keep 2 plus 3 pairs wore out - for a net loss of 1 pair. Clearly, I need to knit myself more socks.

I couldn't sleep yesterday night. Woke up at 3:15am and tossed and turned for a bit before heading downstairs to look for something to knit. I didn't want to cast on a new project (cuz that's just asking for trouble) so I picked up Nancy's sweater (that I've had in my possession for almost 2 years) and finished knitting the collar.


This is a 20+ yo UFO. Nancy is no longer able to knit so she asked me to finish it for her. When she gave it to me, she'd already knit the front, back, and one sleeve. To update it, I ripped out the first sleeve and re-knit it and the second sleeve in a more modern style than the original pattern. I used one of Nancy's sweatshirts as a template. In order to knit the collar, I picked out the shoulder bind offs and did a 3 needle bind off.

So her sweater is all done except for seaming and weaving in the ends. I'm giving it back to her so that she can figure out what to seam it with. The yarn is too thick so she's going to look for something else that will work.

See what happens when I leave clothes on the bed?


Ricky sez, "Thank you for the blankie!"

Off to toss the stash for some sock yarn and look through my Ravelry favourites for a pattern...

sleeve island

That's where I'm at. Sleeve, sleeve, sleeve. At least, the first one's almost done.


I've also seamed up the shoulders (using the new technique that I learned from Jean Wong which is awesome for reducing bulk). I'll see Nancy tomorrow so she can try on the garment and I can decide if the sleeves need to be longer/shorter.

While I was working on the sweater yesterday night, the ball of yarn rolled away from me and Phoebe "caught" it.


She is such a helpful cat.

Happy Mother's Day

... to all the Moms out there. I spent yesterday with my Mom. We went to the Langley Quilters' guild show - Quilts in Bloom. I took a lot of pictures. Mom saw an apron in the boutique that she liked so I bought it for her. I also bought myself 2 FQs and that's it. Nothing else caught my eye in the vendor area.

Afterwards, we drove up to Fort Langley and had lunch at the Lampliter Cafe followed by a little shopping on the main drag. We stopped at 88 Stitches and I picked up a skein of Fleece Artist Suri Blue in a purple-y burgundy colour. I think I have enough to make myself a Lace Ribbon scarf. It was a nice day and it didn't start raining until we got back to my parents' house.

This morning, my hubby spooked me. He came out of the shower and told me that Phoebe had left a present for me on my pillow. If you're a pet owner, the words "left a present" isn't necessarily a good thing. I was prepared for the worst. But it was a lovely Mother's Day card from the cats and some of my favourite blueberry/almond chocolate bars. Thank you, kitties.

Today, we went to a local farmer's market and bought some yummy bread and apple strudel. We bumped into some friends at the market so that was a nice surprise. I also bought a lovely purple columbine. It's very unusual - similar to the Barlow but it's bright purple with white specks.

I've made good progress on Nancy's sleeve.


This is 8" of bulky cotton knit on US10/6mm needles. Ugh! I tried really hard to replicate her sts but I couldn't figure out how to twist them to make them look the same. So the sleeves won't completely match the front/back. I don't think it's that noticeable.

So my sister called me this afternoon. I thought she wanted to chat but she wanted to blame me for jinxing her washing machine. Her front loading washer is almost 6 years old and it started making noises and now, it's leaking. Awwww, poor baby. She makes good money so she can afford a new one. Her new washer is a Miele - guaranteed to wash 10,000 loads of laundry. She's going to keep track. LOL!

random knitting

I've been doing a fair bit of scattered knitting this week. A little here, a little there...

I decided yesterday night that I wanted to knit Oblique. I bought the yarn (Lion Brand Cotton Ease in violet) last year so I cast on after supper.


This little bit of sleeve is no more. It seemed big so I looked on Ravelry. After reading all the comments, I need to knit the next size down and I will probably run out of yarn. So I don't know if I'll knit Oblique with this yarn or use something else.

My "linen" from Colourmart arrived. But it's not linen, it's wool/silk. There was a mix up at the mill where the singles were being plied/twisted and some of us ended up with the wrong yarn. My linen will be sent out as soon as it's ready.


As you can tell, my swatch biased. I've had this happen before so I have to remember to knit from the other end of the cone. The swatch is very nice and softened up after a good steam. So what should I do with 5 cones of ecru DK wool/silk?

I bought some yarn from Deborah on Ravelry awhile ago and when I spotted this new yarn in her stash, I asked her about it and she graciously sent me a small hank. This stuff is a luscious blend of bamboo and silk.


I knit 2 more cloths for the quilt show boutique - a dragonfly and an oak leaf.


Five down and only 25 to go.

I finished the first fingerless mitt for Iris. The thumb took me two tries. The first time, it was too narrow but the second attempt is much better.


And here's another commission that I've picked up. A quilting friend of mine started this sweater about 20 years ago. She has arthritis in her hands which prevents her from knitting.


She still likes the sweater so I offered to finish it for her. The front, back, and one sleeve are completed but I frog'd the sleeve. It's in the dolman style and I thought it would look more updated if I reknit it narrower. There's a few things I have to figure out. Her sts are twisted but when I compare it to my ktbl or ptbl, her sts are looped the other way as if her sts were mounted on the needle differently. Maybe she wrapped the yarn around the needle the other way? Or??? I've got some figuring out to do. This will be a challenge.