happy new year

Well, the new year snuck up on me. I can't believe it's already 2010. Christmas was a tad crazy what with the in-laws staying with us and the whole thing about the roof rat. The in-laws have returned to their water-less home and we are certified rat-free and our roof has been rat-proofed.


I was spoiled rotten at Christmas. I got all my favourite things - a Christmas red Haws watering can, lots of books, Body Shop soap, some alpaca/bamboo yarn (from an alpaca farm near my in-laws), a skein of Wollmeise from Gladys, a set of Addi Clicks, chocolate/candy/cookies, Christmas music (a full recording of Handel's Messiah!), and a ton of Pooh stuff (4 t-shirts, 2 lunch bags, and a mug).

I did a pretty good job of staying away from Boxing Day yarn sales. But I couldn't resist a trip to Dressew and came home with a little yarn and some books:


I spent most of the week between Christmas and New Year's working on my Mondo Cable Cardi. I cast off at Gladys' New Year's Eve party and wove in the ends which was a tricky thing to do because Gladys was doing this:


She's playing something called Dance Dance Revolution and I was laughing so hard that it was difficult to see my stitches.

The cardi was blocked the following day and I was hoping to have hubby take photographs today but the darn thing is still very wet. I'll whip out the tripod and take some self-portraits when it's finally dry.

My next bit of knitting will be socks for me. My sock drawer is down by 3 pairs so I need to fill it up again. I have 5 pairs otn so this is a chance to finish them up and get them on my feet.


Ricky sez, "Mmmmm, I love hot air"

out with the old and in with the older

A fellow quilter is moving to a smaller house and she has to sell all of her big antique furniture. We bought her weighs-a-ton oak table and chairs. A before and after shot:



The table comes with a crank and 2 leaves and it can comfortably seat 10 people (which is great because hubby's family totals 11). We are going rug shopping tomorrow to see if we can find something nice to go under it. Or do you think it looks fine the way it is? I think there's too much of a contrast between it and the floor (the table and chairs are darker in real life). I'll also be shopping around for a 6th chair.

We offered to give her our table and chairs (solid oak as well and you can take the leaf out and turn it into a small round table) because that's what she needs for her smaller place and she accepted. A win-win situation for everyone.

I do miss having a pedestal table. I'm short and I like to prop my feet on the base. And I'm not used to having table legs. Getting out of my chair, I whacked my knee on the table leg yesterday night.

So Ricky being the cat that he is, had to check out the new furniture. I've seen him visit 4 out of the 5 chairs and he decided that the one armchair was his favourite. He had his post supper snooze on it.



I love the first picture of his big belly hanging down while he squeezes under the table skirt.

Lest you think that this knitting blog has gone downhill, here is a progress picture of my Juno Regina stole:


I have finished the first skein of yarn and I've joined the second skein. The scarf measures approx. 36" long in its crumpled state.

I went a leetle overboard in the yarn buying department. I ordered 5 cones of linen from Colourmart this week (there's still some left). I have a hemp pattern that's been kicking around for awhile and 4 cones would've been enough but I ordered an extra just in case.

I am contemplating buying a loom for knitting socks. I found this mentioned on a blog last week. It's not too expensive (each one is custom made) but you must order one for each sock diameter and knitting gauge. I am tempted to order one in hubby's size so that he can knit his own Noro socks. Wouldn't that be hilarious?

casting on

It's been a few days since I've posted so sit back and relax with a cuppa something hot while I update you on the goings on.

Knit nite at Three Bags Full was packed! Poor Francesca gave up the cash register chair and there still wasn't enough seats. Elise had to perch on a wooden trunk. I think Francesca might be buying some folding chairs for next Wed.

I bought some yarn. They're for knitting Christmas gifts so I can't really show them to you. Maybe after Christmas...

I worked on Pauline's socks and they're almost finished.


I only have a few inches left to go but I'm not feeling the love so they're not getting much attention. And they match eventhough, I didn't bother trying.

On Thurs, I was handed the 3 (very late) signature quilt blocks. I was finally able to piece the back. The quilt gave me a slight heart attack. I had bought extra red fabric for the binding but it wasn't the same red as the fabric we'd originally purchased. Ack! I rushed over to my lqs and the red fabric on the bolt wasn't the same red as the one we'd originally purchased 2 weeks ago. It was the right colour number but a different dye lot! So we're going to use a black for the binding instead. I also found out that another lqs - Thread Bear in North Van. is closing next March. My closest lqs (where I work part-time and stitch'n bitch every Thurs) is closing in Nov. and Thread Bear would've been the next closest quilt store. Wah! Where am I going to buy fabric?

On Fri, I headed over to my parents' house - to take Mom out shopping, mooch a little supper, and use their floor to baste the signature quilt. Mom and I went out to Wineberry Fabrics so that I could pick up some YLI hand quilting thread but they don't carry it anymore so I had to buy something else. Mom bought some yarn. She's very intrigued with my not-a-cable cable scarf and I showed her how to knit it. So she's going to use the yarn to knit some scarves for the granddaughters for Christmas.

I hit the supper jackpot - Dad made wontons. These are really good wontons with really good soup. As we were sitting down to eat, Mom asked me what I wanted to drink. She started rummaging around to show me the options. Mom said I should drink the Red Bull since she wanted to get rid of it. What? My parents drink Red Bull? I had to ask where they got it because it's not something they'd ever buy. Dad goes for walks around the nearby golf course on a daily basis. There was some sort of corporate event and one of the golf course workers (Dad's friendly with all of them) gave him a 4 pack of Red Bull to take home. My Mother was trying to get rid of the Red Bull because she'd drunk one the other day (obviously, without reading the label) and couldn't get to sleep! Doh! My Mom constantly worries about what I eat and drink and here she is slinging back a Red Bull without knowing/understanding what it is. Sigh... I didn't drink the Red Bull because I have a mild caffeine allergy.

Yesterday was errand day. I went over to Burnaby Knitworks for a little shopping after I found out that they'd increased the discounts on their closing out sale. I didn't buy anything. There aren't many yarns in sweater amounts left. I found 2 bags of Debbie Bliss Silk Road for 50% off but the colour was black. There was one bag in purple but I didn't think there was enough yardage for anything more than a tank top. It was probably just as well since I bought a lot of yarn in the evening.

Gladys (my alleged co-blogger; hint hint) called in the afternoon and invited us over to their place for supper. After supper, we might have done a little online buying. Yarn By The Bag is having a buck a ball sale. They're a Canadian site so we like buying from there - plus they have some really great deals. Some Idena Cotton Sport flew into our shopping cart... Gladys bought an assortment of blues and I purchased some of the deep burgundy.

This morning, I cast on my Mom's cardigan. I'm using the Cropped Raglan Sweater pattern and making it long sleeved and less cropped.


Mom's sensitive to animal fibre so I'm using Bernat's Denimstyle which is a soft acrylic/cotton blend. I cast on the medium size and knit about 12 rows before I realized my gauge was off so I frogged it and cast on the smaller size. I've knit this before so I should have it finished in no time.

I haven't made any progress on Anna's mumble mumble mumble. I am meeting with her tomorrow to get the ok on the yarn choice & colour. Plus I'm waiting for some Addi's. I bought 3 circs from a Ravelry user who is destashing. Hopefully, one of them will give me the right gauge.

And keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow's blog entry. I will be announcing the winner in my first Sockiversary contest. If you haven't entered yet, it's not too late. You have until midnight (PDT) tonite. Go to this post to enter. Good luck to everyone!

super Sunday

We got up early today and headed out to the Ladner Quilt Walk and Classic Car Show. The weather was pretty drizzly but the forecast predicted that it would stop around noon. So we stomped around Ladner with our umbrellas. I looked at quilts and hubby drooled over the cars. It was pretty quiet on the streets because of the rain so I was able to take my time and have a good look at everything.


On the way home, we stopped in Steveston so that I could visit a tea shop. I was at the used bookstore on Thurs and I saw a Poirot tea package on the cash desk. I asked about it and the clerk said he bought it at Nikaido in Steveston. Normally, I don't buy tea because of the name but this tea is rooibos based and I love rooibos. My favourite rooibos is a Belgian chocolate blend that I buy from the Thread Bear tea shop. Nikaido had several teas that were tempting - rooibos chocolate mint and a rooibos tiramisu (with real chocolate chips!). I only bought the Poirot and I will be drinking it during the Poirow Mystery Quilt next Saturday. That reminds me that I still need to cut out all the fabric for it. Yikes!

On the drive to Ladner, I knit a little swatch using the cotton/acrylic Daiso yarn that I bought on Friday.


It knits up very nicely. It stretches and keeps it shape even after pulling on it. The fabric is dense enough for socks and is actually quite thick. It feels almost as thick as my sportweight socks. I got 8 sts/inch on 2.5mm (US1) dpns.

So after stopping in Steveston, I convinced hubby that I needed to go to Daiso to buy more yarn. Mental note to self: never go to Daiso on a Sunday afternoon. There's no parking (if you make it into the parking building) and it's a zoo inside the store.


There wasn't enough beige or white to make a complete pair of socks so I got 8 skeins of pale yellow (Gladys - 4 are for you if you want to give the yarn a try). I also bought another chopstick case for my dpns.

I got some knitting done yesterday evening. I did a few repeats on my second River Rapids sock while watching "Open Season". We started with "Tristan & Isolde" but after the mass butchering and the chopping off of someone's hand (all within the first 5 minutes or so), I demanded something less gory and violent. Hubby is upstairs watching the rest of the movie without me. He'll have to tell me how it ends.

wow

What a vacation. We had the best time. I don't have much time to blog this morning so I'll post more pictures and stories over the next few days. For now, here are a few stats for you.

41 - degrees Celsius (or 106F); the hottest it got and it felt hotter
53+ - number of mosquito bites on my poor body. Next time, I shouldn't wear my low cut bathing suit because mosquitoes will bite any exposed skin.
3 - quilt stores visited
1 - yarn store visited. I had hoped to visit one other but apparently it's only open during the winter months.
2 - days of Sea Doo'ing. Yahooooooo!
20 - inches knit on my hand towel
1 - inch knit on my sock
50 - percent off at a craft store. I bought lots of 6/0 seed beads. I might use them for a shawl or socks.
5 - quilts made by myself were at the campsite. That's the largest gathering of quilts outside my home. I'm impressed.

TDF KAL update
We did stop at Lac le Jeune for lunch on the drive out.



The little dock is used for fishing. One little boy ran back towards shore dragging his fishing net behind him and yelling, "Mom! Mom! I caught a fish!" When he turned the corner, the fish slipped through one of the net holes because it was so small. It was funny.

My sock yarn has arrived and I will be winding it all up this morning. I hope to make a good start on the socks this weekend.

PS. For those of you who live in the Lower Mainland, Woolaroo yarns (Abbotsford) and Aunt Debbie's Knit'n Stitch (Chilliwack) are having their summer 40% off sale (all reg. priced yarns) starting next Tues and running til Aug 4th.
PPS. Countryfolk quilt store (a few doors down from Woolaroo) is having a 50% off sale on lots of quilt fabrics.

cashmere jackpot

I've been email chatting with my Wee Tiny Sock swap recipient, Ronnie. She was blogging about her newly finished Hidcote shawl. It's gorgeous and made out of cashmere yarn which is something that costs and arm and a leg over here. But she says it's similar in price to merino in the UK. So I checked out her source - Colourmart in the UK. And I may need to order something from there. Currently on my list is some dk cashmerino in the ocean moon colour. Only $25USD for 150g/570yds and that includes international shipping. Be still my heart...

randomness

Flash Your Stash is tomorrow. I'll be busy working on a charity quilt so I've been taking pictures all week (eep!) so that I'll be ready to post tomorrow morning. I have a reasonable yarn stash. It might scare my hubby but he knows that the big stash is quilting fabric. After this weekend, I will go through my yarn and work on getting rid of some of it. Keep your eyes peeled for it on Good Yarn Karma. I'll only post whole usable skeins. Any leftovers will be donated to charity.

I finally got the Bonita shirt started sans moebius. Phew! That was trickier than it should've been. But now I'm cruising. No pic since there's only 1 inch of boring hem facing knitted.

And I started another project. In my previous post, I was lusting after that hemp yarn. I found the perfect project for the yarn - the Indigo Ripples skirt from the current IK. I ran out to the yarn store to buy the hemp this morning and I've spent the rest of the day in mathland working out the details. The hemp is fingering (yes, it has occurred to me that I'm nuts for knitting a skirt with sock-sized 2.75mm needles) and the project yarn is dk/sport so I need to make a lot of changes. I also swatched and I need to wash the swatch before I start the real thing.

And here's a little temptation... Discontinued Brand Name Yarn - I think I hear my credit card sobbing. They've got superwash sock yarn ($11.99), bamboo ($42.50 for bag of 10 - 100g/250yds), etc. I must knit fasterso that I can buy more yarn!

formerly known as 'tank top'

This pile of yarn (Scheepjeswol Linnen 60% cotton 40% linen) was a tank top this morning. Now it's just a pile of yarn. When I started knitting again 2 years ago, my first project was this tank top. I'd picked up the yarn and pattern from a garage sale (I think). There were some severe gauge issues and being in denial, I chose to finish it rather than rip back. The armholes reached down to my waist. The chest was unmeasurable (I kid you not). It was so bad that I don't even have a picture of it. I washed and dried it hoping that it would shrink to a wearable size. Ha!

Today when I was cleaning out the guest bedroom (yarn is soft but I don't expect guests to sleep with it), I came across the tank top and frog'd it so that I could reuse the yarn for a new summer top. It wasn't easy to take apart. The yarn was knit double and I wanted to wind it back into seperate balls. There was a lot of cursing but I got it done. I feel much better now.

The lace scarf is moving along. I think it's about 12" long if I stretch it out on my leg. I have no pictures since I disassembled my blocking/photography station (aka the guest bed) this morning.

No sock progress. Socks have fallen completely off my knitting radar. I'm obsessed with the lace scarf.

Pimping Yarn

Great Knitting Yarns is closing shop. They're in Canada and I am always sad when a small quilt/yarn store has to close. There's not much left but you can still get some Cascade Sierra for $6.25 and there's Lett-Lopi (Lopi Lite) for $2.50. And they've got Clover bamboo needles on sale, too.

OMG yarn sale

Knit Happens is having an amazing yarn sale. Examples: Cascade 220 for $3.15/ball. Lorna's Laces sock yarn for $4.79 -- but it looks like there's only one colourway that's not sold out.

Yikes!

Gung Hei Fat Choy

This weekend - there was eating (lots of it), shopping, and quilting.

There were a few sales that I went to this weekend. A local fabric shop was advertising a new stock of bamboo fabrics. I was curious to see what they had. I've read that bamboo keeps the body cool and wicks more moisture than cotton. Hubby is an avid cyclist and I thought I could make him a jersey to wear. But the bamboo fabrics were all woven and looked too dressy. I did pick up some silk thread for an applique quilt that I poke at once in awhile.

Hubby and I went to the Sandbar Restaurant for our 'eat out' Valentine's dinner on Sat. I highly recommend it. The food was great. Hubby ordered har gow (chinese shrimp dumplings) as an appetizer followed by wild sockeye salmon and grilled jumbo prawns with asparagus and risotto. I had the carmelized onion & feta flat bread and the ultimate tapas platter. The platter was huge (I knew it would be). There were spring rolls, wok squid, riblets, crab cakes, and pork dumplings. Yum! I couldn't eat it all by myself but there wasn't a single crumb left when the waitress came by to take our plates. We shared the apple crumble a la mode for dessert.

On Sunday, I was scheduled to go to a birthday party but I had managed to get myself double booked. So I sent hubby to the party and I went to my quilting gig. I helped make a raffle quilt to raise funds for the Burnaby Children's Hospital Fund. The quilt is wonderfully scrappy and I had lots of fun giggling with the girls. We only managed to make the 30 blocks. There is some machine applique that needs to be done, the blocks need to be trimmed and sewn together, and borders added. We're getting together again in April to finish the top. I'll take pictures when it's done. There was one major fatality. Adrienne managed to sew her finger. Not a little nick but right through her finger nail. EWWWWWWWW! Lucky for me that I was somewhere else cutting fabric. I don't handle blood/gore very well. She was such a trooper, tho. She was bandaged up, someone made her some strong tea, and shortly afterwards, she was sewing away with the rest of us. If it was me, I would've been a babbling idiot and crying for someone to drive me home.

Yesterday night, hubby and I went to my parents' house for Chinese New Year supper. I was expecting duck but there was none. My Dad's very picky about ducks and apparently, the local shop switched cooks and the duck isn't the same as before. So no duck. Boo hoo. No worries as there was lots of other good food. My Dad is a top notch cook (he's cooked professionally, ya know) so we're never disappointed. We were so full that there wasn't any room for dessert. And yes, I did get a red envelope (eventhough, I'm too old and married).

(Sorry about the picture quality. We left the camera at home so this is the best I could do with my cell phone's camera).



My Mom is a sock knitter! This is her sock. She knit the first sock with my supervision. She knit the second one (that's the one in the picture) by herself. She started a third sock with the leftover yarn but ran out partway up the leg. She decided that she didn't like sock #1 (gauge was too loose, mistakes in the short rowing, etc.) so she frog'd it and is reknitting it. I gave her more sock yarn to knit with and I'm buying more for her. Dad's getting a pair of handknit socks eventhough, he doesn't want any. Hee hee.

I got a tiny bit of knitting done this weekend but I got a lot done today. I'm still working exclusively on my test knit piece. I should be able to blog about it/post pictures as soon as the pattern's published!

ETA: ybtb is having a sale - 20% off basics; yoo hoo, Gladys...

Don't look -- pretty yarn mentioned here

Oooh, Dotty, what a pretty dyeing job! And I love the colours in the photograph too. You're inspiring me to set up some kind of light box. Would purple work to get you any kind of good colour? I think that might come out as pinkish and yellow.

And don't look now, but Little Knits has Araucania Atacama (100% alpaca) on sale for $40/bag (10 skeins, 110 yards/skein). This is the colourway that grabbed at me, but there are lots of others, including a gorgeous purple one.

Viking Knits

That was a fun get-together last night. I've got to get out to a Knit night with you sometime for some full-on knitting action.


And just to put some more temptation into your path, here are links for the Elsebeth Lavold books: Viking Patterns for Knitting, and the photos from the First Viking Knits Collection and the Second Viking Knits Collection.

Heh heh.

That's just my little bit of revenge for telling me about those amazing prices at Yarn by the Bag. I'm still processing the fact that you got the yarn the day after you ordered it. And the Canadian $$ at par -- what a deal.