Ya-Ya

Today I had a weekly gathering of phenomenal women at my house. I can't say enough how these women support and lift me. They are three intelligent, warm, caring, hilarious, creative creatures that I am so thankful crossed paths with me some months ago. Thank you Ravelry!!! There are a couple others that don't get to join us every week, but they fit in the phenomenal category too.

We don't waste our time trashing others. We agree on most things, but when we don't, it's ok. We can have healthy, intelligent debate, and it's always served on a plate of "what can we learn from this," garnished with "oh, the pretty!," and served up with a side of hilarity, and a heaping bowl of "well, allright then" for dessert.

We agree that we are not a group, nor do we have meetings. I think we need a new word, or perhaps an old word used in a new and provocative way to define what we are. "Support" can be called "advocate," "favor," "back," or "champion." We applaud, approve, endorse, pull for, adopt, embrace, defend, and sustain each other.

Being sister-less all my life, I've always envied women who had sisters. I've had many friends that made up for it, but I've never been involved in a group like this that meshed so quickly.

Since we're all beautiful, intelligent women, could we be called a bevy? How about a covey, a company, a kindle, an intrigue, a charm, a pride, or a wisdom? I like "a wisdom." It says what we bring to and what we gain from getting together. I also like "an intrigue." It makes us sound so brilliant and clever and deep.

"Sisterhood" works too. God knows we have all the "Ya-Ya" anyone could possibly have.

Whatever it is, and whatever we call it, I love it and I can't wait for next week!

New Word for the Day: Jacquarded/Knitters for Knockers

I had to be in the city yesterday for a meeting, so I took the opportunity to visit River City Yarns downtown. My friend Penny had shown me some Misti Alpaca sock yarn that had me bewitched, and I wanted to go check out the other colours available. Her skein seemed to have every colour in the rainbow painted on it, and she chose it to match with other sock yarn remnants that she uses to make her Frankensocks. I LOVE her Frankensocks; they're multi-coloured, and the striping never matches which agrees with my non-conformist side. This yarn was similar to the Fabel I had used to make my turquoise socks, and I loved how that yarn jacquarded. (That's my new word for today...jacquarded: 1 (verb) past tense; created a jacquard pattern that looks like you mastered some highly intricate knitterly dance with several vivid strands of yarn, but really just plain knit with one strand.)

Anyway, the other colours of the yarn I speak of didn't thrill me so much when I saw them. There were soooo many other rich-coloured yarns that were grabbing my attention by the throat. So I had me a good long session of yarn-fondling. Somehow, during my fondling stroll, a skein of Trekking XXL (great jacquardability!) and a Mrs. Beeton's Wrist Warmer kit found their way into my hands, so they came home with me, along with the Fall issue of Interweave Knits magazine. My new purchases are sitting by my computer right now where I can gaze lovingly at their beauty off and on through my day.

I'm still working the heel of the Hibiscus. I had to frog the half-finished heel in order to sort myself out on short row stocking stitch heel construction. Now I'm back to half-way through the heel and I hope to get past the heel and back to working up the leg today. Isn't the pattern gorgeous! If you haven't already done so, please go to MezzoDiva's blog and donate to her worthy cause, Knitters for Knockers. I was honoured to guest author her blog last week while she prepares for her 60K walk in September to raise money for breast cancer research, so scroll down and check it out.

Mary's scarf has progressed also; I'm almost half-way through the middle part.

The shawl is still on the back burner for now. I've started adding the border. And I've done a few more rows on the back piece of the Juliaca sweater, just past the armhole bind offs. But that one is a loooooong term project. Miles and miles and miles of really boring road--I mean 2x2 ribbing!

Dog Days and Knitters for Knockers

Well, I've had a perfectly lovely summer day. I got to go to my son's girlfriend's house to pick saskatoons and
raspberries. They have a saskatoon grove and about 1/2 an acre of raspberry patch. For those who aren't familiar with saskatoons, they're similar to blueberries, but they grow on trees rather than on low bushes, and they're more purple than blue. They have similar health benefits of blueberries. There is some kind of Zen to berry picking...especially on a warm summer day, with a light breeze and the bees buzzing lazily nearby.

Then I got to sit at the river and knit on the Victorian lace scarf I'm making for Mary, our daughter who lives in Inuvik.

I wore my river shoes so I was able to wade in to above my knees to cool off when the sun got too hot. Heaven! The water is clear and warm. I was dying to dive in but I didn't have my bathing-suit on and I didn't want to drive home in wet clothes. Tomorrow, I swim. We in the Great White North need to enjoy the hell 'outta these nice summer days.

With that in mind, I stopped for an ice-cream cone on the way home from the river and it was divine. All-in-all, it was a glorious day. I have work coming soon, so I have to enjoy the days off that I have now; I may not get many after the middle of August.

Sunday, I finished the Turquoise Fabel socks. YaaaY!!!

Now I can start on the Hibiscus for Hope socks. This is the pattern that Knitters for Knockers is promoting this year. If you make a donation to Ramona Carmelly's Weekend to End Breast Cancer walk, you get this gorgeous sock pattern that is based on the notes and charts of a pattern developed by my friend ThatLoganChick. It's a great cause and Ramona's a great champion for her heroic efforts. You can also find a link in Ravelry on Ramona's (MezzoDiva) page.

I also blocked a sample of my snowdrop shawl to see how well it would hold a block and to see what a garter stitch/faggot edge looked like for the actual shawl. I think it looks great, and I'm ready to bind off the top edge of the shawl. Then I'll pickup and knit the border on the two sides. I cannot wait to finish this one. The really great patterns seem to take sooooo long, don't they?

Meet Smudge

Last Sunday I went off the deep end...in love with a kitten, who I couldn't leave behind at the alpaca farm. Could you have?

Here's another pic...



And another...

My dog is not cooperating. She wants to eat Smudge. We may not be able to make this work. If not Smudge will go back to living at the farm where we'll visit her every week. And we'll be very sad. But I can't have my dog in an atmosphere that impacts her mental health. She's crazy enough already. Think positive thoughts.

In the meantime, I'm making good progress on the Snowdrop Shawl; I'm 2/3's of the way done, and I can't WAIT to finish. I'm so in love with it I'm going to wear it every day. It's the colour. I'm really loving the colours I'm working with lately: the deep sensuous red of the Snowdrop, the intense teal of the baby llama for the Juliaca, and the vivid forest green of the corriedale I'm spinning.

I also continue to add measurable distance on my Fabel sock. And on the Juliaca sweater. And my spinning is coming along too. It seems like the green corriedale is never-ending (sigh), but I am making some headway there. I seem to be keeping up with the spin, although my single is not perfectly consistent yet, but I'm sure that'll come. I'm having a problem with string breakage, dang it all. Not sure what'll cure that, except more practice. I want to get through the corriedale before I attempt the Harley fleece, and the Harley fleece is calling me. Not sure how much longer I can ignore it. And I should be receiving Harley's cria fleece (his first shearing) soon. No pressure. Really.

Ghosties in the Needles and Cosmos Shifts

I've been working on the Snowdrop Shawl and it's coming along nicely. I'm managing to overpower the mohair most of the time. Right now I've got about five snowdrops on each side of the center column. In this last pattern set of rows, something odd's been occurring...I do the pattern row which increases the stitch count by 2 stitches. Then I count the stitches to be sure I have an odd number of stitches. When I'm satisfied the count is correct, I work the mostly purl row where there are no increases or decreases. But when I count again...I've got an EVEN number of stitches!!! [cue Psycho shower scene music] This happened about 4 times in a row yesterday. What the... How do you go from an odd number to an even number without increasing?!?!? Of course, all this uncertainty leads to OCD stitch counting....just to make sure I haven't counted wrong...the last 40 times I counted this row...



I'm pleased to say though, that each time, I took a deep breath and investigated the cause of the off-numbered rows. And each time, I was able to correct it without too much stitch OR hair pulling. After those 4 errant rows, things have gone better. Not sure if the ghosties are in the needles, the wool, my fingers, or my head, but I seem to have run 'em off.

I completed the first of the Fabel socks. Now I'm just starting the second. Socks are my travel knitting, so these puppies haven't seen a lot of action lately.



My family was recently hit by a nasty flu and we're all just rolling out of our death beds, shocked and glad to still be on this side of the daisies, pinching ourselves to be sure. Yesterday, in our infirmity, my daughter and I watched an Alfred Hitchcock marathon. It was great to relax and enjoy time with her again. She's 15 and Mom really doesn't rate most of the time. And...there must have been a shift in the Cosmos somewhere...a mighty shift...she wanted to knit too. What a gift.

Knitterly Confidence

Ever wonder if you should have any? I'm wondering lately. I've been knitting for almost 40 years, and steadily like a crack addict for the last five, but I've had a few patterns lately that have me absolutely stymied. And I'm starting to wonder if it's me...

I frogged a sock recently that I had knit to the mid-heel level. I don't want to mention the designer or where I got the pattern, but it was a full-scale battle throughout. Each new phase of the pattern was a new area I had to plow through, learning new techniques (which is always good) but having to also learn how in hell I'm supposed to accomplish it. After five such wars, I gave up. But I didn't give up easily. I hung in there longer than most knitters would have. There was a trail of blue curses behind each row it seemed. Finally, somewhat in shame, I gave up. I didn't want to give up...I wanted to win the battles...

Then I started a cotton baby sweater for our little Chase. The pattern is by Debbie Bliss and is called "Sweater with Ribbed Yoke." You can look at it in Ravelry. It calls for straight needles but since the sweater is stocking stitch to the arm holes, I thought I'd do it on a circular. The going was a bit rough as I started with the ribbing, and it continued to get rougher the further along I went. I finally decided, since I was experiencing my first mobius (without actually meaning to, sigh...) the circular needle was probably too long, so I ripped it out too.

I don't like starting new projects while others linger waiting to be completed, but last weekend I just needed a fresh start on something. Needed a band-aid for the confidence blows I was suffering. I've had some Fabel by GarnStudio laying around calling my name, so I heeded its call and started a plain-jane pair of socks for myself. Those are going fine. I put a short row garter stitch heel in the first one and this sock appears to be the best fitted sock I've ever made myself.


Nice fit, eh?



Last night I started my first shawl. I've had some Estelle Watercolour in a sensual deep red that has also been screaming for me.



I'm knitting it into Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Snowdrop shawl. This yarn has a good halo (50% mohair) and a pretty sheen that catches the light beautifully. Unfortunately, the mohair halo makes ripping stitches highly unpleasant so I'll have to just knit on it when I'm at my knitting best, not at night when my brain and fingers have had enough for the day.

I'm also teaching myself to crochet. It's going pretty good. I have a good grasp of single crochet.



So, my to-do list is growing daily: four or five projects on the go, spinning practice, crochet practice, day job, kids, husband, house, dog (NEVER in that order).

I'm feeling much better about my flagging confidence. Nothing like getting it off your chest, AND the joy of new knitting to make you forget...

Catch Up

Whew!! Another week or two blew by! My intention when I started this blog was to blog daily. I guess it's true...the road to hell IS paved with good intentions. Life has a way of getting in the way of things, and there's always the knitting...

Anyway, I've been doing a bit of knitting and a bit of spinning... Below is the finished Kilcar sweater. That's the Donegal Tweed that I bought in Donegal last spring. Just showing the back because it's the only shot so far that I can live with.

Ok, here's one from the front...



You don't need to embiggen...I've embiggened myself enough already! Honestly, I'm thrilled that I gave up the smokes, but this weight gain is AWFUL!!! I hate that I can't get a handle on it. I guess I need to get off my own case about it. It's not forever or the most important thing in life.

Next...



This is a plain stockinette stitch sock. The yarn is Fabel by Garnstudio. A knitting group friend showed it to us about a month ago and I fell in love. This is handpainted 70% superwash wool and 25% nylon. And the colours just line up like that. Looks like I did some fancy schmancy stitch-work, but I didn't. THIS is why I love knitting! After froggin some really frustrating projects, this is just what I needed. Easy-peasy and looks phenomenal. And, the price is really reasonable.

Also...



I've done a bit more work on the Juliaca. This is going to be a slow one. Sweaters take soooo long, and the miles of rib are a little daunting, but this is such gorgeous yarn. Satisfies the senses: sight - the colour is amazing- in the light you see blues and teals and greens; touch: this is baby llama-the softest yarn I've felt yet (Harley's may give this a run in the softness dept.). And the drape!

Harley's getting more used to me every time I see him. He's actually letting me hug him without moving away. I'm beginning to see why he's the favourite around there...

And finally...



This is 100 gm of Shetland wool that I spun. Not sure if it's supposed to twist like that, but I hope it's because it's a highly twisted single...kind of like me...highly twisted. It's hanging on an antique highchair that my mom sat in when she was a baby, and then my brothers and I sat in it as babies, and our kids sat in it as babies. I don't have a lot of heirlooms, so I really treasure the ones I have. You should've seen the battle I had with hubby when I decided it had to come home with me rather than get sold at a garage sale. He didn't realize the sentimental value at the time. It was one of those "Oh, NO it's NOT!" "Oh, YES it IS!" battles that ends nose to nose in a deadlock, and then with me loading the chair in the car...

Anyway, I've also been spinning this:



This is corriedale in a deep green. And it's on my new Forrester spindle. That spindle jumped me from producing lumpy bumpy chunky weight to semi-smooth lace weight. And I've almost got the spinning figured out. I can spin for a short while without parking... I plan to ply the two yarns and make some thick warm socks... pics later. Maybe way later...this corriedale goes on forever!

My daughter was in a play last week. She flexed her acting muscles, and sang some solo parts, and my heart burst wide open...



That's her on the left. She played a 12-yr old boy whose life's broken by abuse, addiction, and pain. In this scene he's hiding in a closet with his little sister so their alcoholic mother's abusive boyfriend won't hurt them. These kids did an amazing job.

And my little dog...



She cracks me up on a daily basis. Yesterday I let her in from outside where it was raining pretty good. She stopped as soon as she got in the door and looked up at me with a "well woman, ...are you gonna wipe my feet, or what?" look on her face...