A great way to Start!

Cooler weather prevails and I feel much better.  And my knee is doing much better because of it.  If I had felt this way in Nova Scotia, I would have made it to Newfoundland.  Oh well.

I'm going to make this quick because it is after midnight, and I want to head out early in the morning.

A parade of Harrissville Shetland.  I love this stuff.

Some for new stuff, some to go with some stuff I have at home,

  Some Peace Fleece goodness to try.  Mittens?  Hats?  Cowls?

Some to work with what I am pretty sure I will be short on. More about that later.

Some ends of cones that are pretty and shiny and just  make me smile.  And a treat of some Zephyr.  I love it ALL

And that is how my trip to Camilla Valley Farms was.  What a perfect little shop just past a glade of big old trees.  This side of heaven if I do say so.

I started to write this much much earlier this morning, but I lost the desire to talk about what I am sick of.  

I'm kind of sick of knitting on this.  The sleeve is about 2 inches long now, but I really want something else to do.

I need to bang out a sweater.  You know.  Knit fast and finish it almost before you know it is begun.

I don't feel like knitting on the cream sweater either.

So I am going to start another.  I am going to start a Montague Bulky Lace Vest. I think. I may not have the right needles.  I do have the right yarn.  So we shall see what we come up with.

It's a rest day for me.  My knee badly needs it.  And Camilla Valley Farms isn't open till tomorrow.  

So I will knit and drink good rich coffee in the shad in this little mom and pop kind of motel.

It's slightly cooler today here on the grand adventure.  An evening rain the was pretty heavy in short showerey bursts, made the end of the day really lovely.

I missed a connection with friends in Mahone but I did have a lovely day exploring that whole area. I took off out to Peggy's Cove.  Everybody shows pictures of the iconic rocks and lighthouse, but nobody to me about the protected natural area just inland.  It's a most stunning, unique place capped off by the usual photos.  Which are all on my camera and will be downloaded to my computer when I get home.  (Should have got the camera with bluetooth or wifi.)  So stunning.

I drove a little down the coast road.  I could live there but for the price and the summer people.  In a small hidden cove, I saw an eagle that had taken down a seagull, but fate took its revenge.  The eagle was a smaller bird, and he couldn't seem to fly while carrying his treasure.  So I had the pleasure of watching him for about an hour as he tried to decide what to do.  

IWithout connecting with my friends, I decided to go back to Halifax.  I found a place to sleep but couldn't settle.  I slipped the other day going down some stairs in the rain.  I didn't seem to be hurt, but as the days have passed since it is worse and worse, not helped by sitting in the car and sleeping in a half sitting position.  Last night, I couldn't sleep for the aching, and I was at a kind of low point.  I just wanted my mommy, and my own bed. I decided to cut my trip a bit short.  

So no Newfoundland for me.  On the upside , I can hotel it all the way home.  That help enormously by simply getting to stretch out,.  Bonus.  And I still have a good visit to some places that I have longed to see on the Niagara peninsula.  And if I don't get them all in, oh well.  It's good to still have things to dream about.

In an awful lot of ways, I have done what I needed to do here. I showed me I can do this.  I can camp, if I choose, and I can go and do even if not everything worked perfectly.  And I get to go home with cool yarn.

Today's adventure was Cape Breton Island.  It's a fairly long drive in a way, but I hit the road by 5 a.m. and ended up having a lovely day.

To finish up the PEI stuff, I did get pictures of my MacAuslands treats.

Somewhere between forest floor and olive and old moss, It's a lovely green.  And very gristy, if you will.  I have a feeling about this yarn.  It's going to be perfect for a second Argo sweater or Iced.

A pure wool blanket.  I am really pleased with this.  I can't wait to use it.

And then a treat from todays adventures.  at the Baddeck Yarn Shop.   They were chock full of lovely things with several local handdyers.  Not as much Fleece Artist as I hoped, but you can't have everything.

It's from local dyer, Ravenswood Fibres.  Just a lovely blend.And really great names for the colourways too.  Lovely.

And that was the day for me.  I went on and did what I do.  It was great.

Party on PEI

 Party of one. 

Today I found my way to sunny, hot, humid PEI. And I managed to find the loveliness that is Macauslands Woollen Mills.  My haul from there is in the car, and it is just too darn hot to get it for pictures.  I got one sweaters worth of yarn and a truly splendid blanket in cream ans wide stripes of  olive green.  It's really the perfect thing.

I know that people are going to ask about all the things I could be doing on this trip.  Did I go to the Anne Place?  No.  This isn't that kind of vacation.  The more I go along, the more I realize how this vacation is as much Brian's vacation as mine.  It's doing the things we most loved to do together and that is to take the backroads. Sure I am on main roads and the Trans-Canada is the backbone, but the small off the beaten path roads are what I will always treasure about this trip.  I did a ton of that today.  And Oh.  My.  Gosh.

There is knitting though.  Not huge amounts but what there is is pretty darn satisfying.

Proto sleeves on my version of Joji Locatelli's Granito. 

I tried this on last night and am really pleased.  Not so pleasing is the extremely flippy small rib at the bottom.  I tried Techknitter's trick, but I have to assume I did it wrong, backwards perhaps.  Or maybe it will be better after a post finish blocking.  Overall, it's a pretty good look for me, and I found the things I needed to do to make a version that works for me, easy to accomplish within the structure of the garment.  I can't wait to wear it!

And I cast on for my next adventure, a Cat Boat from Amy Herzog.  I'm braving a bottom up, seamed garment.  It's a first for me.  

We shall see where it goes.

And that is it from here at very sunny Summerside PEI.

Maritime Air

I have no idea if that is why it is so humid, but the air is very different here in Fredricton.  It's lovely and wooded with farms dotted all through and everything is lush, though the locals say it is very dry.

I made it to my own personal mecca, Briggs and Little yarns.  If nothing else happens on this trip, I am where I set out to be and the trip is a success.  Not everyday has been a success, particularly a couple of the camping days.  The heat is a bit of a problem that exacerbates some other small problems that get to be a kind of bigger problem.  I was prepared for them in almost every way I could think of, but the days of extended heat are pushing all the wrong buttons.  Still at the end of everyday, I am happy to be traveling.

Now, Briggs and Little.  Sigh.  I could have sat there the whole day.  All that lovely yarn.  All the stunning colours.  And the sweaters on the wall.  I didn't take pictures.  If I go back, I might ask if I can.  I wanted all of it.  Had I taken all of it, I wouldn't have had to choose.  Choosing was hard.

The first thing I dealt with was the selections of my friend.  With that done, I did the easy part of mine.  I was making a Ram's Horn jacket and I was using  Regal, but Regal wasn't quite right.  It was too light for what I had in my head.  I wanted sturdier yarn and from the moment I had decided this trip was a go, I knew that some Atlantic would be coming home with me.

I also wanted to get more Sport in Sheeps grey. 

I want to make another Hap, just for me, like I made for Olga's grandmother.  I have Sheep's grey at home but I have a plan for that.  So 5 more of this lovely Sport yarn are coming home with me.

After that, choosing was hard. Projects pop into my head when I see yarns and their range of colours.  The hard part was picking only one or two of the things that popped up. I did come away with a couple very interesting things.

Regal in Quoddy blue.

Such a poor pale picture of it.  I will try to get another shot in different light to show you all how pretty it is , but plenty for a sweater with cables if I choose.  It is really the nicest blue.

And then I fell for a wonderful shelf. 

Just like this, laying across a shelf , the whole range of Fundy Fog, Lilac, and Plum. I have a similar range of colours in a different yarn, but they already have plan and it isn't a sweater.  Hence sweater.



And the a treat, just because.

It doesn't look like they work together, but they do, and it is marvelous. 

And so came the end of my day at Briggs and Little.  I have no firms plans for where I go next, but who knows.  I may be back this way again.  If I have room.

Another day another campsite

The campsite at Lake Huron had lively showers so it negated a hotel today.  Maybe tomorrow.  We shall see.

I was in Sudbury around lunchtime to stock up on groceries and to spend time with my map.  I was going to head towards Toronto via the lake shore highway but I missed it.  Heavy traffic meant I missed the next highway so guess What?  My eastern travels will take me north of Algonquin Park down the Ottawa River Valley.  And that solves the issue of going to Ottawa.  I will be going sooner rather than later.

But I had such an interesting day. After missing the earlier turns I had settled for stopping at Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park for the evening.  I was driving alongwatching the country and the traffic and the interesting little towns and I wondered which town I was in. It was larger (2 Tim Hortons) but it wasn't  big enough to be North Bay.  Surely I couldn't  have missed yhat this was North Bay?

While mulling this, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sign that said Briggs and Little.  I turned my half glance to full attention and saw it was a little craft store.  Thankfully I was in the right lane and the entrance was just far enough ahead the no one behind Mr noticed how I reeffed  the steering wheel to turn.  And it was open.  Diane Creative Elements.  

Quilting things,embroidery things, A wee bit of sewing things, and yarn.  About  third of this small shop was given over to yarn.  She loaned me a stool to get a good look.  Lots of sock yarns and lots of good easy care yarns.  I had a tough time not choosing Estelle Lumiere.  It has the kind of deep rich colours that hit all the right notes for me but what I could see instantly for Cassie  was a Sock Arms but in worsted.  It would have been stunning but this trip is for me.  I ended up choosing this. 

Malabrigo Mechita .  And I love it.  A lot. When I took the two yarns  and wound them around each othe, it was sublime.  I think Daybreak or something lie that to carry the strong blue over the stupendous variation in the other.

The owner and I chatted and she gave me a little gift to remember her by and to remind me that they ship everywhere.

And so a missed turn and a different path led me to an unexpected delight.  I will remember the magic!

A quick post.

I am sitting here on the shores of Lake Huron with so much to tell you that it hurts. But I can't.  All the pictures are on my camera and the tablet battery needs charging.  The whole day was soul searingly beautiful in ways I did not know until now. 

So I will give you the view from my campsite tonight.  Just a little bit of calm after all of the drama of earlier today.  

I'm going to make some tea and knit a bit before I send myself to sleep.

Tomorrow is a hotel day.  Maybe.  Depends what I find.  For today , beauty is a better choice than a shower.  Sponge bath here I come. Traveling alone has its weird side.

Living and learning

There was a point very very late yesterday or very early today where I doubted my sanity.  It is kind of a long story, but suffice it to say, I have promised to stop driving at suppertime every day.  I am also not going to drink coffee in the late afternoon. If I get dopey, I am going to take a nap. Less coffee equals fewer stupid decisions.

I woke at 6 this morning, filled with gas and hit the road.  I stopped for breakfast at the loveliest little picnic area, just after Dryden ON.

It was sublime.  I drove a bit more and then had to stop for a nap.  That was my day in a way.  Drive, nap.  Drive, nap.  I did notice something odd about that road.  I drove for a couple hours and saw a sign that said Thunder Bay 245 km.  Then I drove for another couple hours.  Another sign saying 245  to Thunder Bay.  Wha...?  That is how it felt.  It was a really spectacular drive.  very like the mountains.  Lots of curves in the road.  Lots of creeks and tiny lakes.  Lots of trees.  Lots of rock.  Had Brian been traveling with me, both of us would be calling out for each rock we could have used in our landscaping at the house, he in horror, and me in jest with  a hint of if only.

Sure this rock wasn't standing on end like a mountain.  Shield is a more horizontal kind of rock, but there is a solidity that is very much similar. 

I am ensconced in a hotel.  A shower is called for.  It has been very hot and sticky even with the air conditioning in the car.And humid.  You can tell lakes are not far away.

I am putting up my feet this evening and am going to knit. 

 

I have an new book to read, free movies on tv and knitting.  Just the right end to this long day.

First Leg Done

I didn't get going as fast as I wanted, but otherwise I made it to destination one.  I am stopping at the local yarn store, Praire Lily Knitting today for a visit.  She always has interesting stuff and since I am officially on vacation, any yarn I pick up is not stash, it is a souvenir.  Completely different than stash. 

I have done the drive from Edmonton to Saskatoon so many times.  You could be forgiven for thinking that after almost 30 years the trips here would just be load and go but no. 

Along the road I kept bumping into military vehicles being hauled to a new destination, which made me wonder if it is part of the prep work for the new mission.  I ought to have paid better attention to the news. 

The scenery is what got to me yesterday.  A cloudless blue endless sky over fields and lands burgeoning with life and colour.  Everything was at.  it's Sunday best.  And the air.  The air was clean and warm and rich with the smell of flowers and fresh mown hay.

That is the best part of driving vacations.  You are going slow enough that you can see and stop and take it all In.

Loose Ends or So Begins the Epic Journey

Loose end number one:  I visited a bit with my big people and my small people before I left yesterday.  I love those kiddies with all my heart.  I love my big boys and my daughters in law too but they do not give me grandma hugs and kisses like the little people.  Even my wee Emmett was happy and content  (so long as he was eating, being held or entranced watching things hanging from his chairs.  It is hard to be an infant, when your only way of communicating is to cry) .  My wee boy even smiled a bit.

Loose end number two:  I delivered Pole to its owner and it scores a win! 

It looks so great on her and I am so very pleased with how it just flows.  The lining worked out well, even though it took almost as long to line it as it did to knit it.  Maybe it just felt that way, but still.  This sweater is meant to be for the chill of summer nights, or fall camping.  You can keep the chill off the back of your neck forever with that sweeping collar.  

We also discussed another sweater with the gorgeous Madelinetosh yarn I bought for her.  I know what I think is going to look fantastic on her, but it is always wonderful to get the ok from the giftee.  No point knitting it if the eventual owner won't wear it. I am looking forward to fun fall knitting when I get back.

Loose end number three:  Packing. There are 4 kinds of packing for this trip.  There is camping packing.  

There is knitting and spinning packing. Note large container.  I have the spinning stuff tucked in there, but the spinning bag is in the car and it will be moved as I load.  The large container will leave my door half empty and will come home overflowing with lovely exotic travel stash. 

And then there is clothes packing and digital equipment packing.  You would think the last shouldn't be a category all on it's own, but honestly, if I think of it as one packing unit, I am far more likely to remember all the power cords.  Camera, tablet, portable drive, phone, camera, stick battery charger for emergencies. If I can think of it and pack it all at the same time, I will remember it better. Clothes packing will commence as soon as the dryer is done and since I already know what is coming with me, I expect fast and easy packing.  

There are a few tail ends that need dealing with.  I realized this morning that I need my meds refilled.  We here at better living through chemistry should have thought of this earlier. And I have to renew my car plates. While I expect to be back before they expire, I do not want to be driving in a province not my own, with expired stickers and no way to renew in case I am having a wonderful time and fall in love with the far places and don't want to come home.  Or if I get the wild idea that I need to stay for the Niagara wine festival. Hey, it could happen.

Anyway, the first steps of the Epic Journey are about to happen.  I am a little excited, and a little bit scared.  I have never done something of this scale before and I have never done it alone.  I certainly have never done it at this scale out of the back of my car.  I'm going forth anyway fear be darned.  I know I can find my people all along the way, just by sitting somewhere and knitting. 

Choices

This morning finds me sitting here at home, one more day, trying to make choices.  Knitting choices.  This is hard.

I realized why this morning.  I haven't been away from my stash since its very inception.  We went on one trip where I was still knitting socks, and the whole of my stash fit into less than six 24 pack beer can cooler bags but since then my stash has always been right with me, a sign that no matter what was going on, knitting was at hand and I would be okay.  

Sounds a little hokey doesn't it, but I cannot begin to explain how knitting kept me sane in those weeks in 2013, and I cannot begin to express my gratitude that someone out there a long time ago, decided to try goofing around with wool and sticks.  

And now, for weeks, I will be away from the stash.  I have to pick what to knit, for a month or more, and I have to be content with it, without benefit of the stash at hand to fuel my whims.  

When I have ever knitted the same thing for 6 weeks straight?  Never.  When have I stuck with only one project at a time?  Never.  I almost always have between ten and fifteen projects on the go at one time.  Sure, some are frogged in the end, but they are always there to knit on.  And there are always new things on the radar even if that new thing is just socks.  The idea that I am picking for the next 6 weeks is a little stressful.  There will be yarn bought on the way, guaranteed,  but I am working on Stash Dash and the goal there is to work only from stash or WIPs.  

There may be fudging of the definition of stash, to mean that if it comes home with me, it is my stash, and since home is my car for the next bit, well, you know.  I do really want to try to knit from my stash though.  I have such lovely things to work with.  

For now, I have sorted out two new things to knit.  

Previously mentioned, I will knit Catboat from Amy Herzog's Custom Fit. It is a knit from the bottom in pieces pattern, fitted to my own personal shape.  It is a absolutely a wardrobe basic even in this aran weight yarn and it is part of my goal to get over my general worry about knitting from the bottom up and my former dislike and discomfort with seaming.  I know how to do a seam and make it look perfect now, so I don't worry anymore, and I really want the ability to have a sweater be take along knitting.  When you knit a sweater top down in the round, by the time you get to the bottom or try to do sleeves, it is as if you have suddenly dressed in a hoop skirt of old and your chair choices are limited by what space you can grapple for your hoop.  Not take along knitting. If you knit a sleeve separate from the body and seam it, you can go anywhere. I think.  I hope.

Knit number two is the Montague Bulky Lace Vest from New England Knits, still available by digital edition, which I would purchase like a shot if I did not already have it in my library.  This vest has that nice kind of high on the back of your neck collar that I think will work well in this home.  The back of my neck is often chilly.  The yarn is Harrisville Flax and Wool, that I bought years ago when RCY had it's store downtown on a Canada Day sale.  Or just before a Canada Day sale.  I can't remember if I bought it early so that I wouldn't miss it, or if I bought it after no one else saw its loveliness.  It's an easy to adapt for fit kind of pattern.  The sides are plain stockinette under the arms.  

Before I work on either of those though, I will be forcing myself to knit on Granito.  

  

The body is very close to being completed.  I have just an inch to get it to the length I wanted and then sleeves and the very little finishing at the neckline.  It has been my F1 race knitting the last few weeks and I made significant progress.  I love how this one is turning out.  Love, love, love it.  I hope it fits like I planned it to. Crosses fingers and prays.  It is so hard to tell when it is still on the needles.  No drape for you to see and this entire project relies on drape and flow.  

There are also shawls and socks and I could go on, but I won't.   I am planning to take my spinning wheel to to spin up few things, that if all goes well, will make nice hats and mittens. My small knitting like socks is going to be just for emergencies.   

Anyway, enough from me.  I have things to do, like packing the car, and places to be getting on to.  The epic journey begins.  Almost.

Tweaking

I'm doing a little tweaking of things today.  

I have to put the band on the pants and hem, but otherwise they are finished.  I have to put the buttons and buttonholes on the blouse but otherwise they are done.  I have to finish the lining of the sweater.

I had a really successful day sewing.  Two blouses and one pair of pants.  It would have been more but there is a point, just as in knitting where you know if you touch it, it will go bad.  In sewing you don't get mulligans like you do in knitting,  You cannot recut already cut fabric, so you have to be sure you have it right.  I was going to cut the second pair of pants, but it just felt like it could be dangerous.

The pants were the really interesting part of the day.  I took apart my favourite pair of pants.  I was thinking about how old they were, and I think they go back to 2009.  They are getting threadbare, seriously, so it was time to retire them.  I didn't want to let them go though.  They fit so comfortably.  By taking apart this relatively uncomplicated pair of pants, I learned its secrets and I now see why they fit so nice. I used them as a pattern for the new pair and wow.  

I also know just how to adapt them to fit me no matter what sort of pants I am looking for, the easy drapey flowing kind or something a bit more dressy and tailored.

Very interesting.

But in knitting news, less interesting.  My inspiration from yesterday isn't going to work for take along on travel knitting.  It has a raglan sleeve line and that usually sin't a good look on me.  Back to the drawing board and back to my general plans for upcoming knitting.  

My wardrobe needs a couple basic things.  It needs some turtleneck or otherwise high neck sweaters that fit close to wear under other sweaters.  It needs some basics like a crew neck sweater, a plain crew neck cardigan.

It is the last that I think will be my take along knitting. It is a fingering weight blend from Elann, Eilati Fine in a deep dark rich teal colour to perfectly match these buttons.  

   The yarn is light weight and won't take up a ton of room and with it's particular blend, it won't be to warm to work on on a hot summer day.  

The other thing I am going to knit is a turtleneck from Custom Fit.  Yeah it is cream coloured yarn, but the whole thing will knit up so fast, it is going to be fine.  And if I say it often and fast, it will be true.

Plus a couple pairs of socks.  Always socks.  

So on to finishing and then to the beginning of packing.  

Sorting out the knits by accident.

On Friday last week, I spent the day working on lining Pole.  It came out pretty well, and the sweater went for it's first try on by its owner on Saturday.  And it looks lovely.  Everything is just right.  The back, which I worried about being long enough is quite perfect.  The collar, lined in the soft gray knit, looks nice.  The sleeves are long enough.  As if I had taken full measurements beforehand.  Pole is a very very rewarding sweater.  I have it home with me to finish.  Sleeve linings need shortening and attaching.  And the bottom of the lining needs tacking in place.  Pictures on Tuesday when I will deliver it to her.  I am just so pleased.  It is going to the perfect, big snuggly sweater for sitting by a campfire after the sun has set.

I stayed and snuggled babies and was trounced soundly at Yahtzee by Isaac and I helped Carter win a game of baseball tag.  Carter, my sweet giggler, is sitting close to the fire pit here, waiting impatiently for the campfire.  

He didn't want a picture, so he closed his eyes, and magically, I and my camera went away, as they do for kids. I still got my photo though.  I didn't get a picture of Emmett.  He was pretty game for a wee thing, snuggled in his big warm wrap, little hat close on his head.  And so long as he was in your arms, he slept very contently.  I love my three boys to the moon and back and I am going to spend more time with them this coming year.  If I weren't doing my epic journey, I would go down to camp in that lovely Devon Lions campground more than once this summer.

And with that done, I came home and felt a bit at loose ends.  I'm still not settled on what to knit next nor on what knitting to take along. on my travels.

I did do some sewing though.  With a great deal of success so far, if I may say.

It is hard to display it or take photos.  I really need to get a full length mirror to do photos. You get the idea though.  I cut it out as a dress, and I am glad I did,  It was an easy way to sort out fit for skirts later, and it gave me the opportunity to do the sweeping longer back hem.

There is more sewing on the menu for today.  I have 2 tops cut out and have fabric ready for two and possibly three pairs of nice wide legged pants.  In a perfect world, I would get the really nice knit print fabric sewn up, but I can't quite decide if that should be a longer tunic and pants or a skirt and flowing draping top.  I leaning to pants because, well pants. 

All the sewing may be leading the knitting.  I've been thinking about wearing my nice new top. This top could use a nice little black sweater.  It wouldn't have to be very fancy, just enough to cover up my arms a bit, maybe more of a bolero type  garment.  I know just the pattern too, one that mimics the drape of this garments sweeping hem.  I can think about that while I am sewing but you know, when a sweater pops into my head sometimes it is best to just give in and knit it.  It's a nice kind of accidental way to find a sweater.

  

Itchy Fingers

And done.

All the ends woven in, everything complete but for buttons and a second blocking to settle it out to wear.  I am going to give a second go to getting the yoke more smooth now that I know how everything fits.

I could say I am looking forward to winter, but I am not.  Truly.  But I am looking forward to wearing the sweater and that is as it should be!

Still thinking of what my wardrobe needs and what I need is some new basic sweaters.  Shapes that are so standard that they are beyond fashion and beyond time.  Things that can go the distance. I like the turn away from less fitted things, but I also know that lots of ease on a large woman sometimes looks like just a too big sweater.  I think I am a creature of that middle ground, the ordinary, things that fit in an ordinary way.

I envisage crew neck sweaters with saddle shoulders.  A raglan, though I would probably modify it a bit.  I don't like the way raglans sit on my shoulders. I need lightweight turtlenecks to wear under other sweaters.  I need a few knitted t shirt style shirts.  I need a shirt style sweater to match the one in my eyes mind.  And I would like to put my basic brioche knowledge to work and make a nice ordinary sweater out of it.

The first thing I will start is a turtleneck.  It's going to be a heavier one though, and it will be in a frosty cool colour.  I'm going to use Osprey from Quince and Company.  It's a lovely soft yarn that is going to be just right for a close to you all over sweater. Or so I hope.  

Unless the pattern problem isn't resolved today.  It hiccupped and I was given a code.  I know it will come but if it arrives late in the day, I may have started something else.

Because, you know.  Itchy Fingers.  Can't wait till Monday.

   

Travel Knitting - A Conundrum

I grabbed something to knit this morning and I was a little surprised what came to hand.

I guess I am knitting a ribbed placket and collar band this morning.  It was going along really well and I was just starting to think about the buttonholes, which would take place on the red row, which is up next, when I realized that the corners between neckline and placket looked off.  

I sat a while and just looked and it took a lot longer than I want to say, for me to see what I was doing.  I am currently decreasing at the corners instead of increasing.  Sigh.  It seemed like a good time to take a break and write the blog.

Up till that discovery, I was thinking about my upcoming travels, debating just what I am going to take along for knitting.

I have signed on for Stash Dash again this year, and that means the bulk of my knitting ought to be from stash or WIPs until the Dash is over.  But with the above sweater complete, my total will be almost 5000 m completed since May.  Yes I did game the system, particularly with this sweater,  but WIPs count for all the yarn in the project. Even if all I knit is the ribbing, I get it all.  Bwahahaha

I am aiming for 7000 m so there is still a ways to go.  I am definitely taking the Granito Sweater along with me to work on. 

That would take my total almost all the way to seven thousand.  I just need a pair of socks or a small shawl and I am good. And, I don't really need to worry about that too much because I do have the spinning I am doing right now.  It won't take any effort at all to get that finished and plied.  It looks like I will meet my goal so long as I complete the Granito sweater.  

So Granito is coming with me, and I think me version of  First Point of Aires 

It is nice easy, fairly unthinking knitting.  Once the next step is figured out, it is just garter stitch and to stay doing the one thing you have to do for that section.  Almost as good as sock knitting.

The real challenge is deciding what I will knit after these things are completed.  There are two sweaters that I was thinking of.  

The Keynote Pullover by Mary Lou Egan.  The problem with it is that the yarn I wish to use, some Harrisville Silk and Wool, is a light airy cream.  I am not so sure it is the right colour for knitting while on the road, and living out of the back of your car. 

The other is Catboat by Amy Herzog and Custom Fit.  One of my other goals for the year was to knit a sweater in pieces.  I don't mind sewing them together but usually knit as seamless as possible.  I just feel much more confident that I know the fit that I need top down in the round. Thinking about doing it in pieces makes my head hurt so I am going to go to Custom Fit for this basic wardrobe piece.  The only problem is, that I was planning to do it in a cream Aran weight yarn because I have a lot of that in my stash and because cream goes with everything. Again, not really the right colour for on the road knitting.

Right now, I either knit the Catboat in a different yarn, possibly a green DK I have in stash, or I find a different sweater to knit.

The other thing that I really wanted to finish in 2018 is the Dancing Reindeer shawl.  I have talked about this one for years.  The yarn is wound and ready to go.  I have the pattern, but will my head want to knit on a fairly complex design while I meander around the nation? Plus, there is a lot of cream in it.

I do have a couple other thought, but they have not quite formed themselves fully, but as I knit today, I am going to think hard about yarns that would be good for travel knitting.  If I focus on yarns, maybe a pattern will sort itself out as I go.

 

 

When I first started to blog in 2007, I picked up a small Sony point and shoot digital camera.  I loved that camera and it worked beautifully till late November 2010, according to photograph number 11 taken with to my next camera,  a small Canon Elph SD1300.  From what I recall, it simply quit working one day and just would not turn on anymore.  I took it to a camera shop and the only thing to do it was replace it.

So I did.  I have been using the Canon since 2010, almost daily and it has been a rock solid performer.  It's been a trooper taking photos by grandkids,

 Marcus, taken by his sister.

Grandma and Cassie, taken by Marcus.  Forgive my vapid look.  It was early and I probably did not have my daily complement of coffee.

Of grandkids, and

generally being sneaked out of grandma's bag whenever there was a chance to take pictures with.

It worked like a charm to and it put up with everything that came its way.  

But it has been dropped a few times over the years, the last time a couple months ago, by grandma herself, at home, with no kids around, no excuses, and it just couldn't do a good job anymore.  

After that last drop, it was noticeably worse, to the point that I almost hated using it. There was a soft grey film over the whole.  Some of the sensors must have been damaged.  It was time for something new.  

Old camera.

New camera, moments apart under the same conditions and default settings.

The new camera is again a Sony but most of the features are  similar to the features on both of the older cameras.  That is fine by me.  I take photos of yarn and kids and occasionally landscapes. This almost makes me wish that I had waited to take photos of all my yarn for Ravelry with this new camera.  Not that I will do that again, but still...

This trip is going to be a once in a lifetime sort of trip and I really want to be able to look back and see where I was, though I know far too well, that the really important memories live in our hearts. Because I am one of the 12 people in the world still actively blogging without trying to make money on it, and because it is a journal of sorts, I want the blog record that I make to be crisp and clear to share with myself and whoever happens to be reading it down the road.  

As Good as It Gets

I have spoken a few times about the shawl I have just started and finally, I will show it.

I am making Carina Spencer's Brush Creek Shawl.  It is a variation on a feather and fan pattern and the interesting this is the basic pattern is handled several different ways as you work through the shawl.  It ends with a really interesting looking pattern that reminds me of tree roots branching out underground.  I am so happy to finally have the right pairing of pattern for this yarn.

I'm a ways from the tree root section though, just slowly working my way through section one at the moment.

I have to tell you about this yarn too.  It is something really special.

It is nothing short of splendid.  Shilasdair Luxury 4 ply,  the Skye Yarn Company.  According to the internet, the shop and yarn business is just changed hands and locations on the Isle of Skye, but the good things will keep coming.  Angora, cashmere, baby camel and dash of lambswool all combine to make something delicious.

I am knitting it slowly to savour the feel of the yarn in my hands.  This isn't a yarn for rushing through and getting done at breakneck pace.  It's a yarn to contemplate while knitting.

And that is as good as it gets. 

Das Stricken, Das Monster, Das Saubere Auto

I finished the wee pants for my wee little boy.  

 I do have to insert an elastic and tidy the waist band, but it is pretty much ready to go.  I am so pleased with these cute little things googly eyes and all.

I'm pretty pleased to know this cute wee thing too, 

but I digress.  Isn't he grand though? Doesn't that sweet face just say, 'grandma, I need some monster pants.' Das Monsters are so very Emmett.

After I finished the pants, I started a shawl, which I will save to tell you about till tomorrow.  After knitting on that I worked on my Granito sweater.  It is coming along nicely.

It's looking really sweaterish.  And nice.  It's got a lot of knitting to go, particularly because it is fingering weight yarn, but I just love what is happening on my needle.  Which is really great when you consider that there are several more sweaters worth of fingering weight yarns in the stash.  Just one more increase round and I'll be going for broke to the bottom  of the sweater.  Sleeves remain of course, but that is easy enough and one double points, becomes one of my favourite things, round and round, like socks, but no heel or toe or grafting.

And then while there were dozens of other things to do, I spent the afternoon cleaning my car.  I still had a couple things in the back of my car from moving to this house.  There were two foam tiles that I used to use for blocking, that lay flat on my floor in the back.  It didn't really matter that they were there so they stayed.  The case for my Victoria wheel was in the car too.  I haven't used it in many many months, but it just never came into the house.  There were always so many other things in my hands.  There were odds and ends, and really, it was atrocious.  If you are planning on camping in your car, it is important that it not be atrocious. I needed all the empty flat surfaces I have, so I can fill it up with gear.  

And then, Sunday ended and I didn't have everything on the list complete.  Still and all, I did pretty good and I will be content.  To sum up the weekend, it was Das Stricken, Das Monster, Das Saubere auto.

On Canada Day, it is appropriate to do searches for Maple leaf  and Canada.