Cheery and Happy?

This morning brings another long unworn scarf.  For no reason other than it was in the bottom of it's cubicle. 

 
It's made of two skeins of one of my favourite colurs of Noro Silk Garden Sock, (oh my gosh I love Noro!) and no particular pattern, just started with a garter tab cast on and away.  I need to knit with Noro soon. 

And yesterday's mail brought the final chapter of my Christmas present to myself, As Time Goes By, the whole series.

I found this on Britbox though I was familaiar with episodes, I had never seen the start.  It is utterly charming and lovely.

I did start working on Marcus' picture, but it soon became apparent that all I had done to myself was to give myself yet another pile of things to have to navigate around.  Vat a mess.

Smarter people than I would have known running for something different was not going to resolve my miasma..  Finishing is how to resolve miasma.  I know this but it takes me frustratingly long till I seem to face it and accept it. So finishing it is.

Heavy monster socks, two pairs here actually.  The top sock has an afterthought heel because I knit farther than I meant to as I was working along.  It also looks like I could have stopped that heel just a bit sooner too.  Oh well.

And pair of socks two

has the short row heel.  Yes there are two and both are complete. 

It won't be long till the final sock of these monsters is done and I can put all the monstering away for a bit.

That gaping maw of finishing afterthought heels never fails to amuse me.  So Star Trek and the creature from M13.  And the more you knit the more it looks like that.  It makes me smile because it is such a silly thing to think of.  I know.  I amuse only me.

These heels are going to be done.  Today.  The Monster yarn will be put away.  Today.  Well maybe.  I am noticing there are a goodly number of socks that need repair.  Time to go through the drawer and see what is what.  Might need to knit a few more socks. 

But in cheerier colours and happier yarns!.

Something New

My scarf, so far today is the bonus warm band from my recent spate of hat knitting.

I have been thinking about keeping it in the house but I think it really is needed as part of  my in car emergency kit.  Something to pop around your neck that can also cover your head might be perfect for the days when I am too stupid to grab smart wear for in the car.  It will really add to the mittens that live there and will go a long way to replacing the hat I felted last year. There ought to be a hat too, but this could be really handy if I am in need.

The other day when Cassie and Marcus were visiting, Marcus came to me and wanted to know if he could take something home so he could remember me. 


He wanted to take this picture that we drew together.

It is, of course, a volcano that he drew and up in the top corner is a volcano that I drew.  Down at the bottom of the page I drew Marcus who is standing there looking worried because the long purple lava flow is past the striped colour lagoon and is coming towards him.  As you can clearly see some lava is purple and some lava is red because some lava is really purple (hotter).  It has lived on my fridge for a while now and we talk about it and all the others every time he comes.

In the end he decided to leave it here.  Still his plaintive  question stirs my soul.  How will he remember me?  Five is old to him, but I know that I have only a few memories from my first years of school.  Even Cassie, being seven, isn't going to remember huge amounts of stuff.  Carter and Emmett, particularly Emmett, won't remember very much at all if something were to happen to me now.  In a way, that is what the wee sock monkeys are about.  There is this long blog record but they won't understand that until they are older.

With Marcus, here he was, wanting something we both worked on, and that we both shared and remember the story of, so he could have it too.  With all my pondering and prepping for embroidery projects, it struck me the other day, that in a lot of ways, this picture, would make a good embroidered picture and a decent practice piece.   There are ample places where simple stitches and outlines are key.  There is a large purple area for practice with colour blending and satin stitch.  There are places for me to stretch and see what I can do without following someone else's design ideas.

So first things first.  Get a frame work of the picture to the fabric.  I ended up committing a huge sin, no doubt.  I have transfer pencil and a pen that ought to work,but the transfer pencils were no where around, and the marker that eventually disappears into the air (so no worry about covering lines), was so light as to be useless. I used a pen.  I was doing minimal lines anyway.

Then it was mounted in the hoop and I think I am ready to begin.  

Today, I am going to pull colours.  The reds and purples could be challenging but once that is done, I will be starting some of the foundation stitching.

It doesn't have to be perfect.  It only has to be a reasonable reflection of Marcus and my drawing, close enough that he recognizes it.  And then, I have to decide if it will be a picture or a pillow.  A picture might last longer, but a pillow is something a small boy can hug when he needs to.     

Tilting at Windmills

My shawl of today isn't a shawl.  It isn't a scarf.  Today, as yesterday while out and about, I am wearing this delicious thing.

Seriously, go get yourself one treat, one yummy skein of delicious fingering weight yarn, add a skein of really fine quality mohair, Shibui or Rowan and knit a Huj Tub.

I have been struggling lately.  If I am strictly sticking to truth, I have been struggling for several months.  I am pretty sure that a lot of it has to do with the low number of daylight hours we get at this time of year.  By struggle, I don't mean anything deep or dark, but more that my mind is far too often thinking of all the sad things of life.  The best thing for me to do is to keep busy.  That more than anything is what this spate of deeper cleaning and all the cooking I have been doing lately is about.

As I have been scurrying about doing stuff, I keep coming up against the old days and my pretty yellow study.  I think often about how once I left that room, there was no other pile of knitting around my house. I felt that since Mr. Needles did not spread the trappings of his hobby all over the house, that it was kind of my obligation not to spread my vocation about too freely.  The house was a shared space.

I also think about how easy it was to make the decision that I could knit in my living room at my wee house since it was my own place and only mine.  Oddly enough, it did have to be a real decision and it didn't just happen in the flow of living.   There was a little bit of bravado in it, a little bit of a 'so there world, mess with me will you.  Watch me knit anywhere I want'.  In the grand scheme of sticking it to the world, this seems a very small thing, I suppose, but if you have been in my shoes, you would be surprised at how big those little rebellions can be in the moment.

Allowing myself to knit all over my house has never been in question since.  I knit everywhere.  Other than the shared kitchen, my house is covered by knitting.  I sometimes regret that decision.  Every once in a blue moon, wishing I did not have knitting spilling out everywhere is a thing.  It has been consuming my space all winter.

There are three very tidy containers that my WIPs ought to fit in.  I'm generally okay with that, but when I started knitting winter sweaters without finishing summer sweaters, it got a bit out of hand.

I am okay with knitting an ongoing project from a bag sitting at my feet.  I am less okay with the swath of large bags that go from my feet all the way to the window.  It got even worse when I started mucking about with sock yarn bits and ends and monster socks.

And that isn't even the half of it.

There is the Sock Monkey Blanket in a large bag at the other side of my sofa.

Even my pristine corner, the freshly tidied books with the pretty little chair come out from my study, have stuff on them, in them, by them.

See the stuff to be combed under the game table? See it by the TV? Yes there is that too. And if you look at the bookshelf corner above, you will see one spinning wheel.  I haven't even taken a picture of the winding station which sits at the other end of my sofa rather than having the end table there.

I do think about getting something different to keep my WIPs in, something larger that could accommodate them all, but I know me.  I'd get a fourth and need a fifth.  I'd get a fifth and need more.  Don't get me wrong.  I love my stuff, and why wouldn't I have it all over the place?  It's my place. I love being able to sit down and just start something interesting.  I love having a place to live that is me through and through.

It is just that every once in a while, I wish it were those days when I had a door and  a reason to keep it contained.  Such are the thoughts that occupy space in my mind just a little more than they ought in the dark of winter.

So since I cannot walk in my living room for stuff all the stuff out and about, and since it is the dark of winter and I have nothing better to do, what do you think I am going to do?  Yup.  I am going to start something new.

Take that dark of winter.  Ha, I say to you.  Just HA.

Found things

Last Friday, I dusted shelves and put away piles of books.  It's good once in a while to see if everything fits on the shelves.  It is also rather pleasant not to tip over the piles as you walk by.  It was getting perilous and it was past time.

Because I was taking things off, dusting and putting them back, I found a few things I thought were gone.

I found an oldie but a goodie by Amy Singer, No Sheep for You, I am happy to say.  I feared it had been sent to new owner in one of my moves.  There are still things I have yarn for in that book and I would love to knit them.  

I still have Liz Uptis great book, Latvian Mittens.  I have always wanted to knit mittens in those brilliant sprightly patterns.  I hanker after the teeny mittens.  They make my heart beat fast.  

And I found this.  

Last winter, I purchased yarn.  I meant to knit each of my kiddies a sock monkey for the fun of it.  I knew that I had it but every time I searched, I came up empty. I feared it had gone in a move as things sometimes do. I still wouldn't have found it this time, had I not been dusting the shelves and moving books.  It was there, tucked half into a crewel embroidery book, hidden by the spine of the larger book.  

It is all I can do to get these monsters and bed socks out of the way, so I can use the needles to make mini versions of these sweet monkey.  I am working as fast as I can and it feels so slow.

Today is spinning in the morning.  If I recall how to do it, I will be finishing a braid of pretty blue.  If I recall.  Of course I will.

Updated to add

My scarves.  I forgot my scarves!

Yesterday I wore a favourite made from Silk Blend by Manos del Uraguay, the Oscilloscope shawl.  I love this though I wish it were larger.

Because I am out today, the weather will be in charge of what I wear today.  I am not sure yet just what it will be.

Dig deep.

No scarf this morning.  I expect I shall need one  before too long, but not just yet.

I've been very busy though I haven't knit hardly a stitch since Thursday.  Friday I got down to a major putting stuff away day, and moved around some furniture in the living room.  I dusted shelves and sorted various piles of books back to where they belonged.  Saturday I had company all day and had a wonderful time with Cassie and Marcus and their dad.  They came and brought me lunch and I bought them supper and it was a great afternoon. 

Sunday morning with my coffee, I looked at the mess at me feet and the mess in my sock yarn ends bag and gave up.

This is after I had sorted for a bit, but when I started, the jumble of tangled yarns was three times the size.  that's what happens when you have dozens of small balls and medium balls and larger balls of yarn and you dig through them stirring ends up.

The bag the ends were in was a giant sweater bag, the kind that are sold 5 to a box and are about 15 x 15 plus they have an expanding bottom.  These are my trusty storage bags for sweaters and all sorts of large amounts of things.  As I was mucking about, I realized that I really don't have that many sock ends.  It was just that they were as they were when I finished knitting, so masses of loosely packed yarn.  I knew that if I wound them into nice tightly packed balls that I could put the yarn into a much smaller bag. 

I also wanted to take out a few things that were not socks yarns or things that would felt on washing and move them to the other box of yarn ends.

I wound the really small balls of ends into one large magic ball of yarn. 

That bright blue and green in the front is it.  In between bright colours are some dull dark things.  I hope it makes a reasonable looking pair of socks.   It will be a ball that will just get knit as it comes till I have a pair. I've never done that kind of monsters yet.

It is a very good thing that I decided to do all this futzing with this bag of yarn.  I don't dig in it very often.  It gets added to but that is about it.  Winding the loose hanks showed me that in two skeins, which were knit into socks when I was still in Spruce Grove, had a very small part in the moth event I experienced there. 

Each skein sported on short bit, less than an inch each of yarn that was thin and suspect or that had that sandy gritty feel.  Because they have sat so long without any other sign of damage in any other bit of yarn from that bag, I am fairly sure I didn't have a problem.  Still, a dose of hot air is not going to hurt the yarn and it pays to be sure.   

These are currently sitting in a nice warm oven at about 180 F.  They will stay there for a couple hours till I am sure that even the very centre of the balls  is good and warm.  The bag that these balls were in is done for, which is sad.  It is such a useful size but it's construction means I cannot be certain that every tiny corner is clean.  There is nothing for it but to toss it.  I don't do that lightly.

I don't usually include these boxes with their secure bags in my stash dives.  The stash dives are the very best thing you can do to keep pests out.  Pests do not like to be disturbed so a good toss every couple months is vital. I will remember to go through all the bits from now on.  Lesson learned.

So sitting here, sipping coffee, baking yarn.  That is my day.  Not too shabby.

The Procrastination Game

My scarf today is one of my most loved though not so much worn anymore.  

It is made from two skeins of Noro Kureyon Sock and the pattern is Laura Chau's Simple yet Effective Shawl.  I used to wear it all the time working at the yarn store and it always got comments.  It is such a striking combination of greens.

I read an article this morning about procrastination and how it is tied to our emotions and not to any lack of time management skills.  It has always seemed apparent to me, but in the halls of academia, a study needed to be done.  Procrastinating is what we do, when we are trying to avoid a task that doesn't fulfill us. I procrastinate with housekeeping.  This finding is not a surprise. Funny how I found this article the day after I stopped procrastinating.

I was searching for something on my bookcase in my study the other day and moved the bags of projects.  I had tucked them to be out of the way in the livingroom over Christmas.   I tripped over them almost everyday since.  Each time I did so, I looked at the blue sweater bag and thought about that ugly awful sleeve. Yesterday, I stopped trying to avoid them and pulled them out back to my livingroom. 

And then I did it.  I sat down and faced the music yesterday and ripped off an entire completed sleeve from my pretty blue sweater.  

The behemouth leg of mutton sleeve is no more.  I had started on a second sleeve already so sleeve one is back on waste yarn, but at least I don't have to look a it anymore.  That giant sleeve took my pretty sweater and made it look foolish.  So...sleeve two is going to be started on fewer stitches and I am absolutely not going to do the long ribbed bottom of sleeve that was one of the features that drew me to the sweater in the first place.  FYI, the leg of mutton sleeve is not what the pattern has in it, merely what occurred on my sweater.  It happens that way when you wing it.  You really wish it wouldn't happen, but it does.  Finally getting rid of that ugly sleeve, that soul destroying monstrosity  means I might actually get this sweater finished.

There are lots of things to do today, and lots of things to do over the weekend (where did the days go) and there might even be time to knit sleeves.  If not sleeves, then perhaps sleeve bands? Who knows what I will procrastinate about next!

 

Not So Difficult

The scarf of the day today is an adventure scarf. 

It is a lovely rectangle of fluff, made from two skeins of different colours of Punta Yarns Kid Mohair and nylon.  The two colours was a buying error.  One had more reds and golds in it and the other more blues.  Both had a strong green component and by doing two row stripes it worked together quite well.  I am still not a fan of low quality mohairs, but I have learned not to assume that a mohair and nylon blend is bad and I am definitely a big fan of kid mohairs.  I keep this project because I have a really interesting idea for a sweater to wear it with.


And on to the knitting of the day.  It wasn't so hard as I thought it would be.

It seldom is.  It just took a little gumption and swiping that massive number of steeking strands to the worked side as I went along.  I am very pleased with the way it looks along the whole length of patterns.

The wrap was wide, so the buttonband doesn't need to be wide for coverage. It meets very generously in the center.  It just needs to pull all the pattern elements together and to give it a crisp edge so it matches the look of the whole.  All the straggle steeking waste ends will be felted just a bit and will probably be tucked under a bit if a lining to keep them all nice and orderly.

Once I got a couple ribbed rows done here, I set it down and did a few other things that were becoming urgent.

I have long been planning to put some leather bottoms on my slippers.  Before winter is done I want to play with a whole sole of fleece, but for now just leather bottoms on existing slippers. It was to the point that one small hole thin area was close to becoming a hole so if I was ever going to do it, now was the time.

Last time I did this, bought soles.  This time, I am going with reclaimed coat leather.  It's a bit thinner than would be perfect, but it is what I have on hand. 

I originally meant to attach the pieces directly to the soles, but it was very difficult to get through the leather and keep the patch in place as I worked. I debated about ways to attach them and thought this pair of slippers would be great as a test case.   I worked an edge using a buttonhole stitch in a heavy weight waxed cord and I also did an edge where I punch holes with an regular hole punch.  At this point I am praying the hole punch is the winner, because it was so much faster than sewing around the patch.  If neither of these prove to be good options, I have seen an awl somewhere in my took kit that I could use to punch holes. 

And adhered.  I used a double strand of sock yarn for sturdiness.  On my sock slippers, the attaching only stayed sturdy after I used some ugly bright pink wool figuring ugly would probably last longer.  It did.   This may not be a perfect solution but then these are not the perfect slippers either. 

And no, I did not notice that one sole is buff and the other is buckskin.  Not till I was putting them on.  I  will get to see if that makes a difference too.  The picture looks pretty darn ugly, really, but the proof is in the pudding.  Will it help the slippers last?

When I do this next time, one of the things I think I am going to do is to to make the sole patch go larger up the sides and back of my foot. Not lots, but just a little.  This pair of slippers likes to swirl around my foot when I don't have socks on, so that little up the sides would probably make these last longer.  I don't generally need a whole sole covered.  I have never ever worn out any part of any footwear at the front so heel patches are all I am going to need. 

Step Two. Complete.

I don't know about anyone else, but doing the shawl of the day is a lot of fun.  My normal way of operation is to pick from the top, but this is making me really go down into the boxes and look for something pretty to wear.

Today's little something is one of my favourites, Multnomah

I've knit several Multnomahs over the years, but this was my first and it was my first project with Zauberball.  It isn't a very large piece, but it makes this really delicate little collar like thing.  I wore it most often over a black sweater and most people thought it was attached.  Since that black sweater is gone (felting accident) , I haven't worn this nearly as often, but I do love it. 

In case you feel the shawl is only meant for fingering weight yarns, I did a lovely version in RCY Eden  which is a worsted weight and have some in the Nightfall and Temptation colourways that were purchased with an eye to Multnomah's as well. 

Yesterday was another stunningly sleepy days.  I struggled to get going.  Since it seems my start button is broken, I need to go outside for a walk today.  That is part of the plan for this lovely warm weather we are having.

If knitting the back of this sweater was step one, this is step two and it is done.  The bottom has a sweet little twisted stitch ribbing.

Working on this again reminds me of just how much I enjoyed the whole project.  It gives me a chance to really appreciate the structure and clarity of twisted stitches.  I can't wait for the next twisted stitch project even though I also cannot wait for the next brioche project. The knits I desire deeply to work on are a very long line.

This is today's work.  I have to work around the long ends from the steek and pick up the stitches for the neck and button band ribbing.  It is going to be a kind of pain.  It is becoming more clear to me that I need a little needle felting tool to do this very large job.

While I wait for the tool to arrive, I am going to persevere and just keep on working.  It's going to take a while.

A Second Cup of Coffee

I was going to write after I had a good long shower and after my first cup of coffee, but the evil gods of household chores defeated me.  I forgot to toss my load of towels in the dryer last night.  I have to wait so I shall fill in this hole in my day with writing. 

I'm going to wear a lovely little shawl, which was buried in my sweater chest since forever, my version of the Shaelyn shawl.  This was such a nice pattern to knit.  There will probably be another shortly.  Maybe come springtime when small shawls are on my mind.

The poor thing has never been properly blocked though I have worn it once or twice before.  It is a lovely combination of two very different yarns that were perfect colour matches for each other, Noro Taiyo Sock and Ancient Arts Socknado.  The photo doesn't make it appear that way, but they look wonderful together, such a shifting range of glorious blues.  Try here to see them more accurately.

I am going to get back to working on my converted wrap sweater today.  I hope to finish the bottom ribbing, and possibly get a start on the bit of sleeve ribbing needed. 

There are a bunch of household chores that need tending, like a good fridge clean out.  It is a good day for it before we restock the fresh veggies we like to keep on hand. It is probably time to tend to the floors again too. I feel a bit like an old Gordon Lightfoot tune, ' I'm on my second cup of coffee and I still can't face the day'

As much as I plan for knitting, we shall see.

My shawl or scarf of the day is something new.

and accidental.  But it is also warm.  Our extreme cold warning is finally over and we are back to regular winter cold with a forecast for warmer than average.  Even though it has warmed, I feel chilly. This ribbed piece is made from Custom Woollen Mills Mulespinner two ply, which is the warmest wool I have found in all my wooly travels.

I have spent the whole weekend waiting. I get through weekends the rest of the year with F1 to watch or at least look forward to, but these dark winter days of F1 off season, I got nothing.  If I can't knit, it is very hard.  This weekend was very hard.

On Friday  I finished knitting the back of the conversion of my sampler shawl.  I sewed up the seams (very short seams) and decided to put a ribbing all around the bottom so that the finishing was the same for the entire piece.  I had live stitches on the back and stitches I had to pull out on the cast off edge (it looked wavy and awful), so I decided to start from live stitches all the way around.

After releasing live stitches on the cast on edge and setting up a garter ridge foundation row, I started to knit a twisted stitch ribbing all the way around the bottom of this soon to be sweater.

Somewhere between that garter stitch foundation round and the end of the first row of twisted stitches, I felt my thumb tingle.  Not my working hand thumb but my not generally used for active knitting thumb.  It doesn't usually move as I knit but it does support the needle in my left hand, and the weight of all of this added to the gauge of this twisted stitch made it unhappy. It also gets used a bit differently as I knit twisted stitches back and forth, rather than the ease of knitting twisted stitches in the round.  I wouldn't say it is injured just yet, but it is aggravated.  I decided to give it a couple days of rest.

I knit a few rounds on this second set of double stranded monster socks, but that is it for the weekend.  A few in this instance was less than 9 rounds and that was all the knitting for the last two days.  I am going to rest my hands again today.

I spent a lot of time reading.  I spent a lot of time dreaming of how I would use the colourwork patterns in the first book and which mittens I would make from the second, and what project to do from the third.

I read over several patterns in this book.  Every time I knit a bit of brioche, I want more.  I have a plan for that sweet blue yarn that Marcus and Cassie gave me for my birthday, to do some sampling of two colour brioche stitches and maybe some of the wonderful patterns that are out there.  That always makes me want to pull out this book and read over the patterns. And wish that the patterns were written to be knit in the round and from the top down rather than pieced, as they are.  I think about what I would love to knit immediately, a sweater, in one colour, using some really lovely Elann Sierra Aran.  I cannot see why I can't knit at least a plain sweater, my way, once I really understand the increases and decreases. To practise on a sampler type project from this pretty yarn sounds like a great idea to me.

I'm in limbo on my blanket till the yarn comes.  I ordered from the source, Yarnspirations, because my closest store doesn't have any in stock right now.  One way or another there would be driving involved.  If I drive to the city to find it, that ends up costing the environment more than my mail order.  Mail was coming anyway.

And that is what is up in the world of me today.  It is errand day, groceries to be more precise.  We have all kinds of food here and wouldn't starve but there are no veggies.  There is no flour, no rice, no baking powder, no sugar, no eggs, no diversity because we are all out of the basics.  So a busy day and warm enough now that it is time to go.

The Odd Buddy

My shawl of the day is something nice and large and very special to me.

Another part of my Christmas present a=has arrived and I am thrilled in a weird sort of way. 

Way back in the dark days when Mr. Needles was just in hospital, I discovered Poirot.  I had seen the show here and there over the years but Mr. Needles wasn't  a fan so I really never watched it.  In those dark early days, just after we knew the worst, I had a lot of trouble sleeping.  I started watching Poirot and it worked.  It was enough to catch my attention but gentle enough to lull myself to sleep.  All through those dark, dark days I kept my sanity because I could count on Poirot to occupy my little gray cells.

That stayed the same all these years.  When I am tense, when my mind goes round and round, unable to resolve the unresolvable,  and I cannot sleep, I watch Poirot and and focus on that little world where everything has resolution and eventually fall asleep.

It used to be on Netflix so it would stop after one episode was done.  Now it is split between Acorn and Britbox, neither of which has a fail safe single episode thing on their player program.  So for a slightly late part of my Christmas present to myself, I present

He is there when I am most alone. He is there late at night and there when I am down and there when I am upset.  If I had a puppy, his name would be Poirot.  (The landlord cannot do animals).   And now, if I want to watch an episode, I can without blinking an eye.  He is right here, in my house and I am tremendously pleased.

I realize that it is odd to be so sentimental, nay even just a bit goofy about a pack of dvds, but it is what it is.  Poirot is my friend and he will always have a home with me.

And now back to my knitting.  And this morning's adventure.  The Downton Abby movie.  I rewatched the entire series to prepare and now it is time.  Coffee on, knitting ready and away we go.

Fun

This mornings shawl is 198-yds-of-heaven knit in Mist Alpaca Baby Suri Alpaca and Silk, one of the most delectable yarns on earth.  

I wore this to my oldest sons wedding in Kiev, 10 years ago this past Christmas.  It remains one of my favourite things.

I did knit on the blanket yesterday but not for long.  Apparently, knitting for hours on a giant thing means that your wrists get tired. I opted to stop rather than hurting myself and picked something lighter to work on.  

I talked about this project a couple weeks ago.  It is my very large twisted stitch sampler shawl that I am turning into a vest.  I looked at every picture for every project similar to this out there and I am winging it.  This centre back portion is section one.  I picked up stitches along the centre third of the edge stitches and will knit down for a bit.  I don't know how long.  Winging it.  By the end of today I hope to have enough length to be able to put it on a string and pin it together and see what I have got here. 

This is the quick way to a garment.  The not knowing is part of the fun.

Big Blankets

Today's  scarf is one of my favourites.

Topsy Turvy Moebius  , a free pattern from the Rainey Sisters, it is a true moebius.  I knit it in a single skein of Mini Maiden from Handmaiden in a really gorgeous green.  This lovely little thing is displayed much better here.

It's completely scrunched up these days.  Mini Maiden is just a little short in yardage from the recommended yarn so I cast on fewer stitches.  The scarf is just long enough to get round my neck twice, which is actually perfect for a soft warm yarn like this.  

Back to the work of today.  I had such a good day yesterday and I am so excited to tell you about it.  I worked on the blanket all day. 

My goal for the day was to get to the end of the first giant ball of cream yarn.  I did that before lunch and I just kept knitting.  I made it so that I can see the end of the ball of charcoal.

I have been wondering all along if this blanket was going to be large enough with just one ball of charcoal yarn.  Using this very basic yarn meant that dye lots aren't an issue so I wasn't concerned about purchasing a second ball later. It currently measures  45 inches plus the 8 inch cream and red trim would take it to 53 inches.  I will need to get 7 inches from this ball of black to make it to the 60 inches I was hoping for.  

I don't think that will happen, so I will have to see if I think it is big enough when I get there. My version of the pattern is wider than the original by 20 stitches so I have known this was going to be an issue.  It would be nice to be finished, to call it good with just the one ball.  It would be nice to chalk up one major project done but I think I'm going to knit it to the best size. If it is too short, it won't be used as it should be.  It will just get set aside for other larger blankets.  

I won't get the other yarn today.  It's just too cold out to go.  Which is a bit of a bugger because I really would like this one done.

Brrrrrrrr

It is bitterly cold here.  -38C when I woke and just a bit colder now as dawn approaches.  Very cold.  I am going to start a 'what scarf will I wear  inside the house ' on the blog just for silliness.  

Today's scarf is a lovely Magrathea by Martinz Behm.  

It is knit from a unique skein of Fleece Artists BFL 2/8 that was hand picked from the bin of seconds by Frazzeledknitter on one of her family's forays to Halifax.  It is so stunningly soft to wear close.

I did finish the mittens yesterday

They fit him perfectly.  I did make one small change and that was to knit 6 rows between the cuff and the start of the thumb gusset.

My hands were more or less done knitting for the day, but I was sitting feeling just a bit antsy.  I cleaned out my little bin of dishcloth cottons and found some remnants of Mission Falls 1824 wool.  There really wasn't much left, but I cast on and made a cute little set of wrist bands.

I have been thinking about making some since before Christmas. I find wristwarmers that go up on to the hand difficult to knit with but the benefit to my hands with them is significant.  The idea comes from Latvian beaded wristwarmers, though these are significantly simpler.  They do the job and I can still knit and do regular household tasks and that is the goal.

Busy Days

So after a weekend of work, I have finished stuff

 A good sturdy WARM winter hat.  I made a little loop at the top so it could hang by the door.  It looks nice hanging there.  I was going to take a picture but he seems to be wearing it.  It's only -27 C this morning but his 12 minute drive to work is in a fairly cold vehicle.  A hat is nice.  It makes me very happy that he appreciates it.

And I got a bonus cowl.  I didn't need even an inch from the first ribbing  to finish the hat. Yay me.

I am also making some mittens.  

I am using the lovely brown heather from MacAusland's for these.  The 3 ply thickness knit firmly will make a great pair of snowblower mittens.  With a bit of a loop to hang the by the door near the hat.  

I'm sitting tight here at home the next few days.  It's just too darn cold.  I am going to knit on that blanket.  It is of a size that it covers my lap and that is perfect for a day like today.

Nailed It

So yesterday I did exactly what I said.  I pulled out yarn and started on a hat for the landlord.  

I ribbed.  And ribbed.  And ribbed some more.  I knit 6 full inches of ribbing in the round.  

Six inches.

I even knit an inch of stockinette before I put it all on DPNs and could see the calamity facing me.  Note that you can see the three dpns and that it is laying flat and I will tell you there are three more full dpns on the other side.  Every needle is full of stitches.  Full.  Also note that it is as wide as the cushion and that the cushion is as deep as the sofa seat.  Almost.  I must be knitting a hat for a giant.  It was just the end of one of those days.  

What really gets me us that I thought there were a lot of stitches for a hat when I cast on the ribbing.  I told myself it was fine.

I meant to be telling you that I made a choice to use some hand spun for this hat.

That was going to be my big news today, but no.  No news.  Just this giant beast of a hat.

So today, it all gets pulled back and I will be knitting 6 inches of ribbing.  Because I don't have to dig out or wind yarn, I do hope to get a bit more hat done too.  A smaller number of stitches should help that too.  

I'm in search of a hat.  That fits a human.