Oops

I have been antsy for the last wee or so.  Just antsy fancy pants.  I found it difficult to sit still.  

Because...I ordered yarn.  I didn't need yarn but I needed it.  I bought yarn several times this year and I thought I was done but it seems I was not.  Oline from Norwegianknitter was talking about yarns and I decided to go searching for a Canadian source for some Per Gynt.  

I found it at Wet Coast Wools which has an amazing selection of stuff not available locally to me.  I fell in love.  With SO many yarns.  I couldn't afford it February.  Same in March.  Same in April.  And then I did my taxes and got some funds back.  I scratched that itch and it is oh so good.

 

I have other closer pictures of it but this is the only one where the colour of the yarn is just as it is in front of me.  It's that gorgeous perfect pea shoot green.  Just stunning.  The yarn itself is a little like Jaimesons of Shetland or Jamieson and Smith in the way it looks but is a very unique feel and fibre.  It is a 100 % Norwegian wool and this green is one of the new line of heathered colours dyed on grey wool.  I am completely under it's spell.

I didn't want to pay shipping so I had to, I swear I had to, buy more yarn.  Choosing more yarn was a heavy burden.   ;)

I decided to go with something new to all of us, Fallalopi a new DK version of the inimitable Icelandic yarn from Istex.  A thousand and one things that Iceland does well and volcanoes and yarn are my top two.  I picked this intense blue and added some heathered grey in case I wanted to do some colourwork.  Its an utter delight.

And nary a skein of Per Gynt.  I have to go now.  My battery is at 8%.  3 more and it just stops doing anything.  See you.

So close

It was a really nice weekend.  I was feted and fussed over and it was lovely.  

A little treat from my kids. 

I had a moderately good knitting weekend too.  

Two sleeves!  Only the neckline to go.  

I actually got a good start on the neckband too. I really wanted to finish but I am listening to my hands.  My left thumb is a teeny tiny bit achy but listening to its early calls to stop will help in the long run.  I think it is just the cotton.  Cotton is always a bit harder to work.  The lack of stretch in the fibre means your hands work harder.  

This thumb thing may change what I work on next.  I had planned to whip up something in the gentle purple Remix to get it out of stash but I think I will have to skip it for something in a wool.  I might settle back into my gorgeously bright yellow Hiraeth sweater.  

It's all in the round so it will be a lot easier on my hands.  

I am also thinking about working on my Mashup Top.  It's all knitting too so again, easier on my hands.  My Kauni sweater is under consideration too.  It's all easy knitting too.  

The dreaming continues in a big way.  So many great yarns on hand, so many good things to knit. So much tea.  Sigh.  The tea part does allow a lot of experimentation so even that is pretty good even if it isn't my beloved coffee.  It's not all sunshine and roses but the snow is gone and it's lovely to be able to open the doors and windows again.  And knitting.  I am so glad that I have knitting.

Of Berries and Summer Things.

Yesterday was an utterly lovely day.  It was the perfect temperature outside though sometimes the wind was a bit strong.  It was a good knitting day too.

Ta da!  It's a hem.  Time will tell if I knit it long enough.

Not only that but I made it to sleeves.

I could have striped through this tees secret sauce for short sleeves but I felt comfortable knitting them plain till that section was complete.  I can't wait to wear this!  Honestly, each time I slip on my blue and white Lusk I realize what a great fit this is for me and this top is just the same.  The fit is just right.  Part of it is this more softly fitted style but it also is how Rebecca Clow grades her patterns.  

Yesterday when Keith was putting groceries away, we were chatting about the fruits of summer. There was rhubarb at the store and he brought some home for me.  I love a fresh rhubarb crisp.  I started talking about fruit treats when I was a kid.  We were allowed to pick a stalk of rhubarb after mom had all she wanted.  Mom would give us a small bowl of sugar and we would dip the skinier end in and bite it off.  Yum.  

At Grandma Stuck's we got an even better treat though mom did make it at home too. My first memory of it was at Grandma's.  In peak berry season, we would all help pick June berries (Saskatoons or service berries for those of you who did not come from my part of the Saskatchewan) and when we were done, she would make pancakes for lunch.  She would mash some berries with a bit of sugar and pour some rich, cold, straight from the cow cream.  She would beat it with a spoon for a few minutes and we would piles berries and cream on top of our pancakes.  It was wonderful.  We did this with raspberries too.  Delightful delicious.

Later in life mom had a strawberry patch of every gardeners dreams.  Oh how much I loved helping pick strawberries, popping a few in my mouth before mom noticed.  Her patch was large enough that she put strawberries away for the whole season for on ice-cream as a Sunday desert.  I don't think she made jam though.  Not quite certain why.  

And then even later, there were tiny plums and sand cherries. I remember how good they were at full ripeness, warm from the sun.

It's a shame kids don't get these treats anymore.  They rarely get to pick fresh raspberries from the bush.  A garden now is something to look at or sit in, though we rarely do.  It's about display rather than food.  Sad in so many ways really.  

Ah well.  On to knit.

On Geddy and Lusk

On the weekend, I did spend time knitting a little something else.  

I pulled out my Geddy Tee and set to getting the body started.

I was pretty pleased with how it was looking...however

When I picked it up this week, the fabric felt wrong.  Not bad but not right.  And then I took a look at how the stitches were sitting.

See the ripple?  I had been telling myself that the ripple would block out, one of the biggest lies of all time.  It wouldn't.  It never really does.  

Yesterday afternoon, I bit the bullet and sorted it out.  I pulled back what I had knit and I started again.

Much much better.  

I changed needle sizes, going up a bit from what the pattern asked for.  The fabric feels softer and will have a really lovely drape.  I narrowed the back neck a wee bit.  Tanis does a good job sizing it but I hate a too large neck.  All my favourite, most worn tops have a narrower back neck.  They just sit better on me.  Yes all these things mean that once again, I am winging the body of this tee.  I must love math.  Noooooooo.

Oh well.  

I made good progress on the Lusk cream and white top.  

I should finish with the bottom today, then just two short sleeves and done.  This is such a good time in the making of a sweater.  It's the state of almost.  Almost ready.  Almost yours.

So here I am, ready to start my knitting for the day.  Tea is on and my goodness I still miss my second cup of coffee.  Oh well.  Tea it is.  Some nice Irish Breakfast Tea this morning, steeped for only a short time, plain and black and good.  

The weather is perfectly spring and the doors and windows will be open and I will be knitting some pretty spring tops.  It can't get much better than that.