Chasing after wee ones

means that no matter what you plan, the plan isn't always going to happen.  I meant to get the wheel from the car yesterday.  I meant to spin just a half an hour yesterday. Oh well.  C'est la vie.

There were lots of other interesting things happening.  My Sweet Things Mommie painted her bedroom.  It isn't finished yet or I would show you, but it looks fantastic.  Oh you are going to like it!

As busy as the day was, I did manage to get in a little knitting time and for that I am particularly pleased.  After several variations on a theme, I have these.

Daddy's and Mommy's and wee Sweet Things. I tried a few different things, playing with some slipping of black stitches to get that honey combed look, but on such a small diameter, I wasn't having any fun.  So Sweet Things birthday socks will be just deep orange stripes and I am good with that. There is plenty of Orange there to take it right through her socks. Its a two and three stripe and above the ankle it will be a rib.  Who knows, maybe a two and three there too.  It would work out mathematically!

As soon as the little ones are done, there will be some finishing required on both moms and dads socks, and then heels but not on the wee ones.  Those will have a short row heel built in from the get go.  It's such a short span of stitches it will work up in no time flat, so short row garter heel it is.

So as much as the next few days are all about getting settled for my new housemates, it will be about tiny wee socks and playing grandma to the cutest little thing out there. That is the plan anyway.

We will see what our Sweet Thing thinks about that!

There are times when I am not sure this blog is about needles anymore. Lately there have been a lot of the things of life and when it has been about needles, there haven't been photos! Harumph.   That just has to stop because even I am getting a little frustrated by it.  

I would do photos about yesterdays gallivanting but it I had so much fun, I forgot to take any and the spinning is still in the car and with wee people and their mommies asleep upstairs, I can't just wander out to get the bag and wheel.  See? Frustrating.

There has been knitting,  The black socks are done and wee baby ones are on the way.  I will show you that tomorrow.  I know, promises, promises.

I can, however, finally, show you knitting!  

I finally had the flexibility to purchase some of Martina Behm's patterns for the Knitmore Girls Behm-along.  I even had the gumption to wind up half the laceweight yarn required to knit it.  I am ready to go.

I am knitting Viajante in yarn that Mr. Needles brought back for me from Palm Springs, Gracie Lace from Fiesta Yarns.  The colourway is Cedar Crest. 

Its lovely stuff  and wonderful to work with, but the colours are a challenge.  There are all sorts of laces that would be lost in the power of these colours.  Cedar Crest is not for the timid.

It is a little hard to get a real feel for the colours till it is made into a ball.  The winding reveals so much.  

  Strong colours, all of them, but I kind of like it.  I  am getting 7-10 stitches out of the purpley black and pink sections and about double or a little more of the green.  That means it is going to be a real blend with no colour taking the lead. A challenging array, to be sure but it should be just perfect for the simplicity of Viajante.

And yes.  It is begun.  It doesn't look like much and it isn't just yet.  It starts with a wee garter section to form the first point.  Or not as the case may be.  It really isn't a point at all.  

Well, you will see in good time.

The very best part of this is that there is almost no thinking required.  For a while you knit garter.  Then you knit a long long time with just stockinette, like a sock, round and round.  Then you knit a little lace.  Just right.  Makes me happy just thinking of it.  

Out and About

This is a household with a whole bunch of cameras.  I know they are out there.  I know that they all have two things which I occasionally need.  One is a battery and the other is a memory card.

The batteries are not interchangeable between cameras.  Maybe between the same brands.  I haven't looked yet, but camera technology has moved along to where the memory cards work all over the place.  For this I am thankful.  

Because it means that I can still take some great pictures of what I am up to this morning.   

Yup.  Off gallivanting again, but there will be pictures!

 

Ever notice

Ever notice, that a black sock takes years longer to knit than any other colour of sock?

OK, that is not really fair.  Its just that black socks go on forever without being able to see the stitches.  A black sock, or indeed any dark colour ought to be taken as practice for knitting without looking.  Yeah that is what is going on here.  

I have only an inch left and I am substantially done Sweet Things papa's black socks.  Ought to get there today.

My wee Sweet Thing and I along with her momma took a long drive just to get out of the house and do do some thing really different than our ordinary days tasks.  It was wonderful.  

We drove up to Jasper, and spent the day wandering the glory that is Maligne Lake and Canyon.  I don't have any pictures because momma forgot her cameras memory card at home and needed mine to produce some spectacular pictures.  None of them are ready for public consumption since we arrived home at 2:30 a.m. and though I have dragged my sorry butt out of bed, because sweet heaven, I need a coffee, I suspect momma is trying hard to sleep in.  We shall see if that very good traveler baby of ours lets that happen!  

So, after a relatively icky week of stuff, I had the attitude adjust that I so badly needed, and feel much stronger going forward.  

Ever notice how much nicer the world feels when you make up your mind to focus on the good things over the bad?

So Kinitting.

As I said, it isn't that exciting.  It is just black.

See?  Black.

I wish it was more exciting, but there it is.

It's a lot more interesting to think about Sweet Things socks.  I'm using both yarns for hers and I would like to do a little something beyond stripes, but we shall see how much yarn I have. 

My computer is acting techy, as in painfully slow, this morning.  someone else was on my computer on the weekend, and I may have a virus or some stupid application that is making things sluggish.  

So I am going to sign off and see if this thing posts.  It posted.  Now what?

Just a little music

I've got nothing today.  Just looking at some patterns, and feeling a little knitterly but without the time to do much of anything.  Sigh.

I feel a lot like this.

The amount of knitting

that this blog is completing is in the order of zip nada.  

And the amount of knitting that this blog has worked on this last few days that is photographable, is zip nada.  

It is a black sock.  Just a plain black sock.  I have been working on this pair for well over a year.  I started it somewhere about when I found out my Sweet Thing was on the way.  I always said that I would never knit another pair of black socks but it the upcoming birth of a grandaughter seemed to be right for the knitting of a second pair.  It is her daddy, after all, who wanted only black socks and whose feet are not to hot to wear socks.  I am on the second sock, about halfway done, on this black pair.

The project then morphed into socks for the whole family. I started a new pair in colours that her mommy likes as she was being born, and those socks are done right up to the ribbing and the afterthought heels.  It was a lovely fall colours skein of yarn, oranges and greens and goldens.  Pleasing with a little bit of punch.

The plan is, with the bits left over from both pairs, to knit a wee pair for my Sweet Thing.  Ideally, I will get these all complete before her first birthday.  Which is in just a few short days.  Technically and realistically, I should have enough time. It is only the 17th and her birthday is not until the first of October so it seems like there should be time to knit half a sock, some heels and a baby pair of socks.      

I just have to stick to it.  There in lies my problem.

Settling In.

I am settled, more or less in the lower part of my domain. There still is organizing of the day to day stuff left to do, but the stuff is all moved.  There is only a little cleaning and loose ends upstairs that I have to deal with. 

I think the kids will be coming this weekend with their goods and I hope that in no time flat, we will be having something of life that is just a little bit more routine than what has been going on lately.  

Packed, partways, and pooped and tired.  Yup, that is about it.

Galivanting

I've been galivanting the last few days.  Not a whole lot of knitting and yet the progress on what I have been knitting on is sort of amazing.

I have knit almost 6 inches on a black sock and have about 3 inches on a multi coloured sock that is entirely new.  I have also knit about an inch down the last leg of the little green Pepita.  No pictures, but for gallivanting ones.

This last and most important, is Son3 and his family and their lovely new home.  It is filled with love already.

I wonder

Ever wonder what your oldest yarn in your stash was?  

I came across a post on Ravelry talking about using up a yarn that they had bought in 2010, and it got me to asking what the oldest yarn in my stash was.  How on earth would I figure it out?

Well, I may not have much of a memory at the moment, but I do have a blog.  So I went back to see what I could find.  Other than sock yarn, the first yarn I bought specifically for knitting was Laceweight Centolavaggi in black and some Jaggerspun Lacewight 100 percent merino lace in a cream colour.  I still have both of these, though I have used about 1/2 of the Centolavaggi for a scarf project.

It is part of a series of three scarves knit very early on, for the ladies who in one way or another, all led me to knitting.  This is still the sweetest thing anybody ever did for me.  And why not lace scarves as the second third and fourth thing you ever really knit?  Of course you can.

My next oldest yarns have all been used up.  I bought some Socks That Rock that became socks for me, some plain black Jawoll that became socks for my dad, and some Confetti Cotton that also became socks for me, and are still sadly missed.

But when was it that I moved to sweater knitting?  When was it that that first sweater yarn buy happened.  Those first few blogging and then knitting months were about socks and lace.  Ah, there it is.  November 21, 2007.  The first sweater yarn.  That first fatal step.  And used up for one of the nicest things I have ever knit.

Cascade 220.  The gateway drug.

After that, when I go back and read the blog, there was no stopping me.  Once the idea that I could knit sweaters was in my head, life changed.  Well, my yarn buying habits certainly did.

It was a lovely adventure as it happened and almost as much fun to look back on.

Magic in the Air.

Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I see is the colour of the sky out my window.  The window sits high high above everything else here, so I have no curtains to close the sky from my view.  

At this time of year, when I wake, the sun is only just rising  and the sky is soft cerulean blue.  It is the prettiest of sky colours and this morning there was naught to disturb it, but for one narrow high swath of a single planes contrail flaring brilliant scarlet across the sky.

I watched it till the pink scattered and the cerulean was softened and mellowed.

I think I am going to put on my cozy morning sweater and take my mug of coffee and go sit on the front porch swing for a while. Its the perfect morning to soak in the magic of it all, isn't it?  

Solid Progress

I started a Noro sweater last last year or early this year, inspired by a Jane Ellison design, with a ribbed top, a deeply scooped neckline and a straight stockinette bottom.  RCY had a sample of the design from Mirasol, and  I knew there was a sister design out there somewhere for Noro, and I always felt that it would work for me, but its size range was no where near in my league.  I am reinterpreting it for me. A straight knockoff for which Ms. Ellison gets full credit for the design, but sadly, I have no way to pay her.  I guess I shall have to buy more Mirasol and support something she cares about instead!

When last you saw my Noro sweater, it was sans sleeves.  In fact, if I think about it, it was probably after my failed first sleeve.  

The first sleeve was huge.  I picked up in every stitch just like one usually does, but that did not work in a most spectacular way.  It almost wrapped around both of my arms!  I suspect this has something to do with the ribbed upper part of the body.

This is try two and it is just about the perfect size.  I am so pleased with its short little sleeveishness.  I really don't need long sleeves on this.  Short suits me and I won't get overheated in this lovely warm yarn.

Sleeve two beckons, but I know what stitch count I need and I am ready to go.  Then all that is left is for me to knit to the very last of the yarn. There will be a little bit of a crochet edging to crisp up the neckline and I will pop hooks and eyes on for closures, and I will finish at least one sweater this year. 

Its time.  That cold overnite air is telling me fall is on its way.  My favourite season.  Sweater weather.

What Speaks to you

There are a series of commercials running here, that intrigue me.  what the commercials are for really doesn't matter, it is the concept of the commercial I find interesting.  They ask one simple question.

What speaks to you?  That one simple question and its myriad of answers.  Out of the context of the commercials of course, but what is it that speaks to you.

A baby's laugh.  A hug from someone you love.  A good ball of yarn. These are the obvious things of course, but the commercials are aimed at getting you to think about it all in a little  bit different way.  They lead you to think about the spaces in between the paint and the canvas and the spaces between notes on a page.

So that is what I am going to think about today.  What speaks to me, today, just in this moment?

Patches of sunlight breaking through the trees deep shade.  The smell of my coffee.  The twist of the yarn I am working with.  The way wool slips along itself as you prepare to spin.  These are the things I am thinking of today.

Study day

There have been a lot of people in and around my house over the last several weeks. It has been busy but these things are done now and quiet has descended.  While they were here, they cleaned corners I no longer remembered having.  There are a few things that I can't find but this doesn't bother me.  They will show up sooner or later.

What it does mean is that my study, which has a door, became a catch all for stuff that had ends that didn't fit.  Like the 3 pillows I made for my kids when they were little.  I still love them, but they really don't have a home.  Or the 3 large quilt batts that did not fit in the quilt batt container.  (What?  everybody doesn't have an overflowing quilt batt container?)  Or the two spinning wheels that usually stand in front of the fireplace. 

No, those you straight out had to hide from your mother because it is hard enough to explain the one that you left sitting out there, much less the other two. 

The study also became catch all because the satellite tv receiver in here isn't working and I was doing my knitting upstairs the last few months.  

Suffice it to say, the study is a pigsty and no where else in my house is. It is time to sort and order.  All that lovely yarn you saw over the last while needs a home and even now that I have this great big house to myself, the yarn must stay in this one space.  I vowed.  Nothing changes that vow. 

Study clean up day! Yay me.  Firefly and Downton Abbey Day to fix that tv problem and yarn.  ** and the most recent Knitmore Girls podcast. What could be better.  

I like a challenge.

**edited to add this.  I just noticed the new one was up.  Funny how weekly just escapes me.

Pondering

I am feeling a strong urge to knit a sweater.  Its been a while since I felt this in any way shape or form.  I think my sweater mojo went awal last winter and I did not see hide nor hare of it till this week.

Seriously, it was the yarn.  Please forgive any fuzzy pictures here.  I am playing with a different camera which I don't know anything about yet.  I did find the books so I hope to resolve that soon.

A few things arrived and well, just looking at them makes my mouth water.

 Two of each to make the two attempts at purples yarns be enough for a sweater for me, because both of them are really quite stunning but are not purple. (The deep blues need to be much more intense and the yellow in the gray and garnet are not there at all. Undertones are everything)

 My best purple pick yet, a stunning purpley gray that is just about perfect for her. No, check that.  It is perfect for her. (Much softer and more purple, but a gray purple.)

And lastly, first try with yarn for Taiga.  I think it will work, I am not 100% sure that it is perfect.  I am going to think on it a bit.  (Richer in life than here.  More rusty and more deep olive green.  Just more intense)

So I will play with this new camera, which stands for my trusty Canon today.  I don't know where the heck I put the trusty Canon but it is about here somewhere.  I think.

and while I think about that, I will think about sweater knitting.  first up a Still light for my daughter in law, and then an Adrift for my soon to be daughter in law out of some marvelously rich Silky Wool in the stash, and then a little something for me. 

Sweater mojo,  welcome home.  how I missed you.

Small Things

I did that which I had to do yesterday and then I knit.  I also napped, which cut into the knitting time, but the day ended in a pretty nice way.

I just finished doing the nifty little bum increases that tickle my fancy so about this pattern.  (If I am lucky, I put them on the backside.  Been there done that on the first pair of Pepita's)

It isn't every pattern that finds this necessary to do, but over diapers, and toddler bums, I think it is the only way to have a good fit and still fit nicely around their sweet tummies. Bum increases rule.

Now I have a little more body knitting, a few short rows and then off to the individual legs, which feel a little like knitting a pair of adult socks, before doing tiny baby feet to finish off this sweet pair of pants.  

It is a while since I posted anything of my Sweet Thing so I give you this.

September

The weekend is done, the company is gone and quiet has descended on my house.  There was only scant knitting but at least there was knitting.

All along, in my head, August 31, marked an ending.  My husbands memorial was on that day, but it marked more.  May and everything before that were ours together.  June and July were lost to illness and sorrow and August was entirely his month.  These are all memories that I will hold close and deep in my heart.

That whole long hard summer is done and it is time to find that new normal that I am sure is out there.  

So this morning, I took the garbage out and made my coffee and now I will sit down to what peace I can find.  There is a shawl knitted by a friend across my shoulders and a small kerchief from the Orient sitting by me on my desk, reminding me that there are wonderful people out there looking for me, caring for me and waiting till I am ready.

 Summer is done.  August is ended and September marks a beginning, not a beginning I wanted, but a beginning none the less.

Once again

Still working on knitted pants, though I don't think I knitted at all yesterday.

  Just no time.

Today is errand day in a big way and there are going to be dozens of people arriving on my doorstep for the weekend and I have firewood to buy and drag to the top of the hill and a beer keg to learn about and coolers and ice and... and and...a thousand and one other things to do.  

But Sunday, lovely Sunday, there will be knitting and ain't no one going to keep me from it.  

In my dreams, I had planned to have the wee Rochelle's little pair of pants completed to give to her tomorrow, but so it goes.  She will get them next week instead.

Charmed

I scanned hundreds of photos yesterday.  Well, it felt like I scanned hundreds of photos.  In between the parts that needed my hands and brain, I knit.  For hours.

I now have only a dozen or so rows left till it is bum increase time.  The bum increases make plenty of room for baby's diaper.  They are not many but it poofs the bum out most charmingly.  The pattern puts them on the sides, but on my first Pepita, I forgot the increases till it was a little late in the game.  I put them all on one row on the back and it was fine. I think I will do the same thing and do the short rows she recommends as well to give it just that little bit of extra room in the bottom.  

Charming.  I am charmed by a wee pair of pants. Knitted pants!

In a lot of ways, that says everything about me that the world needs to know.

I keep running into her!

Yesterday, while knitting (It fit in, but only a little) , I realized how easy it is to run into the good designers, the ones that just keep people knitting and talking about knitting and firing up our creative juices.  

My little Pepita was designed by Martina Behm, one of my personal favourite designers from Ravelry.  She isn't just mine.  

11,180 Hitchhikers have been made.  

1975 Lefties have been knit. (and I predict many many more after the next winter.  I am going to contribute a few to the total.  Have yarn.  Have pattern!)

Trillian - 2149

Nuvem - 2176

And so many more.

If you don't know what to make but you need to knit, chances are that Martina has just the right little something to take the edge off.  Her work appeals.  

Yesterday, while working on little green Pepita, I ran into Martina on the Rainey Sisters blog.  Their friend, Kim, knit it and entered it into the Minnesota State Fair.  It took third in its category!  Nice work Kim.

And while listening to the Knitmore Girls podcast, Naturalich - Episode 244,  I found Martina again!  

She is everywhere and for darn good reasons.  Yes Pepita is that good.  My little green one is telling me so, just as the first one knitted did.  Just as the many more I will make over time will for all the little babies I will come to know.

 

 Martina's other designs are just that good too. If you have yet to discover her, just click a link, any link and enjoy.

Arghghghghgh

I have a wedding coming up.  I have to go dress shopping.  I hate dress shopping for me.  There is just so little on the market that fits.  Maybe I could sew?  Sigh.  I know I will sort something out.  A person always does, don't they, but we don't have to like it.  It is so easy to see what is right on others and so hard to see what is right on ourselves me.  I suspect it is only me.

There was a lot of very happy green knitting yesterday.  I hope for a little today, maybe even knit group knitting.  I have to find time to get my hair cut and get my car plates renewed and meet the banker, and...and...and...

You know how that goes.  If there isn't knitting in there somewhere, I might as well just call it a day and retreat to my cave.  

So knitting there will be, not for long, but there will be knitting.

Now where was I

I had a lovely visit with my sister.  She would probably say she didn't help much but she did.  In case any one asks, I have wonderful sisters!

I did a little work on Pepita as the week progressed, but not so much as you would notice.  I am still a nice inch away from adding the wee bum increases, but I feel confident that that will be done in no time flat.

As is my wont, I have not been wholly faithful to Pepita.  

I picked up another non-thinking project that has been sitting for a very long time waiting for attention.  Many many moons ago, I made a blanket for son3.  I started one for son2 and worked up the first two sections and then set it aside till now.  

It is made out of my rather large stash of Berroco Comfort Chunky.  I originally bought the Comfort Chunky for 2 blankets that I wanted to make and then bought more when I was so pleased with the way this yarn worked up for the blanket.  Son2 never even asked for a blanket but it seems I mean to make him one anyway!

What you see here is the tan section 1 , black section 2 and orange section 3 of the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket.  When I picked it up the other day, I noticed a problem.  I doubt that it was why I stopped working on it, but once, seen it had to be corrected. 

The problem is best explained by showing you.

 As you see, Comfort Chunky.

As you see, Comfort, not so much chunky. (Forgive the blur)  I knew this when I bought it, but I think that I had planned to double it to compensate.  Then, once knitting, I forgot to compensate.  There really wasn't anything wrong with it.  The gauge was a little smaller, as you would expect. It would have worked and I could have lived with it, I suppose, but it did not feel right.  One of the things I really love about Comfort Chunky is the heft of it and sturdiness of it when knit at this gauge and that was entirely missing form the orange section on the first go round.  

  Knit doubling the yarn is a much better feel, more suited to the weight of the rest of the yarn.  I just have to knit the smallest bit more firmly to keep gauge and I am good.  

So, two very positive things to knit.  It is helping keep my head where it ought to be and keeping my focus on one stitch at a time, always moving forward.  That is all I can ask for from knitting and right now, it means everything to me.

Visiting

My sister came to help with stuff for a few days.  We  visited and talked till very late.  Pepita did not grow so much as I wished, but there was other recovered knitting that happened.  

I'll show you that tomorrow.  With pictures.  Today, I just want to go back to sleep!  Pepita will grow today too.  I am promising myself this.

Holy Katzenjammers

I have discovered the most amazing thing.  Knitting can be used to avoid other work, that while important, is not nearly as much fun.  

Okay, I have known that about my knitting and about myself for a very very long time, but I haven't done that all summer and what is most surprising to myself, is that I did not even do it now.  

This is remarkable output from me, and I don't know where the heck this new stick to task self is coming from. 

As you see, Pepita is moving along brilliantly.  I did exactly what I set out to do.  Below the armpit join, and well and good onto the body.  I have about an inch and I have to do a few increases across the bum for diaper room.  Another few inches and then  the body is complete.  That is where I hope to be by days end today.

I love these little overalls. I love knitting for babies.  I love this green. 

Today again, there is much to do.  My sister is coming to help and to visit and to go to a bridal shower, and I have laundry to deal with so she has clean sheets for a bed.  I have some things to pack up and put away so that when my cleaner comes tomorrow, there are no mountains for her to move. I have cupboards to organize so that the garbage bags and the new recycle system is not living on the kitchen counter.  I have paperwork to fill out and do.  

Somewhere in there, there will be coffee and knitting.  There might even be wine and knitting.  There might, in fact, be too much wine, while visiting with my sister, so that the knitting is best set aside for a bit.  I look forward to a very nice day.  

But oh, there will be knitting.  Lovely, sweet green knitting. 

Pepita Green

 There we are.  It isn't big yet, but it is very Pepita ish.  I love how this starts and joins into one whole before the bum balloons just enough to be charming to make space for a wee ones diapers and then ends off in tiny little feet.  It is just the sweetest little thing for babies.

The yarn is, once again, the lush Dream in Color yarn, this time, Smooshy in the colour Emerald Darkness.  Emerald Darkness might just be my  new favourite colour in the whole wide world. My new favourite colour name to be sure.  Seriously, shouldn't all darknesses be emerald?  sigh.  It is magnificent and I can't wait to see how it looks on tiny Rachelle with her dark, dark hair.

So today, there will be a little knitting. There will be coffee. (Please note, I did not say a little.)  There will be judicious and just amounts of these throughout the tasks of the day.  There is much to do before the fall arrives.  We will see if we can't get our jobs done and still have something that looks a little more like a baby garment well on its way before this day is done.

Even Though

Though much has ended, my Brian would be the first to say that you have to move on.  So today what you see here, is someone taking a step.  Just one step, but that is how it begins isn't it?  One step, one foot in front of the other, till doing it is natural again.

I started a new project yesterday morning.  Or maybe it was Saturday night.  Anyway, I started Pepita for an almost new baby that I still haven't made anything for.  Pepita are those cute little overall, here, let me find a photo

Pepita.  A sweet pair of footed baby coveralls that ae the perfect thing between seasons when it is too warm to wear a bunting bag, but not warm enough for just a sleeper.  Its a great little snuggly piece that my sweet things mommie loved.

I am using the same great yarn, Dream in Color Smooshy, in a rich deep emerald green.  Photos tomorrow.

Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.' - Robertson Davies

For now, I am off to start seeing what treasures I can pluck from this.  It might take a while, but I will find them.  He might not be here, but he is counting on me to notice.

   

And so it goes

My much loved husband passed away last Saturday.  It is very quiet around here and more than a little sad.  There are not enough pages to tell you about him and what he meant to me, not nearly enough.  Not even close to enough to tell you everything I learned from him and who I grew to be because of loving him.

 Brian and his dad

 Brian and his own wee sweet thing.  How he loved that little girl and how he looked forward to more grandchildren.

 Brian and my dad

Brian

34 years was not enough.

The Best Time.

I had the best time yesterday.  I took the evening and went shopping with my soon to be daughter in law.  She was shopping for wedding dresses.  And bridesmaids dresses.  Oh my gosh, it was so much fun.  I don't think I had that much fun shopping for my own.

I know that I shopped pretty quickly for mine.  I wasn't looking for anything frilly or too lacy and I found two that I loved.  One was a gorgeous thing. A simple floaty elegant layers of chiffons in a wrap dress style with an elegant big floppy bow at the waist.  I don't think it had any lace at all, just a few pearls for trims.  It had a high neckline and full sheer sleeves drawn to a tight cuff.  Classic.  Elegant and it would still look stylish today.  I did not get it and I am very happy I did not.

Because the wedding that took place one week before ours?  That bride wore it and I know that I shopped after she did.

I choose a simple jersey dress, fitted sleeves, a touch of lace at the collar and cuffs.  The whole thing was about the drape and flow of the skirt and the elegant swish of the organza lining.  It's simplicity was me.  I had a very simple airy veil which I loved, though I did not like the head piece very much at all.  The sales woman was not in the mood to see if they had other veils like it with prettier flowers, and mom said it was fine so since she bought the dress, I took it.  

These guys shopped with precision and fun.  The bride choose a couple that she liked in the cataloged to giver her sales person an idea of what she would like, and then the bridesmaids and the brides mom took to the racks and looked for things they thought she would like.  Then she tried them on.  Oh my heavens, what a pretty woman.  She sees flaws first in herself but in these dresses, she looked flirty and sexy and elegant and sultry and dainty like an old fashioned china doll.  I hope her eyes looked at herself in the mirror and saw what the rest of us saw.  A woman in love with a man.  

She looked fantastic in them all and oh my, I can't wait to see her in her choice again.  

It was a fantastic evening and a once in a lifetime pleasure to be part of.  

If the blog goes dark for a bit, don't worry.  I am still here, I am still knitting and I will get back to it.  It is just that some days, I don't have the energy to write.  Or the time.  

I will be back to it, because it has saved me before and will save me again.  It just might be a while till I have the chance to take the time to be saved.  Sigh.  That is what the world is lately.  Just sighs.

Aiming to Spin

If the last few weeks have taught me anything, it is that I can exist without a schedule, without a routine, without any underpinnings to a day.  Not well, but I can survive.

Now that things are a little steadier, I am going to try to establish a bit of a routine.  And it is going to be more than last weeks, get up, shower, visit with Mr. Needles, go home, go to bed.  I am so over that schedule.

This week, I mean to make coffee in the mornings.  This week I mean to do a little knitting before anything happens in the day.  This week I mean to eat a little more normally.  

This week, I also mean to make a little time to spin.  It might not happen before I go to see Mr.Needles, but it will happen even if I have to drag my sorry butt to sit in front of the wheel each evening.  I might have to make it sit in front of the wheel with a glass of wine and spin so that it comes to pass, but I do mean to see it come top pass.  

Surely in this nutty world, somewhere I will find the capacity to find some order and some routine.  Sigh.

Just a normal day

I woke p this morning, thinking, ah.  Today is going to be a normal day.  

It has been a pretty tough week here.  Tough in ways that I did not know there were ways of being tough. Tough over and above the word tough, yet still, you get by, you know.  Somehow instead of getting stuck in the awful parts of the days, each day resolved itself and we made it through.  I just want to say to the world, I already knew that.

So if I say that today, when I woke p, I feel like it is going to be a normal day, you know that it isn't going to have to try too hard to be normal.

I knit about 4 stitches on a sock yesterday.  Well, 16 and then 4, but that was it for the whole day.  It might have been it for the whole of two days.  Today I hope to make it to my knitting Friday.  Which is a normal thing.

That might be the only thing of the old normal in my day, and I may not make it there yet.  Who knows what the day might be though.  It takes just a moment to go off the rails, but right now, sitting in my chair, it feels like it is going to be just a normal day.

The sky is pink and blue in a normal way. The coffee is hot and just right.  Not too strong, not to weak.  I am listening to a Knitmore girls podcast.  I am blogging at a regular time.  I will knit shortly and knit for at least an hour.  

Normal.  Don't forget to relish the normal in your life.

Putzing about

There has been precious little knitting the last few days and what there was, was mostly sock knitting.  

Which looks like this, though this is sock one and I am knitting on sock two.  It is a really nice pattern.  I have seen it used to some great success on scarves too.  It gives a pleasing pleated look so long as you don't block it.  Because sock two is about half done, and because there seems to be a lot of time right now to do sock knitting, I shall probably have a completed pair of socks in the very near future.

I have also been knitting on a sweater, let me see if I can find a picture.

Here you go.  Here is the last one, and though it is a smidgen longer, it too looks pretty much the same.  Its long stockinette body just needs time and it too shall be done.  

So there is lots of knitting to do but not a lot of pictures.  Or rather pictures that are interesting.  

Where the Magic Lies

Well, there hasn`t been a single stitch knit on Pogona.  Not a single solitary one.  And I am glad because that means I had time to knit on my Daybreak.

Now isn`t that just the most fantastic thing.  That symphony of searing eye popping colour.  

The solid red and orange are Classic Elite Fresca and the wonderful multi that makes it all work, is Cherry Tree Hill Possum Sock in the colourway Sugar Maple.  It is exactly what I needed to get from it.

Needed to get, you ask.  That is how it strikes me sometimes.  That there is something that I must have from a yarn or set of yarns, and I know when it is right and I know when it is wrong. 

In this case, I knew very early on, that this combination, and this approach to the colours were what would be best for this pattern.  I never, for a moment questioned my choice of pattern.  Daybreak was something that these colours and this yarn asked for, needed to be.

An artist has her palette, a musician has his score and though I only interpret the patterns, whatever art there is from me is in this sureness that this was right.

  

Arrrrrgh

No, not just practising for Talks Like a Pirate Day either.

I was reading the pattern over last night, the Pogona, and I think I am doing it wrong.  I'm putting an extra set of increases where they don't need to be.    

Sure would be nice if I would learn to read the pattern before I spent two days knitting.  Sheesh.  

Maybe there is a garter stitch blanket around here that I could knit on safely.   Sigh.

Itchy Fingers

Having finished Granita, I was overcome by a bad case of itchy fingers.  No I don't want to knit sweaters.  No I don't want to do what I am supposed to do.  Yes, I just want to knit.  It is the can't sit still of knitting and right now, I can't sit still.

I decided to look at some yarn and see if I could figure something out. I came across a lovely ball of Madelinetosh Pashmina, in Jodphur, and the lightbulb went on!

I have had the pattern for Pogona by Steven West for a long time.  I wanted to use this yarn but I was concerned that using the two

colours, two rows by two rows, with Pogonas interesting increases would be bad.  It was just not something I was prepared to try my first time working the pattern.  And so the pattern sat.

I think I have the right combination of pattern and yarn now.

Pogona has such interesting folds and texture even though it is just knits and purls.  It is showy but it is the kind of thing that lets a yarn speak.  And Madelinetosh Pashmina speaks.  Clearly.  Eloquently.

I am just about to start the third increase section.  It seems like it went really fast, but this section is where the rows start getting looooooooong.  There is much knitting to be done, attention is required but it is not complicated thinking and that is very good. The perfect pattern for this kind of day.  

Done and Doner

I finished up my Granita last night while watching Miss Marple. There is something so perfect about that in my mind.  

Voila!

As you can see, it is substantial.  Blocked, I suspect even further substantialness.  And when you consider it is Loft, I think it is going to block large and soft and beautifully.  I am almost looking forward to blocking it!

I did knit as much as I could.  I really wanted to get 7 striped sections but I didn't think that I would quite make the full 4 stripes of the toast colour, and even if I had, I was pretty sure that I would run out of the garnet before I finished the lace.  There is a touch more garnet left than toast, but not enough to do it fully or right, and I needed this to be right.  I needed this to be just so.  I think that need plays into everything else that is going on.  I need something to be normal.

Chez Needles is going through some health issues.  Mr. Needles is not well, and while we are adapting to this new normal, blog posting might be a little wonky.  I still intend to post daily.  That is one normal that I really want to hold on to.  It gives some structure to my daily thoughts and plans that just isn't in the rest of my world.  The timing might be different than usual but I will be here.  

And there will be knitting.  Lots and lots of knitting. LOTS

Going to hot tub with hubby.  Will post a little later.

The continuing story of yarn

Chapter Two

Or ten thousand.  Hard to say.  There are some things I just don't want to know.

A while ago, I saw 4 Jahreszeiten - Herbst.  (Translates to 4 Seasons - Fall) I swear by all that is, I am obsessed by this pattern.  Or the yarn combination.  I don't know what it is, but I was compelled to have it.  

So I do.  I bought the pattern right out.  I never do that anymore.  

I now have the yarn.  

 Two EV skeins showing their range of colours

And two EM.

These four skeins are the other part of my stash-much-fest.  Plus one more.  A little something plain. 

That is for another shawl that has just captured my attention.  I have the green and yellow Kauni in my stash already and just needed the cream to set it off.  (You know, though I have only knit a little with Kauni so far, it is a yarn that I could knit the rest of my days with and never tire of.)

Back to the Fall shawl... The only thing I have to do is find my longest needles in a small size and I am good.  I worry that I have to finish a project in the WIP bin before I can start this, but well, what will be will be.  Maybe that is a good thing. 

It might not be an itch I can scratch immediately by starting knitting, but soon.  Very soon.  I have a baby thing or two and a sweater or two to work on but it is within sight.  

Did I mention I see long into the future?  The long view explains my stash, doesn't it.

Just to take the edge off

I don't really need anymore yarn, but I desire it, so walking into a yarn store can be a real minefield.  I go in prepared to be strong, like the other day, when I needed a new purse/knitting bag.  I was going for the bag, I just did not mean to fill it up.

My LYS had some Namaste bags in, and I love these from the bottom of my heart so, that was taken care of right off the bat. I sat to have a cup of tea with the ladies and ...

And then...well they had Madelinetosh sock.  In tart.  I was powerless before the tart. 

And then a couple other skeins just jumped into my hands...

Trust me, that green in front and even the blue are something so much more than this picture shows.  Brilliant eye popping green Grasshopper and strong clear blue and red and purple and so much more Spectrum.  Just stunning.  They really do have to be seen to be believed.

And then some lace.  I stood a long time looking at Prairie.  Such absolutely lovely colours, such soft and inviting yarn.  I choose Jade.

Even this is washed out here in comparison to true life.  It is rich like the real jade I have in the front hall, with a little bit of brilliant green tossed in on top just for fun.

The bag I bought, which is a large bag,was full.  Not stuffed but full.  It was a wonderful day.  

And then I got the mail...but I think I will talk about that tomorrow.  I feel a little weak right now and I know there is some good stuff sitting in carts at my favourite online yarn stores, where I sometimes play fill the cart and run.  (Way more fun than bejewlwed blitz!)  I sometimes worry that those wildly extravagant fun carts will fall into my wallet.  It might be safer away from the computer.

Weak.  I am. So weak.

Please Sir, Can I have some more?

That has been my debate the last day or so.

I have done the 5 pattern repeats that the patterns asks for.  I could do the lace rows and the finishing, but I'd sort of planned to use up as much yarn as possible.  This is what I have left right now, about half way through the lace repeat (the garnet red is the only colour used on the lace section).

I've only been into the second ball of the garnet colour for a little while and I have plenty left to do another repeat of the toast stripes, maybe even two sections of stripes.  

So taking into consideration how long that last lace section took to knit properly and how much frustration I had with it, and considering that each row gets longer by several lace repeats thereby giving me many more chances to screw up, should I move ahead and knit the stripe sections till the brown is gone, taking this small shawl to something large and cozy?

My answer is yes. Even though the lace bites back.  Yes, because I am not yet done with the yarn.  I really love knitting with it and who knows when I will find more in my stash.  Yes, because I am not yet done with the pattern.  I really mean to vanquish this lace.  Yes because I like stripes?  Yes!

So, don't mind me.  I'm keeping on with Granita.  I know that it was designed for sock yarns, but seriously, you guys are missing out if you only make this with sock yarn.  It is just so perfect for Loft.

It should be noted that I really do love knitting on this shawl, even in the face of fierce competition from other things that have been calling my name.  

For details on just how fierce, you will have to wait or Monday!

I do not like this new normal.  

These are sad days in this house and I am sorry, today it just leaked out.

Better things

You would think that with all the trouble I am having with the lace on the Granita shawl, that I would drop it like a hot potato and move on to other things.  Not so.

I feel very compelled to work on this and need, need to finish it.  Where this is coming from, I do not know.  I just have to finish it. It is just not my usual.  Maybe the stripes?

I am 3 rows from another lace section, but I know that I have to work more carefully.  This is not a pattern where having the stitches fit means you have the lace right.  It requires constant checking.  It is really the perfect pattern prep for a larger lace on both sides preparation.  It might also be where you consider lifelines in depth.  

I prefer to learn to read my knitting to relying on lifelines. I feel you learn so much more about the true scope and depth and breadth of knitting when you can read what is happening on your needles.  Like learning everything, you have to have a primer, you have to know the basic framework of the language in front of you before you can really read it.  That is the stage I am at with patterning on both sides lace.  

A B C  See Spot run.  See Dick and Jane have fun.