A Mystery

A lot of designers host these mystery knit alongs.   A clue is given every so often and the participants go off and knit the clue.  I've seen several of these on the Ravelry boards, and while they have always piqued my interest, I've never participated.  But along comes a mystery KAL by my one of my favorite designers.  I just couldn't resist.   I know, its only 34 days or so before Christmas.  I have lots on my plate.  I have to finish knitting this hooded scarf thing, that my mother specifically asked for this summer when she was here.  The good news  is, that its almost finished.  I love when I'm enjoying knitting something so much that it almost knits itself.  Well, thats the way its been with this hooded scarf. 

 The yarn is shamrock by Knitpicks in the colour
Dougherty.  I was not expecting to enjoy this yarn or even this pattern this much.  What a nice surprise.  

I did some sewing this week too.  I visited Heather's  Ranger group.  We made some Little Dresses for Africa     I had intended to send them to the blog writer in this link.  But, one of the girls in this picture has a brother who is currently getting ready to go to Benin, Africa through Canada World Youth.  We will be sending them  to him, so that he can distribute them to needy girls in that part of the world.  The dresses turned out super cute and they were pretty easy to make too.                                                   

So, about that mystery.  I'm still not sure what it is.  I've just about finished knitting clue one.  And this is what it looks like.  At this point it could be anything.  A hat?  Maybe?  This could be the band.  Its only 3 inches wide.  Not mittens, I really don't think.  The genius part about many of Lee's patterns is that they are any gauge, so that practically any yarn can be used.  I'm using Paton's SWS for the stripes and Briggs and Little softspun is the blue background.  I'm liking it so far - whatever it is.

Loving the Handspun

 

I have this real problem with knitting with my handspun.   I'm not sure what it is, but I'm really hesitant to knit it.  Its almost as though, once its knit, its potential is gone.  I know, weird eh?  I also feel that no project is good enough.  No project will really show off how beautiful the yarn is.  Also, I'm not sure that any recipient of a handknit item made from handspun, will really get how much effort has gone into such a project.  But, I really have to get over this.  My handspun stash is rapidly growing.  And with Distinctive Knitting (my LYS) starting to carry spinning supplies I suspect this situation will get worse. 

Nat came to the house on Friday and announced that she needed new mittens.  What selfrespecting stepmother would I be if I didn't help her out with this situation??  By the way, she also announced that she is expecting!!  Hurrah, another babe to knit for.  Can't deny the fact that I'm hoping for a little girl to knit for this time, but seriously, people always say this, but its true.  As long as the baby is healthy.  I can still put fuschia on a boy, right?

So, back to the mittens.  I quickly knit up some mitered mittens (curtesy of Elizabeth Zimmerman, knitting goddess) out of a heavey worsted weight handspun that I did a long time ago.  The colourway was called sushi.  Cute aren't they.  And I know that Nat will appreciate them - so she is totally worthy of a knitted project from handspun.

I have quite a few gift certificates to spend at Distinctive Knitting.  I had a pharmacy intern this summer that gave me a gift certificate as a thank you gift for being her preceptor.  So, I took a quick jot down to see Mrs March (owner) and I saw that she still had a shelf full of the Fleece Artiste Merino Slyver.  I quickly spun it into this lovely skein of yarn.  Actually, not quickly - I had to run it through my drum carder to get it to fluff out.  It had become quite compacted from sitting on the shelf in the store.  Since I was giving his mommy handspun mittens, I figured Morgan needed some too.  So, I knit up these little fraternal twin mittens.   I'm not sure how I feel about them being so different from each other.  I figure he'll wear them in any case.  Winters are long, cold and hard in these parts - and a two year old goes through quite a few pairs of mitts in a winter.   I had several yards  of the yarn leftover and this stuff is too precious to just toss, so I knit it in with an earflap hat for Morgie too.  

Random Sunday or How I love Felted Slippers

In keeping with my once weekly random blog post, here is this week's offering.

• Fiddle head mittens - FINISHED. Totally inspired by Patty finishing her's ahead of me, even though she bought her kit at least a couple of months after me.
• Squirrel Sampler Mittens. By the same designer as the fiddleheads, just not a kit this time. I love, love, love them. They are addicting to knit. I'm planning on making the liners out of knitpicks Suri dream which is a brushed alpaca. In theory this should be nice, but I'm betting (based on the swatch that I knit) it will be a pain in the arse to knit.
• Comfy Cardi - working on the skirt. I will likely finish this by the end of the month. I'm actually spacing this out now. I gave myself 3 months to finish it. It astounds me that I may finish it in a month

• My first FO for 2010 - felted slippers, crocheted at that. Wow, my first finished FO for the year is crochet. And oh, how darling they are.
  

I just love how warm these are. They fit quite nicely. They are a little long in the toes, but thats okay. I felted these in my front loading washer (tis true!) I have to wash them about 3 times to get them down to the size that I wanted. Just in time really because, I have somehow misplaced my French Press felted slippers (see several posts back)

• Upcoming plans? 'Later Gator' mittens from StitchnBitch nation for Max and Morgan
• Lace. I have tonnes of lace weight around, and have yet to knit a single lace weight item. I want to, I really do. I should have added lace to my fiber goals for 2010. I even signed up for the 10 shawls in 2010 group on Ravelry. I'm delusional really. There is no way I can do that, but I'd like to.
  

2010 Goals - Knitting and Otherwise

Knit some lace - in lace weight yarn. Note - may have to work up to this...errrr...down I guess really. Meghan (of 'Stitch It' podcast fame) likens it to knitting with nose hair. We shall see. My one attemp at knitting in lace weight was an unmitigated failure, but that may have to do with the fact that I was too cocky to use a life line. Won't be making that mistake again.

1. Knit more EZ patterns. (That would be knitting royalty Elizabeth Zimmerman to you non knitters out there). I've been lucky enough to acquire 2 more of EZ's books in 2009. My hope is to have the all some day. I now have 3. I've knit only 4 of her patterns so far. A baby surprise jacket, 2 pairs of mitered mittens, 1 ganomy hat, and one baby surplice jacket. She was brilliant. I want to make a tomten jacket and maybe the seamless hybrid sweater in the future.
2. Continue exploring colourwork. 2009 was a good year for colourwork for me. I am now a convert. I want to continue in this vein and perhaps even knit a full adult sized fair isle sweater.
3. Blog more and include more photos of non knitting stuff. I'm not a photographer and I'm not about to convince myself that its something that I'd like to do or even be able to do well. But, I am living in one of the most pristine places on the planet. I'm not sure for how much longer I can continue to say that sadly. Development is occuring here at too rapid a pace. I'd like to document some of the beauty of Labrador for the next generation to see.
4. Get rid of some of the crap in my home. I'm a pack rat. I've come to terms with it, but the time has come to start getting rid of some stuff. I'm running out of room for my yarn. My china cabinet could really hold alot of yarn. Right now its full of a bunch of crap that is of no value to me - sentimental or monetary. And imagine how pretty a china cabinet full of yarn will look. Especially all the handspun thats tucked away.
5. Knit with my handspun. Really, there is too much of it tucked away. Its too, too precious not to be doing something with it. Even if it is, displaying it in my china cabinet and admiring it. There is a new knitty pattern called 'King of Confidence', that is just calling out to me.

So, that about sums up what I'd like to accomplish in the upcoming year. In keeping with goal #5 here are some photos that I took while at my cabin this weekend. It was pretty frosty.

Happy New Year.

Can you believe its 2010? Not me. Well, I'm not too sorry to see 2009 go. It hasn't been kind to us really, at least the last month. Mr. C is no longer with us. He passed away on Dec 26. He was a kind and gentle soul. I will miss his laughter and his wit. The world is a sadder place without him.

A lot of knitters will chose to cast on a big project at the start of 2010 and this year I decided to do the same. I got 'The Knitter's Book of Wool' for Christmas, and I was anxious to start a new project. I will be making Pam Allen's Comfi Carigan. This cardigan appeals to me as a knitter and as someone who wears a cardigan every single day. I'm making this in Knitpicks City Tweed HW in the colour marsh.

The construction is interesting as it starts from the center back and is worked outwards. The yarn is really lovely to work with. I'm hoping it will wear well, unlike the knitpicks swish that pilled like a son of a bitch after a couple of wears.

Here is what I have so far.



A close up of the tweedy yarn. I just love tweeds.