Latest Projects

I am really in love with the patterns in Made in Brooklyn by Jared Flood. So far I've made these three projects and have loved them all. The patterns have enough challenge that they keep me interested and wanting to keep going rather than bouncing to the next project. I did knit one mitt twice, the second time on bigger needles. A big failing; I don't generally check the tension on small projects. It backfired on the mitts. I had to go up another needle size or wear slightly tight mittens which in the middle of winter might not have been so nice. I would say the green tam was my favourite of all these. I'm not sure a tam really is my thing but it was definitely fun to knit and when it's really cold outside the level of caring whether it really suits or not declines dramatically! I could give it to someone for Christmas I suppose but the only person on my shopping list who might like it goes to Florida for the winter so probably wouldn't need it.

Anyway, next up is the shawl from the book and there are a couple of sweaters I am thinking about. I'd really like to finish a couple of sweaters on the needles before I get to those though. I am really trying to reduce the buried in yarn and fabric feeling by finishing some projects. Completely exciting yarn, fabric, patterns will still be at the store for me later. It might be different yarn, fabric and patterns but still just as exciting as the stuff I see now. I will keep repeating that to myself and see what happens.

Also a big first for me yesterday. I made a great chicken braise from the book All About Braising which I bought to go with my fantastic new braising pot. The first wasn't the braise. The first was lighting brandy on fire. I've always been intimidated by this when I've come across it in recipes, and ignored the instruction, but actually did it this time. Quite the flame and I hadn't yet read the part of the instructions where it said the flame would last for a couple of minutes so I was a bit worried when it did. But of course, it extinguished itself after about a minute and I continued on. Very fun.

Baby Socks

I've been in a serious stash reduction frame of mind for quite a while now. I haven't really been achieving this reduction at any great pace but am using the hot summer as an excuse.

I did come up with a way to use up some left-over sock yarn ... baby socks. Obvious, fun, quick and very cute. Here's what I did with regular sock yarn. I think these both came from the Sweet Sheep but as is the beauty of stash, I have no idea what yarn they are made of. I used 2.75mm double pointed needles.

Cast on 36 stitches

Rib - k2, p2 until desired length is reached (mine are 3 1/2" long - this is enough length to fold them down or leave them long).

Work the first 18 stitches, leaving the remainder on a holder, as follows:

Row 1 - (sl, k1, sl, k1) repeat until all 18 stitches have been worked. Turn

Row 2 - purl. Turn

Repeat these last 2 rows until 18 rows have been worked

Row 19 - repeat row 1

Turn heel

Row 1 - sl1, p12, p2tog

Row 2 - sl1, k8, slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over (skp)

Row 3 - sl1, p8, p2tog

Row 4 - sl1, k8, skp

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until 8 stitches remain

Pick up and knit 9 stitches down side of heel

Knit the stitches on holder (or maintain the ribbing pattern on the top of the foot)

Pick up and knit 9 stitches up the side of the heel

Knit 5 stitches from the heel - the middle of the heel is now the new beginning for the row.

Readjust stitches on needles as follows: 14 stitches on N1, 18 stitches on N2 and 14 stitches on N3

Now start the foot:

Row 1:

N1 - Knit until 3 stitches remain - ssk, k1

N2 - Pattern across 18 stitches

N3 - Knit 1, K2tog, knit until the end

Row 2:

Pattern around the needles with no decreases

Repeat these two rows until there are 9 stitches each on N1 and N3.

Continue in pattern until approx. 3 1/4" is completed

Work toe:

Row 1:

N1 - Knit until 3 stitches remain - ssk, k1

N2 - Knit 1, K2 tog, knit until 3 stitches remain - ssk, k1

N3 - K2 tog, knit to end

Row 2:

Knit around without decreasing

Repeat the last 2 rows until 16 stitches remain. Knit 8 stitches from needle 1 on to needles 3 to divide these evenly on 2 needles.

Graft the toe.

Sew in ends and enjoy.

Weekend to Myself

I had a rare weekend all to myself. Because they are rare, I enjoy these weekends. I can come and go when I want, do what I want, eat what and when I feel like it.

Yesterday, I went to the Milton Farmer's Market, Main Street Yarns and for a hike at Hilton Falls. I knew going in that Main Street Yarns had the potential to be a little dangerous because they were having a big sale. But I went in for sock yarn and sock yarn was all that I bought. I'd like to think I'm developing some self restraint but that's unlikely.

The hike at Hilton Falls was excellent. It isn't a difficult or a very long hike but it is nice and on a

hot day, quite comfortable with all of the shade from the trees. There weren't enormous numbers of people there but there are always a few. They have a fire pit at the top of the falls and, as usual, some folks were there getting it started.

An update on my organized financial life ... I know why the book has you starting in January to organize your life ... who wants to do that in the summer when there are so many other more fun things to do outside? I've read the next bit this afternoon. I need to open my mail when I get home and put my bills on my calendar so I pay them on time. I'm a classic lazy payer and am invariably a couple of days late on most bills ... except Visa ... never Visa.

Trying to get organized

I find that I'm quite overwhelmed by my stash of yarn, fabric, paint, books, cross stitch stuff, etc. I really need to focus on getting it all under control. Not to mention that I'm kind of disorganized in general and it's messing with my head.

On Saturday, I bought the book One Year to an Organized Financial Life . It is written so that you have goals/tasks for each week of the year. Yesterday, I read and accomplished the tasks for the first 2 weeks. This speedy progress really only resulted because the first week wasn't too taxing on the organizational front. I just had to sit, relax and think about things.

The first week was about uncovering the origins of your relationship with money. It involves some soul searching and looking back at your childhood and how your parents influenced your relationship with money. Since my parents were huge savers, I'm not sure where I got off track.

It did lead me to a lot of questions: Do I really need to have yarn years in advance of when I can possibly use it? Do I need to buy books that take 2 days to read? On the second one, I've recently become quite good at going to the library. Being able to reserve books online feels like online shopping :). The only question I have ... why do people insist on eating when reading library books and when they spill, not wiping the page? It's somewhat gross and frankly what pushed me to buying books in the first place!

The second week (I did 2 weeks in about an hour) involved cleaning out your purse and briefcase (in my case a backpack) of all unessential items.

I am usually somewhat regular at cleaning out my purse. I guess because I'm in it every day, the annoyance of the junk that builds up is more keenly felt.

But the backpack ... egads! So much crap. Ball bands, cough drops, a book I hadn't finished reading, 2 notepads in case I was suddenly inspired to write down something meaningful, stitch holders, cable needles, a tape measure, empty bags and the list goes on. No wonder the darn things feels so heavy. Not anymore. I emptied it, put key craft items related to travelling knitting in a cosmetic bag (one of those free ones from Clinique bonuses which I've managed to largely wean myself off of) and washed the bag. It's probably at least 5 pounds lighter.

The next week involves streamlining the home office space. Since my husband also uses that space, that area shouldn't be a huge problem and I'll tackle the steps suggested some night this week. I am thinking I should take an extra week and tackle the craft room as the second home office.

On the stash reduction front (sort of), I have finished a few projects recently. Technically, if stash was purchased in the last 3 months, are you really using up stash? The blue-green shawl, the lacy green sweater and the pink sweater are officially from stash. The others were fairly recent purchases but at least they are done.

A few random things

I took a couple of days off work last week and the weather could not have been better. The ball and chain and I went for a hike (more of a walk) at a park in Hamilton and enjoyed the day. Check out the colours in this shrub. I love the red branches combined with the sprouting leaves.

I've been making some progress on craft projects too. I made Lazy Girl's Miranda Day Bag with fabric from my LQS. It was really fun to make. The instructions were very clear for people like me who are challenged in the sewing arena.

I was going to use a "real" handle for the bag but the one I have is the wrong colour so I made fabric handles instead. I did learn that you have to really anchor those suckers or they come apart from the bag in about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I discovered this while walking up York Street in Toronto. Fortunately, nothing fell out when the bag crashed to the ground, I bought pins to temporarily repair things and kept going. There is now quite a bit of reinforcement in the form of several sewing lines.

On that same day, I went to visit the Purple Purl, a very nice yarn shop in the east end of Toronto. I did a little damage there. Not so much that I couldn't find storage room when I got home.

I've also finished this beautiful Lace Wrap from Vogue Knitting Fall 2005 edition. I made it out of Handmaiden Silk Maiden (I think, can't find the ball band) and I'm really happy with it.

Gum Graft - Yuck!

I had a gum graft last week which is definitely not a pleasant experience. The process took about 2 hours. That was probably the best bit because the freezing at least makes it painless. I did get a little freaked out when the dentist lost the sewing needle between my teeth. Not really his fault; I have trouble getting dental floss between my teeth so anything larger would not be easy.

Afterwards, there was a little pain - not much really - a bit of bleeding, swelling and a week long (and counting) bruise on my chin and neck. I felt a little self conscious at first but got used to it. It was mostly yellow so I don't think too many people noticed it. The people I know would have said something if they had.

Late this week, the stitches started coming out of the site on the roof of my mouth where he took the tissue from. That has been nothing short of distracting, not to mention gross. The stitches kind of hang down in the mouth. It's really difficult not to play with them with my tongue constantly.

On the bright side, I have lost between 5 or 6 pounds. It's difficult to eat when you can't open your mouth very wide. I would have to say that I'm pretty tired of soup and all week was generally hungry. My fruit snacks were not so easy to eat when I only had a couple of molars in use.

Tonight I finally had an almost real dinner. I made cedar planked salmon with a leek and brie sauce and roast potatoes. Very delicious and satisfying.

Fingers firmly crossed that the procedure worked. I do have to go through it again on the other side of my mouth. I'm not sure I really want to do it. Maybe I can put it off until next spring so I can again lose those few winter pounds!

Two very different quilts

I recently got 2 very different quilts back from an excellent quilter. So far when I've made quilts, they have been small enough for me to quilt on my machine but these are full bed size. The first, a queen, I started ages ago with all of the crazy bright fat quarters I picked up when I first got interested in quilting. I didn't quilt it for so long because it is so bright I started to second guess myself. But I decided that I was the only one that had to love it so I pieced the back together and off it went. It is bright and a little crazy but I absolutely love it.

The other quilt is an Amy Butler quilt using a pattern called Twinkle. It was put together in a kit at my LQS, Quilter's Garden Patch and I couldn't resist buying it. Prior to seeing this quilt, I wasn't a big fan of Amy Butler fabric but once I saw it, I changed my mind. I'm so happy with the result and it looks so good on the bed in the spare room.