Sunday, January 28, 2007

There's A Plan In Place...

In fact, we all have plans.

Redd's plan is to sit in a basket ---



The Cat's plan is to sit on the top of the couch---


Stu's Plan is to watch American Idol auditions on the internet---



And my plan?

My plan is to go back to school. The whole thing on Friday got me thinking, and I don't want to be an admin assistant. So, why continue on that path? There's been a 2 year program that I've been thinking about at Langara College. And I've been thinking about this program for years. It's the Library Technician program. I even know someone who's gone through it before. I'm going to try to get into it for the Fall session.

I feel a lot better now that there's a plan.


In a moment of weakness yesterday I started the Bubble Pullover from Knitting Nature. I've finished my first pentagon and I've already started on the second.


The Blue Sky Alpacas sweater is also coming along nicely. I've finished the front and back, and I've finished the ribbing and a bit on one of the sleeves.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

How Does It Know?

You will be assimilated!


Cybernetic Humanoid Responsible for Infiltration, Scientific Sabotage and Systematic Yelling





Synthetic Transforming Unit Assembled for Rational Troubleshooting


Get Your Cyborg Name

Whoops! Did I Do That?

Yesterday morning after I finished taking pictures of the sweater back, The Cat decided that it looked more like a nice soft kitty bed.

It's my own fault for putting it on top of the couch and on top of a pillow. I should know better. Luckily, no harm was done.

I was going to take it easy at home yesterday, but I got a phone call from my friend Linda (whom I haven't seen in ages). So, we headed out to Steveston Village together to check out some used book stores. I knew the Wool & Wicker was out there, but I had no idea this tiny village offered another "crafty" store. Crafts 'n More, I think it was called. They had a lot of acrylic crap. They also had some good stuff though. Along with some Briggs & Little, they also had some sock yarn. A bunch of it was Patons Kroy and a bunch of it was Regia.

And they had two different colors in this:

It's Bamboo sock yarn! The colors in this yarn are really nice. They just seem happy. I'm really looking forward to making some sock out of this.

After giving myself a pat on the back for going to such a yarn rich area and only getting enough for a pair of socks, we headed to another used book store.



The clerk suggested we check out Wool & Wicker. Now, I've been there before, and didn't really feel like I needed a bunch more yarn, but Linda hadn't been there before, and I'm not going to stand in another knitter's way of seeing a new yarn store.

We walked in, and the first thing I saw was a large basket on a pedestal by the door. As I looked at what was in it, my heart rate quickened. "Oh myyy God! O my God! O m' God! EEEeeeee!!!! Look Linda!!! I can't believe they have it! I can't believe what I'm seeing! Oh My GOD!!! I have to have it!"

It was Trekking XXL! The stuff I've been taking day trips to Washington to pick up. The stuff I'm totally obsessed with and I have no idea why.

My excitement managed to get the attention of the owner and the store clerk. They wanted to know where I'd tried it before, and I told them I'd been driving to Washington. They said that I could save my gas, and give them a call for any color I wanted, because they are the Canadian distributor for Trekking. It'll take them 2 days to get me any color I want!

I used all my self control and only bought 5 balls. Everyone had a good laugh over that.

The one I've been drooling over since I found out about Trekking XXL---


Yummy---


Pretty Purples---


They also had the Trekking Pro Natura, which I had never heard of before. Apparently it's new. It's 75% wool and 25% Bamboo. Are you sensing a trend? The colorways are a little more limited, but I managed to pick up a ball in shades of grey.

And a pretty mixed berry sort of color.

This stuff is amazingly soft.

I'll make sure to let everyone know how this stuff is to knit with and wear.

The sweater front is coming along well. I'm almost half way through the front. I'm hoping to be finished today.

I'd better go knit!

Friday, January 19, 2007

She's Been Knitting Up A Storm!

As promised, here's the progress I've been making on my Monkey socks. There's some major pooling, but this is a really really nice pattern to knit. It's quite enjoyable.


The yarn is Sweet Georgia in the After Glow colorway. The orange and pink go surprisingly well together. The needles are 2.5mm Crystal Palace dpns. Gotta love the Crystal Palace.


Part of my knitting goal for this weekend is to finish this one.

I've finished the back of the Blue Sky Alpacas Melange sweater I'm making from Modern Classics by Louisa Harding. The endless rows of stockinette are a little boring, but this is going to be a great sweater to wear.

I've even started on the front. I'm a little bit worried that I won't have enough yarn, so I'm going to knit the front and back before the sleeves. I'll be knitting the sleeves at the same time so if need be, I can do 3/4 length sleeves. I'd like to get the front done (at least) this weekend.

I don't have a lot of plans for the weekend, so there'll be lots and lots of knitting.

Here's the start of the front---


I'll be putting the packages in the mail tomorrow.

Tomorrow marks 1 month of wedded bliss. It's good. My fabulous husband had to do some running around for his work today, so he stopped by to bring me coffee at work this afternoon. I think I'll keep him.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

No I Haven't Forgotten About You

I was going to post about all the cool knitting that's been going on tonight, but I am exhausted. Forgive me. I will be posting on Friday (tomorrow) night instead.

I'll give you a hint --- It has something to do with this yarn--


This flu is killing me. I can't wait for the weekend. I did go and get packaging for the stuff I'm going to be sending to the two contest winners. I'll be making a trip to the post office this weekend to get those packages out.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Push On A Shove, It Don't Mean Much. (It means there's a contest!)

Edited to add: We have a winner for the contest! Lyssa, email me your address so I can get your package out!

Karen was a close second, and she's cool, so Karen, you'll be receiving something too! I just need your address.

Do you know which song the line in the title comes from? The first person to leave the correct answer in the comments will win a prize!

This contest is in honor of this being my 250th post. I really believe that I wouldn't still be at it, if it weren't for your comments and support.

If no one guesses the song in about 24 hours, I'll give you a hint. I've had this one stuck in my head for a week now!

This weekend was blessed with two trips to Three Bags Full. I am once again up to my armpits in sweet sweet yarn.

I started on the turtleneck sweater that I talked about in my last post. I'm about 15" up the back already. It is so soft. If you can try knitting with Blue Sky Alpacas Melange, do so. Don't hesitate. It is an amazing experience.

The color of the yarn was much more true in the last post, but this one shows my progress.



I had originally bought 7 skeins of this yarn, but I was worrying that I wouldn't quite have enough yarn. Yesterday morning, out of the blue, I got an email from the owner of Three Bags Full letting me know that she had found another skein. This is what inspired trip number two.

I came home with my extra skein, as well as enough yarn to make an entire other sweater. It just occurred to me now that if I have leftovers of this stuff, I'm going to make myself some felted slippers.

Here it is in all its pinky goodness! It's Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair. It's made with 70% wool and 30% yearling mohair. It's not like a lot of mohairs I've seen. It's delightfully soft!

It's kind of a dark bubblegum pink. I think I've got a bit of a pink thing going on.

I must add that I cannot be held responsible for the second sweater yarn purchase, because the yarn was so beautiful, and the pattern so mesmerizing, that it could not be helped. Not my fault.

This new yarn is also special, because it is the first yarn purchase I've hidden from my husband. I mean I've hidden yarn from the boyfriend, and the fiance, but not the husband. I feel so naughty!

When I saw this clip, I really thought other knitters and wool enthusiasts would get a kick out of watching it.

I think that's it for today. I've got other progress, but I think I'll save it for tomorrow.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Modern Classics Book & Blue Sky Alpacas Melange



I took a nice little trip to Three Bags Full yesterday. I found myself a couple of goodies. I got Modern Classics by Louisa Harding, and 7 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Melange in a beautiful light pink (#810). This stuff is 100% Alpaca!

Truthfully, I've never knit with Alpaca before. I've wanted to, but I just hadn't found a chance. As I mentioned this little tidbit in the car yesterday, I got what can only be described as shock from Stu and our friend Gill.

So I'm knitting the Basic Sweater (the one on the cover) in soft pink yarn.


I had to make the trip to the yarn store a quick one, since Stu was waiting in the car, but in my short time there I found another temptation that I gave into. It came in the form of Knitting Nature.

I thought I'd looked through this book a while ago, and remember not being very impressed, but I thought I'd give it another look through. Well, I don't think that I'd ever looked through it before, because I really like a lot of their designs.

I may have to sneak back to the yarn store to acquire some yarn to knit something from Knitting Nature with.

After some stash acquisition, I came home and made Strawberry Jam. I'd attempted jam once before, probably about 4-5 years ago, and all I remember was that I burned it to the point that it didn't even make it to jars. So, I was a little nervous this time.

I was most nervous about getting the jars to seal. I filled my biggest pot up with water, then I put this metal thing that's actually meant to hold Corning ware off the table . Of course this didn't fit the jars particularly well, but I rested them partly on the rack and partly on the side of the pot.


I have good news this morning. There are 2.5- 250ml jars of jam that have set and are sealed.

I guess I can take that one off my life-goals list. Jam. Check!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

More Sweet Georgia Goodness


I haven't got a project picked out for this one yet. I'm loving the in-laws' camera.

Pictures ---As Promised



Blogger's still being stupid, and not letting me post, so I'm going through Flickr to get these pics up. Here's the orange/pink yarn I'm going to make Monkey out of.

Sock Update

Sorry, there aren't any pictures right now, cuz blogger sucks. I'll get 'em up as soon as I can.

I finished my Lorna's Laces Sand Ridge sock I was working on! I still feel like crap, but at least I have a nice feeling of completion. While I knit, I caught up on the Lime & Violet podcasts I'd been missing since November. Actually, I only caught up on two. The rest will have to wait.

You notice that I've now completed 2 unmatched socks. I have a plan. I'm going to knit a bunch of sock singles, then I'll knit the matching socks. That way it won't seem like it takes as long to knit a pair, and there will be pleanty of variety to stave off second sock syndrome.

The next sock I'm going to knit is Monkey from this issue of Knitty. I can't stop thinking about this pattern.

I'm going to use some of my new Sweet Georgia yarn in After Glow. The pictures I took make the yarn look more orange than it is. It's quite a bit more muted.

Stupid Flu

Hi. It's Thursday morning, and I'm at home. I went to work this morning, but at 9:30 my boss came by and asked how I was feeling, and if I was any better. Truthfully, I told him that I was worse than yesterday, and not feeling any better at all. He told me to go home.

I don't like being at home. Well, that's not true. During the times that I'm supposed to be at home, I love being home. I don't like sick days though. Sick days make me feel weak, and lonely.

I'll be on the couch today enjoying the Discovery Channel on the new TV. I think it might be shark week again. I love shark shows. There will be lots of knitting and tea drinking. My main goal is to be well enough to work tomorrow.

I think some online yarn purchasing will make today a bit better.

On a different note, today is a really beautiful day. It snowed like crazy last night, and cleared up over night. It's really sunny and very cold (-5), for Vancouver. The whole city is glistening. I wish I was well enough to go take a bunch of pictures.

I'll likely be blogging later today about my knitting progress.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Sweet Sweet Sock!

Like I said in my last post, I've been knitting again. I am so glad to be back! I really felt like something was missing when I wasn't knitting. I've missed knitting as well as blogging and reading others' blogs.

The first two things that are new around here are

1) It's been snowing.
And 2)

I have the flu. Which sucks big time. I'm missing those sick days I used to have with my old job. Although, even working with the flu at this job is still better than the last one.

On to what I'm actually wanting to blog about---

My in-laws have kindly lent me their awesome camera for the evening so I could get some good pictures of my current sock in progress. I think my camera needs replacing, since it takes about 15-20 shots to get a good one. This camera is amazing, and I think it's the one I'll buy to replace my old one.

So, without further delay, here's my sock in progress ---

I love the color of this yarn. It's funny, sometimes (actually usually), I love the look of the variegated yarn in the hank, but when I actually knit with it I don't like it as much. It's a totally different experience this time. This yarn looks just as awesome knit up!

It's Lorna's Laces in Sand Ridge. When I saw it in the yarn store I had to buy it. I just couldn't not buy it. My rule is that you should always buy yarn that you can't leave the store without. Always. No exclusions. Follow this rule. In fact, tell 'em Chrissy sent ya!

Monday, January 08, 2007

Take A Look Into Our New Living Room...

This is the lovely red corduroy 3 seater couch. This is the best spot ever! I have my laptop and the tv, and my knitting, all in one little area. This is where I knit now.

Here's the two seater and the new tv. I love our new living room.


I've got to go for now though or I won't have time to knit tonight.

PS. There's a flu going around and I think I've got it. I've prescribed myself lots of knitting.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

I'm Back!

Hello!

Believe me, I wanted to blog, but I didn't have my computer for a few weeks. It was having some problems, so I didn't use it for about a week, then for the second week it was with my brother-in-law getting a new hard drive. Anyhoo, it should be all fixed, so things can return to normal.

Me and my Mom--



The wedding was great. We've got lots of pictures, and everyone had a good time. We got to see lots of people we haven't seen in a long time, which was really nice.

Our apartment has been a huge time drain since the wedding for two reasons ---

1) We hadn't had a chance to do any tidying in the weeks before the wedding.

2) We got a lot of wedding gifts!

Before we could begin to put things away, we had to decide what of the old stuff to keep. There have been many many boxes to charity. It also give us a chance to find out what we really needed and what we haven't even touched in the last 3 years.

There's still a lot of cardboard around, but we're almost organized.

We also had a fair amount of wedding cash, so we re-did the living room. It no longer looks like a dorm room! We have actual couches, and a really awesome flat-panel TV. I finally got my big TV!



There has also been knitting in the last week. I knit a sock out of some Trekking XXL that I got on one of our trips to the States. I had just started the second one, and Redd (the kitten) got a hold of the ball overnight, and totally mangled it. Stu kindly took several hours to untangle and rewind it for me. Sorry ladies --- He's taken!

While I was waiting for the rewind I started another sock out of some Lorna's Laces Sandridge. I'm just going to do a couple of plain vanilla socks to ease myself back into it.


I ventured into Three Bags Full this afternoon and scooped some Sweet Georgia sock yarn. I've been wanting to try this for years now! I'm glad to finally have some. Does anyone have any ideas for a pattern?

Thank you for all your awesome comments. I wish you all could have been there for the wedding.

More soon!!