



Remember.. yarn is always an option for gifts too :)
These are for me. WTF? I don't do sock yarn!? Well I DEFY anyone to resist the siren call of Socks That Rock, because even the non sock yarn Betties (and yes there are a few of us ok?) can go for a HEAVY WEIGHT! Ok and that Lorna's had to sneak in for its close up too. Chris picked the blue out for himself, and I duly promised to *eventually* make socks for him. I also made him leave River City Yarns when it came time to pay. He agreed handily. I love my husband. I really do. :)
What a gorgeous doll she is! Max stayed with my Mum and Dad, but will be introduced next time we go up. We think they will get along famously.
What did you do this weekend??
Today I am thankful for these monkeys. Now what? You say? Well jeeze, lookit them! These are Telus (which we hates with the flaming passion of a thousand fiery suns, but that is really neither here nor there right?) monkeys that have yet to be corrupted by the evil machine. By evil machine please the sentence previous to this one ok? And holy hell who doesn't like cute pictures of animals? Why do you think cuteoverload does so well? I bet even Mussolini and Satan liked/s puppies or kitties right?
OMG HOW CAN ANYTHING BE SO CUTE?
Today's post brought to you by the letter R, number 4 and sincere lack of cynicism. Happy weekend all!
Knitting from my stash! OMG! Like totally freak me out! I am finding great joy in doing these small projects.
Mini Clapotis from Knitty. Used Cotton Silk blend yarn (lost the label sorry ya'll!) doing 3.5 repeats of the increase section. I love wearing scarves lately, the weather here is so wonky its a good thing to have one on you at all times.
I have knit a Clapotis before out of some seriously ugly super wash yarn my Mummy gave me (it was the same colour as my skin.. euwwwwww) then over dyed it. It came out kind of , um.. funny looking, so now the dogga sleeps on it. Think he knows he has a *designer* sleep blanket? I reckon he could care less.
I am really digging the feather and fan lately. Such a nice easy to do, looks harder than it is finish to it. Much like the Clapotis.
This weekend we are heading up North to see the Family and do some shopping. I shall be Hitting a few local Edmonton yarn shops (HELLO RIVER CITY!) and may have new and wondrous things to show you when I get back. Chris just keeps muttering three little words to himself.. I swear its the only thing keeping him going at this stressful place of work right now. POKER CHIP STORE. Apparently there is one in WEM, so guess where we are headed? Heh heh.
In other news: Make 1 Yarn Studio Turned 1 year old well.. today actually. But our party was on Tuesday night. I have to take minute to thank Amy and Sandra for having such an amazing shop, building such a fabulous community and having totally terrific taste in staff. (giggle). No, really though, you two are too amazing for words. I love you both to bits!
Now I need to take a few minutes to welcome little Miss Lily April into the world. See, one of my pals sisters was one of the women who needed to be flown to Great Falls Montana for some neo-natal care we (in the richest city in Canada, in the wealthiest province) couldn't provide. A shame that is, but all is well so far and Little Peapod came into this world with lots of strangers cheering for her and making their good wishes work in her favour. For a full account please see:
(or Master Dana/Dana2 as we fondly call her) is the proud aunty, and we have set up a little preemie hat/clothes/donation bin at work thanks to the tireless efforts of Terra. Situations like this make me sad, but mostly mad at our sorry state of health care. But this is another post for another day when I am feeling much more RANTY. Right now, I am pretty ok with most things and I think you can credit this little guy for making me see the lighter side of everything.
I hope the snow stops soon, even though the shovelling is good exercise.. I can really do without it.
I hate being let down. Meh to you stupid espresso machine. London Drugs better be co-operative about this.. I'd hate to have to smack a bitch. Or would I? Any recommendations are appreciated. After I cry myself to sleep, I'll start looking for a new love.
THE UGLY!!
Nope no ugly here! I am cracking along on Chris' sweater and should maybe have some progress pix for ya'll soon. Damn he is TALL so it goes a little slower I say.
I am working tomorrow so if anyone is yarn hoing about I'll be there minding the shop and having a yarntastic day. Good weekend all...
xoxoxo!
As you can see I am still hooked on the ribbed sleeves, Yup. The colour is just called Burgundy (how dull!) but Chris thinks it looks like wood grain, and I think it looks like Mars. I'd call it Red Planet if I was the Malabrigo peeps but alas, I am not. What do you think?
NEXT UP:
See this? How cool is this? I am the luckiest of the lucky to have gotten such a wonderfully coolio bag. AND that yarn? That yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in EMBERS) is right now at this very minute being turned into a v-neck sweater for Chris. Yum yum yum! Now in case you missed it:
Skulls!! Sorry for the craptastic picture, I don't know how to work the camera that good yet. Hells, I am lucky to have figgered out how to d/l the pics I take and re size em.
I hope you all have safe and happy weekend.. and I need to give a big virtual hug to our Morgan. You know you are loved sweet girl. Happy birthday!!
Please.. where did the chicken go???
Have I mentioned my coffee love? If you know me at all (IRL or other) this is no surprise. I am crazy mad in love in with this bad boy! He makes me hot (coffee dirty minds!) and keeps me happy. With the addition of the sugar free syrups I have found, I am set. SET I TELL YOU!
Top down Skul Cardigan.
Done with Blue Sky Worsted in Olive and Red. This was so unreal to knit with. It feels like cotton it does, and has a beautiful heavy drape to it. I went with a 3/4 sleeve as I really wanted a sweater I could wear with a wristband or bracelet. Silly.. maybe but I love it. The skul was fun and easy to do, I charted him out myself (keep an eye for him appearing in other places!) and am really happy with this.
Unikat Cardigan with thumbholes.
Another scrummy yarn to work with I have to say. This time I actually used waist shaping to get a nice fitted look and made super long 2x1 ribbed sleeves with thumb holes to keep the sleeves down when its cold. Great feature if I do say so myself and I see many more of these in my future. Unikat has a really nifty texture, almost kinda spongy, but so so so soft and absolutely next to the skin nice. I really loved working with this and am excited to see the new colours when they come in.
Debbil Hat for Jake
This is NOT the first time I have worked with this awesome novelty yarn (called PUNK.. how apropos huh?) but it is version 2.0 and the one that turned out the best. See I made a maroon version with ears for me (I call it my scabby hat), but Jake took one look and I knew I had to either make one for him or it would go *missing* (like my stripey arm warmers I knitted but really that is another story innit?) so I asked his preferences (Black Mom.. Duh. With devil horns) and whipped this up for him. Mine now looks slightly shoddy and the ears need to be re-done, so that pic will have to wait ok? He loves it, and has been threatened under pain of death not to give this away no matter how cute the girl. We'll see... right?
As of now I am working on a pullover (knock me down!) out of Malabrigo in Burgundy. When Amy and I opened up the box in we looked at each other and grinned like fools. "hello my next sweater!" She said.. I completely agreed and set off. It is scrumpdillyisious too. Even though I had a small hiccup that involved frogging a massive amount of work. See I did something I have never done before. I dropped a stitch (I have done that plenty before) but didn't notice until I had knit about 12-13 inches. When I laddered it up like a good girl, it went all weird and tight and made a HUGE pucker. I tried steaming it out. I tried wetting and pinning, I even tried dropping the damn stitch again. Nope. Amy was right (as usual) and so it was frogged. Whatever. It was a titch too big when I tried it on and I changed the waist shaping so all is well that ends well. Maybe. This will be my first pull over since my disgusting first sweater and I am excited to finish it.
Maybe another reason I'm excited to get it done is the luscious Lornas Laces in Ember I have waiting to knit. It came in last week and I had set aside enough to do a sweater for me when Chris came in the shop to pick me up. He wandered over to the back and called me over when he saw this yummy stuff and asked who it was for. "Me" I said. He gave me a look. You know.. a LOOK and I asked if he wanted a sweater made out of it. He was very enthusiastic about it. I also made him swear he would wear it and if he didn't I would NEVER KNIT FOR HIM EVER AGAIN. He gets it now. He really does. See I a little unresolved guilt about knitting for Chris. After the vest that never ended finally did, it was too big. I considered many options (asking him gain a lot of weight was tossed about, but eventually discarded as mean) and thought a wee bit of judicious felting may work. Guess what?
NOPE
It might fit a fat little toddler as a dress, but as a vest? Uh no. It shrunk a whopping 2 feet in length, and NOT ONE BIT in width. The strange thing? It did it in about 2 minutes. Oh well.. I was overdue a massive disaster. Lets just end the year that way eh?
I DO NOT make News Year's resolutions, but I am going to try to post more frequently ok? Think happy thoughts and I hope everyone had a fabulous Holiday season.
Happy New Years!!