Oh look! Shiny!

I have a LOT of yarn and fibre and I went to the yarn sale at Black Sheep anyway last weekend. Of course I bought more yarn. What else do you do at a yarn sale?

Last Sunday was the first Beginner's Crochet class. I kinda know how to crochet but I always wondered if I was doing it wrong. It never looked right. Anyway, Dotty at Black Sheep was more than patient with us. I learned so much in that first class. I never knew how to count my stitches properly...one reason why I sucked at crochet. Nothing worked because my count was always off. She went over everything - how to hold the yarn. different ways of holding the hook, and a few of the basic stitches. I came home and practice a bit and jumped right into something that she recommended NOT to do....crochet with mohair. I made a little crochet cap to make the wig for my doll. It looked great until I took a closer look in daylight. Yuck. I'm going to have to add more hair.

The second class is tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. We get to start our scarf!

My problem is not the lack of ideas of what to make but the opposite. I have too many things I want to do RIGHT NOW. I have so many projects going and will jump from one to another whenever anything new and shiny catches my attention.

The latest "new and shiny" is the Gail (aka Nightsongs) shawl. I don't remember where I first saw it. Probably Ravelry. I blame Ravelry. So last night I got home around 8pm. Ate dinner, watched a bit of TV with the Hubby, played a bit of Warcraft, and thought...hmmm....the yarn I spun from Sweet Georgia's fibre club would be perfect for this shawl. Next thing I knew, it's 2am and I'm knitting a shawl. Not the wisest thing to do because it was frogged out this morning and restarted with larger needles, same yarn, and minus the errors. It's thicker than most lace things I make but I'm happy with the look so far.

Erick's Knitted Sock Monkey Pattern

Here's the pattern for the sock monkey. I hope I didn't miss anything. The monkey is knitted in the round with no seaming involved.

ERICK’S KNITTED SOCK MONKEY PATTERN
Yarn: Cascade 220 – 2 skeins grey, 1 skein white*, 1 skein red*
*You don’t need a full skein of the white & red.
2 small black buttons for eyes.
Black yarn – just a bit to embroider the face.
Stuffing
Needles – 3.5mm double pointed needles.
Stitch holders or spare yarn.
4” doll maker’s needle or long darning needle.
Stitch markers – optional.

Legs:
Using Emily Ocker cast on method and white, cast on 8 sts & divide over 4 needles.
Knit 1 round.
Knit 1, M1 to end = 16 stitches.
Knit 16 rounds.
Join red yarn and knit 2 rounds. Break off and knit another 3 rounds in white. Break off white and join grey.
Knit 52 rows in grey (or until leg is long enough).
Put the live stitches on a holder and make second leg.

Monkey Butt:
Knit front stitches of first leg, knit front stitches of 2nd leg, knit back stitches of 2nd leg, knit back stitches of first leg.
Knit 2 rounds in grey.
Attach white. The side facing you will now be the back of the monkey. Short row until 8 sts remaining and back to full sts.
Short Row Butt:
Knit 15, wrap & turn.
Slip 1, purl 12, wrap & turn.
Slip 1, knit 10, wrap & turn.
Slip 1, purl 8, wrap & turn.
Slip 1, knit to first wrap, pick up wrap & knit together with the stitch, turn.
Slip1, purl to first wrap, pick up wrap & purl together with the stitch, turn.
Repeat until all the stitches with wraps are picked up & knitted. You should be back where the grey yarn is still attached.
Break off white and join grey. Knit body – 50 rounds in grey. After a few rounds, stitch up the hole between the legs. Easier to do it now than later.

Head:
Break off grey and join white. Knit 1 round. For front head shaping, short row 2 sets of white, join red and short row until 8 sts remaining. Return to full sts following the same colour changes.
Knit 3 rows plain knit in white.
Dec for top head shaping. Dec 1 on each side of front & back (total 4 sts dec) every second round until 12 sts remain. Don’t close up the head yet. Put the remaining stitches on some spare yarn to hold. This would make stuffing the monkey easier.

Finishing:
Stuff body, working from feet up. Stuff in small amounts at a time and don’t roll up the stuffing. Keep it nice and loose. It will pack better than large wads. I used wool fleece to stuff mine but if you’re making it for a child, you can buy hypoallergenic stuffing.
When you finished stuffing the head, graft the top close. Pull the yarn tail into the monkey and bury the end.
Optional - You can make a little cloth bag of lavender to stuff in the body but if the monkey will be a toy for a child, I would not recommend this as the monkey may need to be washed occasionally. Also optional is that you can make a little bag of stuffing beads to give the monkey a bit of weight.

Arms:
Using the Emily Ocker method, cast on 6 using white. K1, M1 to end. 12 sts. Knit 16 rounds, join red, knit 2 rounds, knit 2 rounds in white. Break off and join grey. Knit 45 rounds. Cast off.
Make second arm.
Stuff and sew opening close. Join to body.

Tail:
It’s a 5 stitch icord.
Using white, cast on 5 stitches on one double pointed needle. Slide stitches to other end of the needle and knit. Repeat for 14 rounds. After a few rounds, pull the yarn tail to tighten up the stitches.
Join red and knit 2 rounds, break off red and switch back to white for 2 more rounds. Break off and join grey for another 50 round or until tail is long enough.
Cast off and sew firmly to monkey butt.

Ears:
Using grey, cast on 16 stitches and join.
Rnd 1 and all odd rounds - Knit
Rnd 2 - (Knit 1, inc 1, knit 6, inc 1, knit 1) x2 to 20 stitches.
*Increase 1 stitch at each end of the ear for front and back of ear until you have a total of 32 sts.
Rnds 9 - 15 rounds – Knit
Dec 1 at each end of the ear for front and back of ear. You are decreasing a total of 4 stitches each round until 12 stitches remaining. Graft to close and make second ear.

Edited to add:  some people mentioned the ears are a bit big - yeah, I know...that was the way my son wanted it to be.  I had done several versions of the ears and these were the ones.  If you want to make the ears smaller,
Using grey, cast on 10 stitches,
Rnd 1 and all odd rounds - Knit.
Rnd 2 - work your increases to 16.
*Then work your subsequent increases to 24 stitches total.
Rounds 9-12 - Knit.
Dec 1 at each end of the ear for front and back of ear. You are decreasing a total of 4 stitches each round until 12 stitches remaining. Graft to close and make second ear.

Face:
Use pins to mark eye placement.
Pin ears to the sides of the head & sew.
Use small black buttons for eyes and pin to the head. If this is a toy for a child, embroider the eyes on with black wool.
If using button, use a strong buttonhole thread and long doll needle, enter the body through the back of the neck and pull through to the first eye placement. Attach first eye and put needle back in the head and out through the next eye placement. Attach the second eye and put needle back in the head and out through the first eye. Pull a bit to indent the eyes but not too tight. When you’re happy with the look, put the needle through the first button, back in the head to the second button. Put the needle through the second button & back in head, exiting at the base of the back of the head. Knot firmly but be careful not to catch any of the wool fibres. Pull the needle through the doll to bury the thread end.
Using black wool, embroider the nose and mouth.
Using some white wool on a needle, run the wool around the neck line a few times. Pull carefully to give the neck a bit of shaping. Tie off and bury the ends in the doll.

I'm such a goof!

It would help if I gave you my email. I thought it was in my profile somewhere.

thymeformom AT hotmail DOT com (without the spaces)

Sunday Stuff

Today is the last day of my two week vacation. It's been great. It felt like it's been more than two weeks...in a good way. Didn't think about work...much. Didn't check my work email at all. I was tempted a few times but resisted. I feel good. Refreshed. I know that feeling will last until Monday morning half an hour into the work day and then it will be like I've never been away. Ugh!

To make myself feel better about the impending doom called work, I made a batch of brownies. Brownies are easy to make but hard to pour into these little cups. I could have made a slab of brownies but didn't feel like it.

Ugly, aren't they?

They say brownies can last up to 3 months frozen. Do people really have extra brownies that they can freeze them? It will never happen at my house. I was going to let these cool and then glaze them later but not sure if it's worthwhile glazing the six remaining brownies.

The Waldorf doll is going well, sort of.


I've stuffed the legs and lower body and trying to figure out the best way to attach the head. I've been thinking about how to do the hair. From what I've read on the internet & at Ravelry, I might just make a skull cap to attach the hair and then sew the cap on the head.


I wrote up the pattern for the sock monkey and these are the legs for the second monkey. Elegantly displayed on top of my favourite knitting container - the classy plastic tub. If anyone is interested in the pattern, email me and I'll send it to you when I'm done. I'm going over the pattern to see if it makes any sense. Most time, my patterns only make sense to me.

Things I'm thankful for:
1. The big rainfall we got the other day. It made the yard lush and green.
2. Today's sunshine and breeze. I love this weather!
3. My hands - being able to make and create crafts and work with my hands.

Malabrigo Artigas Vest

So...do they look like wood?



The vest is knitted from Malabrigo Gruesa, Pearl Ten colourway. Funny enough, when I ordered the yarn, it looked plum/purple in the book but blue in real life. I don't know if the tags were mixed up but I like the blue a lot better. I have way too much purple yarn.

The vest is the Artigas pattern in the Malabrigo Book One but with some minor changes. I used 9mm instead of 10mm and didn't check gauge. (You have to live on the edge sometimes.) The front bands are done in 2x2 rib. Same for the arm bands and neck. Instead of using only one button closure at the top, I did four. And I lengthened the body slightly and changed the armhole shaping.

I love this vest! It was a really quick knit and it's soft and comfortable and warm. Sometimes, you just have to knit something that you don't need a math degree to figure out. Something quick and painless and will give you instant gratification.

I was thinking of making another one but I'm not so good with making two of anything. :(

I finished knitting the feet and legs and have joined them to knit the body. I was thinking that maybe I should have knitted the feet in a different colour so they'll look like shoes. We stopped off at Black Sheep Yarns to pick up some yarn for the shoe colour on our way to see Distict 9. Movie was good but it had a few holes in the plot. The whole time, I was thinking: I have yarn in the car...I have feet to reknit. In the end, I decided not to reknit the feet and keep them flesh colour. I'll save this yarn for the next doll.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Cousins who knows a lot about computers. Whee! New computer!!
2. Dalaran at 60 fps - if you play WoW, you'll know why this is a good thing.
3. One more week of vacation left!

For the lack of anything really interesting to say, here's a pic of the buttons I made. Still need to colour them.

No Excuses

It's just plain laziness that I haven't wrote. It's not because I don't have anything to say or that I was very busy....just lazy. That's it.

Not sure where I'm going with this post so I'm going to just ramble for a bit here. A few weeks ago, a mother was badly injured and her 2 year old daughter was killed a block from where I work. It was a very grisly accident. So bad that there was no doubt the child was dead. I can't think of words that could describe how the mother was. I can't imagine how her life has been forever changed. I can't imagine how the father must have felt. And how it must affect the grandparents and the aunts and uncles and everyone that these people know. Today, I was driving along a very busy street and saw a child run out onto the intersection. He had only taken 4 steps onto the street. I heard a mother yell out for him to stop. I looked around and I did not see the mother at first...she was about 15 meters behind, talking on a cell phone and pushing a baby stroller. There was an older child with her. You can tell she was frazzled with the three kids. But it made me want to go up to her and yell at her, what was she thinking??? Who could she be talking to that was more important than her kids?

I'm just going to jump right in to fibre stuff now. I did say I have no idea where I'm going with this post. It will just be whatever is in my head. I have two weeks off from work so YAY!!

Ok, I've been spinning some of the Fibre Club fibre from Sweet Georgia.


This is Foundation from June, I think. I divided it into 8 to spin and navajo plyed it to keep the colours together in a block. I'm now spinning the August fibre and have a few months backlogged.

I've been in a finishing mood. Finished the monkey ears FINALLY!


I can't remember when I started this little guy. He's been sitting around earless forever now. My son guilted me into finishing his ears.

I've also finished a vest that I've been working on. I didn't like the way I did the armbands so I picked them out and re-knitted them. Now all it needs are the buttons. I made some out of air-dried clay & will paint them this weekend.

I finished another sweater & even started sewing the seams together. I just have one more side to sew up.

I've been reading up on Waldorf dolls. There's a Ravelry group for them. There's a Ravelry group for pretty much anything and everything. Waldorf dolls are traditionally sewn and I really don't care for sewing that much. I decided to knit a doll.

The head is done and stuffed in the traditional way for making a Waldorf doll. Fleece batting is rolled into a ball and stuffed into a piece of tubular gauze. The head shaping is done by tying the head in sections to form the eye lines and cheek. Normally, the head is then covered with a skin tone stretchy fabric that is sewn onto the head but I knited mine instead. I think I should have tied fibre ball tighter as the knitted skin doesn't seem to show the definitions as well as a fabric skin would. The fleece I'm using is a leftover shetland batt that I carded. This picture shows the head and neck. The extra fibre will be rolled up and stuffed into the body. This will make the head stable and not wobble.

The plan is to knit the two legs, join at the bum, knit up the body. Knit the arms and sew those on separately. In theory, it's simple. I'm working on the third set of feet right now. The others were either a bit too small or I wasn't happy with the shape. The hardest part is trying to keep track of what I'm doing so I can make the second leg the same.

Is there such thing as too much sunshine?

Blogger ate my post.

It's too hot to type it over and OVER again!!

I'm going to find a cool spot to enjoy my iced coffee.

edited to add...figures it took this one! :(

The best way to spend a Saturday morning

I love it when it's warm enough outside to sit out & do my carding. I don't have to clean up all the debris after.



I found a box of shetland lamb fleece - washed, picked, & sorted out in ziplock bags. I think the idea was to blend it with something. Can't remember what I had intended to do with it. I do remembered changing my mind about what I was going to blend it with. Anyhow, I spent Saturday morning carding the fleece into fluffy batts. I even had my spinning wheel outside for a while until it got too warm.

Thankful for:
1. A bit of rain last week - plants are loving this weather.
2. A relative quiet day at work to catch up on stuff.
3. Spent time playing with my drumcarder and spinning wheel.

An attempt at Silk Fusion

I hang out with a group of really cool fibre friends - Twisted By Choice. Every so often, we get together & do fun fibre stuff. That was what we did yesterday.

The day was filled with catching up on each other's news, wet silk dripping everywhere, and lots of good tasty food. It's been a rough time at work. Having a chance to spend a day like Saturday just playing and squishing wet silk on a nylon mesh is really good for your soul.


This piece is made with some leftover dyed silk. I can't remember if it's Bombyx or Tussah but it is really REALLY shiney! The top has been embellished with dyed silk rods and silk waste. This sheet was the second one. The first one didn't turn out so well with the top layer pulling apart already. I think the medium wasn't worked thoroughly enough. I'm going to try and coat the surface with a gloss finish to see if that helps.

Thankful for:
1. Perfect weather on Saturday - not too hot and no rain (just a couple of drops).
2. The Clubhouse - where we meet up & play with fibres.
3. Moroccan olives!

Cool Knitting needles!

One of the joys of blogging is that you get to read and see a lot of really neat stuff other people do. Came across this at Craftster...how to make your own resin knitting needles! They are so cool!

I know I still have a can of resin the garage somewhere.

Things that made me happy:
1. Mairuru's sarubobo and pattern...I'm making one right now.

2. Being a couple days ahead of schedule at work...so I have a few days grace to fix mistakes & make changes.

3. Good friends at work to lunch with.

BFL

At lunchtime today, I walked over to SweetGeorgia's studio to pick up the Fibre Club fibre. May's offering is a beautiful handdyed Blue Face Leicester in greens & blues with a touch of brown (but it looks a bit copper-y in the sunlight). The colours were inspired by a local eatery called Foundation. I love the colours in that place with all the old formica kitchen tables and vinyl chairs. I have a thing for old formica tables. We still have the set inherited from my parent-in-laws when we first got married. The table ended up as a baby change table when my son was young.

You can't see it but I've pulled a bit off already and have been finger spinning it at work this afternoon. How can you resist?

Things that made me happy today:
1. Lunchtime walk to Felcia's studio.
2. Fibre at the end of that walk.
3. Ice cream for the walk back to work.

How many pairs of knitting needles does one really need?

The age old question.

It's embarrassing but I do have a lot of knitting needles. I had no idea until I started cataloguing them in my Knit Buddy application on my ipod. I have 53 pairs of circular needles, 23 pairs of straights, and 17 pairs of double pointed needles. All in various sizes...except 8mm. These are the ones not in use in my box. That's insane. I keep all the packaging for my needles so I when I'm done with them, they go back in the packages. There are empty packages as well in that box. Quite a few empty packages. I think one of the things I need to do this summer is to go through everything and take apart any WIPs that I know I'm never going to finish. I did a cleaning up of my yarn stash last year but this year will be WIP clean up time.

Knit Buddy also allows you to track your yarn stash too. I'm not going to even attempt that.

Did I mentioned that I signed up for a beginner's crochet class at Black Sheep Yarns?

Thankful for:
1. Sunny, hot day.
2. Sushi for lunch.
3. A nice cool breeze tonight.

Time off

I love Long Beach...not Long Beach, California but Long Beach Vancouver Island. We were there for four days. The weather on the first day was raining by the buckets but it was still so beautiful. The next couple of days were sunny and gorgeous. It was windy there but no one cared.

This was the view from the balcony in our cabin.


This little cove was just below our cabin. As soon as the tide was out, we were down there, poking into the tidal pools.


I love the colours and textures best. Spent a lot of time staring at the little sea anenomes. They looked like little buttons.



I don't know very much about starfish but always thought they only had eight legs. This one has eighteen.



The mandatory sunset picture...


Thankful for:
1. The agility and mobility to enjoy a walk on the beach.
2. Being able to take time off at work during a crazy time.
3. The baked goods at this lodge were really good and being able to limit myself to one pastry a day.

Saturday

The first rose of the season!

We're having one of our rare Vancouver sunny day today. I love this time of the year. It's warm and sunny with a nice cool breeze. Every year, I try to take a picture of the poppies. The deep purple in the centre of these poppies are my favourite shade of purple. It's amazing how brilliant this colour is. I was fooling around with the settings on the camera, trying to capture that same brillance. I am not good at this. The resulting photos look so orange-y. It's ok...I have the whole summer to experiment. :)



Right now, I'm sitting out on my deck, picking through a bag of silk noil. It's one of those mindless tasks that you can do anywhere and anytime.

Friday!

Today was not your normal Friday. It was one of the Friday-from-hell type of Fridays. The kind that is usually reserved for when you really REALLY want the day to end so you can go home on time. The only good thing about today is that it's the start of almost a week off for me. Almost a week off because I'm off next week but have to work next Saturday. We've hired a crap-load of staff and were told that we have to be there for the new staff orientation. Bah! Everyone was really busy trying to get things done for next weekend plus we have a show happening as well as all the construction going on. I feel slightly guilty that I won't be there and will show up just for Saturday. Just slightly guilty.


While everyone at work will be running around like crazy, I'm heading to Long Beach on Vancouver Island.

Thankful for:
1. Finally figured out how to convert movies for my ipod.
2. A week off.
3. Dog managed to get outside before throwing up today.

Woohoo! New fibre accessory!

Picked up a new knitting accessory on Friday. It's wonderful! I can use it to keep track of my knitting needles, carry patterns & charts on the go, and all sorts of fun stuff. Found an application that would even keep track of all your knitting projects on the go and acts as a stitch/row counter as well. It's been only 3 days and I can't believe how I ever survived without it!

Oh yeah, it plays music and videos as well. :)



I was all set to get a new phone. Wasn't even thinking of the iphone but the Samsung Omnia. Why? becauase it has a much better camera (5.0 megapixel) than the iphone (2.0 megapixel). Then my sister showed me her ipod touch. That was it...game over. I don't really need the camera and I didn't need a new phone either. I just wanted a new one. The camera on my current phone is still pretty decent. Besides, I have my camera. And I like the idea of not paying huge amounts of money for a data package that I don't really need. The ipod touch will connect to any open network. Lots of areas like that downtown. Free internet means more money that could be better spent on fibre.

And on Ravelry, there is an ipod forum too! Knitters are truly everywhere.

Thankful for:
1. A brother who emails you back late at night with answers to your ipod questions.
2. A sister who is every bit an enabler as my fibre friends.
3. Long weekend Monday.

Part of the knitting green initiative.

It's not like I don't have anything else to use. I have bags and baskets that I use for knitting but I always go back to the good old margarine tub. Everything fits. It keeps my yarn from rolling all over the floor. I could say it's part of my green initiative. yeah.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Sunshine today.
2. Getting my stuff done ahead of time at work so I have time to deal with the changes tomorrow.
3. Long weekend this weekend and that means we get to leave early on Friday.

Nothing much to say today.

Not much to say today...came home, ate dinner, watch tv, knit, pretended to crochet, played WoW. I'm starting to find it odd that I meet nice people when I play lower level characters than my high level ones. I don't know if it says something about the mentality of people who play games. People can be pretty serious in the top levels making sure their toons are decked out in the latest and greatest. I guess a lot of people play the lower alts are for fun and can afford to be more laid back.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Lunch and a much needed chocolate break.
2. Sunny weather in between the rain.
3. My office was not flooded out.

All in all, it was a fairly quiet weekend. Hubby was still feeling sore from his back surgery so we didn't do the usual Mother's Day stuff. We did go to the Joel Plaskett concert Saturday night, however. I was a bit worry how his back would be, sitting in those tiny cramped seats. We bought the tickets ages ago before he got his surgery date. Concert was great!

Here's a tiny horrible picture of Joel Plaskett, taken from my cell phone camera. Not the best picture. I completely forgot to do the settings properly and didn't want to fiddle with it in the dark.



Things that makes me happy:
1. Stopped by Black Sheep Yarns for the yarn sale on the way to the concert.
2. Just so happened to have a ball of yarn and needles in my bag (see #1) so I was able to knit while waiting for the concert to start.
3. Good music.
4. Concert finished (even with all the encores) right before the hockey game ended so we avoided the traffic going home.
5. Next weekend is a long weekend!!

A thought or two...

Sweetgeorgia's post the other day about women artists and how they struggle between a balance of family and art is very interesting. I can honestly say those same thoughts have crossed my mind many times. As much as I would love to spend as much time as possible being creative, I wouldn't give up what I have with my family. I think that's the point of that movie...why should women have to make a choice? It's a question that I've heard many women ask themselves all the time. I don't think there is one right answer. I think it's a balance that we each have to find and come to terms with.

Thankful for:
1. Ugly job to pay the bills so I can afford to play once in while.
2. People like Sweetgeorgia for her honesty and willingness to share herself.
3. Although I call it the Ugly job, it has good moments too. I can't really say it's a dull job.

A spinning mishap

Found a bobbin of merino/silk that I had spun ages ago. Wound it into a ball & plyed it. It was looking pretty good. I have a bad habit of pulling the end a little ways into the yarn so it wouldn't unravel...which I did here. Usually I make the end long enough so I can see where it is to pull out. Didn't do that this time. I took the bobbin off the wheel to wind onto the niddy noddy and the end had disappeared. The worse thing you could do is panic (which I also did) and really messed up the bobbin looking for the end. What am I going to do now? Can this be saved?



I was hoping that leaving it for a day or two would make the end miraculously reappear. No such luck. I thought maybe the bright sunlight would help...nope. Shouldn't have panicked.

Facebook

I've been thinking long and hard whether or not to start a Facebook profile. My sister is on there...so is my niece, my son, pretty much all my cousins, aunts and uncles. Looked up some friends too. It seems harmless enough but I can't seem to bring myself to do it.

It took me a very long time to even mention to real life friends that I blog. Even now, a lot of my friends don't know I blog still or I haven't told them where to find me. Just you fibre folks and that's it.

I think I'm not quite ready yet.

A little change in plans

I really didn't know SweetGeorgia's studio was so very close to where I work. It was very do-able to run over there on a lunch break. Yup. It's such a cool place! There were all these beautiful colours of Cashsilk on a shelf... yes, they're even more brilliant in real life.



I was going to save this for when we go away at the end of May but who was I kidding? There was really no chance this would sit around for a whole month!

The colourway is Blackberry. I started it while I was waiting for my husband in surgery. It was the perfect pattern - easy enough to knit without concentrating too hard and fun enough with the lace to keep my mind busy so I wouldn't worry. As much as I love the Ping yarn, I really needed something to wow me today. The surgery went well and he's staying overnight and should be home tomorrow.

Thankful for:
1. Canadian healthcare & health insurance.
2. Ability to knit.
3. Competent surgeons.

It's been way too long!

One day stretches in the next and before I knew it, months have gone by.

It's now Spring and the planting of the garden has begun.



The kale is actually from last year's planting. They came back this year. Surprised that anything made it through the snow we had. Those snow storms killed off quite a few of our older plants...like my rosemary bush that we planted when we moved into this house. I was very sad to see that it didn't survived.

One thing I've decided is to play less on the computer and do more fibre stuff. Computer games can be addicting. Time spent playing WoW means less time spent doing fibre stuff like dyeing and spinning. I dusted off my spinning wheel this weekend and finally finished Ping, the pygora fibre. It's washed and dried and ready to knit.



I even have the perfect pattern for it...Sweetgeorgia's CashSilk Fern scarf. As much as I've been craving colour lately, I just couldn't bring myself to dye this fibre. I love the different tones of grey in there. Hard to tell in the photo but in the sunshine, you can see all the different tones and I love it! Plus the fact that it's pygora/merino blend makes it super duper soft.

It's not my best spinning but considering how long I've been away from my wheel, I'm surprised I remember how the thing worked. There is something so very soothing about watching the fibre turn into yarn. I think next weekend, if the weather is nice enough, will be spent dyeing.

Thankful for:

1. Warm grass and sunny spot for the dog to sleep on.
2. A fibre stash that makes it easy to satisfy any fibre cravings.
3. Internet for bringing me inspiration when I needed it.

Gung Hai Fat Choi!

It's not really a resolution but I decided this year I was going to try very hard to finish one project at a time and not start anything new until whatever I'm working on is finished.

I started the Kim Hargreave cardigan over the Christmas/New Year break. It was going well. The sweater was supposed to be done in seed stitch but after doing half the back, I didn't like the look. Ripped it back & did only 16 rows of seed stitch for the border. It was much better. The rest of the back took 2 days to finish. I knitted both fronts together. Forgot to mirror the shaping and ripped back. Got to the shoulder shaping and decided the measurements from the pattern would give me a small armhole. I like my sweaters roomy. Ripped back & added a few centimetres to the armhole. Ripped back the back to match the addition to the armhole. Started both sleeves and that went well. Got to the top shaping for the sleeve cap & realized I didn't add any extra length to compensate for the larger armhole. Ripped back & re-knitted the cap. Just about to cast off both sleeves when I re-read the pattern. I'm 20 stitches short at cast on so the sleeves are very narrow. Ripped back to seed stitch band to add stitches as side increases. That's where I'm at now.

So when my son said he wouldn't mind a nice warm scarf to wear, I jumped at the chance to do something else. As much as I love this sweater, I need a break from it. It also meant a trip to Black Sheep Yarns today. Guess what he picked? The same yarn in the same colour as my doomed sweater! I managed to convinced him to go with a different colour finally. The scarf pattern is the Henry scarf on Knitty. I didn't realized (because I didn't read the pattern) that it's knitted lengthwise. That means 452 stithces!

Row 1 is basically knit 1, yarn over all the way across and row 2 is slip 1, knit 1. For some reason, I slipped 1 knitwise instead of purl. I knew it would sit backwards on my needle but thought it would be a good idea. So the next row, I had to turn every second stitch around so it was facing the right way. That's a lot of stithces to turn around. My brain is still on holidays.

It's Chinese New Year here and this weekend was full of family get-togethers with lots of eating rich food. That's my only excuse.

Good fortune to everyone!

Thankful for:
1. Flannel sheets - really love crawling into bed with warm fuzzy sheets.
2. A mom that cooks like nothing you've ever seen!
3. A family that loves anything seafood. Every family gathering is a feast of seafood of some discription.
4. No snow this weekend - the forecast was for "flurries" but it was sunny all weekend.

A White Christmas and then some

I think this year, the weather has been trying very hard to make up for all those green Christmases! I can't remember seeing this much snow in one year before. Love snow but glad I had the past couple of weeks off (and next week as well).

Despite the pain-in-the-butt factor of icy roads and having to shovel the snow, I love it! It appeals to the kid in me. We stayed at home more than we would otherwise. It was really nice to spend quiet evenings cozy at home. Definitely a plus!

This year has gone by so fast! It has been a good and bad year for me. When I look back, most of the "bad" was from work. That's something that I'm thankful for...strange as it sounds.

Son graduated from high school with honours and a couple of scholarships. The Asian part in me played that down but I'm a really proud mom! :D He started university and seems to be doing well. He's healthy and happy...a bit messy but that's a teenager.

Hubby slipped in the snow a few weeks ago & ended up with back problems. He's going to the physio right now. Considering how hard he fell, I'm glad it wasn't worse. Another reason for a quiet Christmas this year. He's not moving around very fast.

Work had been very stressful this past year. I won't go into it again. The new year is not looking any better. For the past couple of months, I've been seriously rethinking my options but have decided to tough it out here. Olympics are coming and the opportunity to be part of it is too much to give up now. I made a decision to stay at least until the end of the Olympics...after that, we'll see. It's easy to look back when you're in a quiet time and think maybe it wasn't so bad. I'm sure reality will slap me in the face when I get back to work. When I get stressed at work, I buy yarn. I predict a lot of yarn buying this year.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Taking an extra week of holidays and actually finding myself relaxed and happy.
2. No one I knew got into any car accidents because of the snow.
3. My family.

And things that makes me happy:
1. Found a box of Halloween chocolate I forgot about.
2. Snow - it has been a beautiful White Christmas.
3. Ten balls of Rowan Felted Tweed to make into a nice soft sweater.

oh Pooh!

It's December 5th already!! I hate it when December sneaks up on me and I'm not ready yet. No homemade fruit cake this year. Just did not have the time. I really should be putting stuff like that on my calendar..."Make Fruitcake - August 20, 2009" "Start advent calendar - Oct 15, 2009"

I don't think I'm alone in my obsession of Advent calendars. I absolutely love them! Especially hand made ones. There's a group on Flickr that shows so many super cool ways you can do an advent calendar.

Things that makes me happy:
1. December
2. Bright shiny Christmas lights
3. Christmas music

WotLK in 2 more sleeps!

Wrath of the Lich King will be out in 2 more days...technically 1 more day as it's past midnight here. It should be interesting with all the problems Blizzard has been having with their updates & patches. They've been running special events to promote the release. Today, the regular maintenance encountered a huge glitch and all the servers were down until late this evening. WoW players from all over were experiencing withdrawl symptoms.

Interesting note to add that, out of 8 people on Ravelry who plays on Moonrunner, 5 has now joined Dropped Bears. Knitters are taking over.


Ah! Some people are just poor party guests!

Things that makes me happy:
1. The ball of KSH slowly turning into a lighter-than-air scarf.
2. Tomorrow is Wednesday...much better than if it was Monday.
3. Leftover Halloween chocolates.

It's Monday!

This past year has been very busy and very very rough for me, work-wise. I can't see things changing until well into 2010 or later. It may never get better. Overall, I do enjoy what I do. I can deal with stress but not to the point where I'm working 6 days a week or more on a regular basis. I never manage to take enough time off to compensate...there's always something else looming up around the corner. Everyone at work are in the same situation. Last week, people were walking around looking white with stress.

I took three weeks off in the summer. During my time off, I was called regularly 2-3 times a day or more. Honestly, I didn't mind because I was so damm grateful just to have three weeks off in a row. That is really sad. I've been seriously thinking about my options.

Anyhow, on to cheerier things. I have today off, it's not raining (in fact, the sun just came out), and no one else is home. Just me, the dog, and a whole lot of fibre stuff to do. When faced with all the possibilities of how to fill my day today, I'm overwhelmed. I'm going to go finish my coffee and take the dog out for a stroll and see what I feel like at that point.

I noticed I've stopped doing a Thankful for list. I don't know why...it just happened. I think with everything at work, it has been affecting me in my Real Life more than I thought. I've been grumpy for way too long and it's wrong.

So, to revive and revise a good thing, I'm going to make it my Things that makes me happy list...

Things that makes me happy:
1. Sunshine peeking out from rain clouds.
2. A ball of pale, pale lavender Kidsilk Haze sitting on my desk.
3. A dog waiting by the door because I said the W-A-L-K word.

Optim Merino Handspun - Hyacinth

Date started: can't remember ~ 4 weeks ago
Finished Date: Oct 5/08
Fibre: Optim Merion - 100% wool - dyed by Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks
4 oz - 270m

I love working with the Optim Merino. The fibre spun up very nice and smooth. I did noticed as I was spinning that there was still a faint smell of vinegar on the fibre. There were also bits of second cuts in the roving but they were easy enough to pick out. The yarn is very soft to the touch. There should be enough yardage for a scarf or a pair of mittens. I love the sheen on the yarn.



Hmmm...I'm beginning to notice that I have a lot of yarn in the purple tones.

Clapotis Revisited

Start date: Sept 1/08
Finished date: Sept 15/08
Yarn: 3 x Silk Garden Sock Yarn #S252 Lot A (Blue/Green/Yellow)
Pattern: Clapotis

As much as I love Noro, I absolutely hate all the knots in their yarn. I have yet to use 1 one of Noro without knots. Every single one of these balls had at least 1 knot. One ball had 5 knots!!!

Other than the knots, I love the Silk Garden sock yarn. I would NOT recommend it for socks, though. Even with the high nylon content (25%) I would really be doubtful of using this yarn for socks. Some bits were really thick and some thin bits were really thin. It would make a very uneven sock and would not wear well. I love the way the colours flow from one to the next and the thick/thin-ness of the yarn for the shawl. For the Clapotis, it was perfect! I would consider using this yarn for a light sweater.

I wanted this to be more of a shawl than a scarf so I added extra repeats. I didn't bother counting the repeats. Knit until it looked wide enough, knit the body until it was long enough, and start the decreases to finish.

It was such a nice warm day today that I thought I would leave it outside to dry as it's blocking. A quick wash on gentle cycle in the washing machine after work today and masses of pins and the job is done. I was a bit apprehensive about the washing machine part but it turned out well. As long as the dog doesn't try sleeping on top of it, it should be dried in a couple of hours.

No such thing as too many bags!

Last February I went on a hunt for the Nameste Laguna bag. I wanted the lime green one. Lime green to match my lime green shoes. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it was on back order. The colour was so poplular the bags would sell out immediately. The store I was going to order it from had no idea when they would get more. They would add me to the waiting list and let me know when it's my turn.

Months went by and I forgot all about the bag...until I walked into Black Sheep Yarns, a new LYS that just opened a few weeks ago. They sell Nameste bags and I promptly ordered one...in Olive Green. After looking at them again, I think the olive would be a better choice if I'm dragging this thing on trains & busses. The bag came today and I love it!



It's not Lime green but it matches my shoes better! The bag really does have room for EVERYTHING!

Husband: How many bags do you need?
My answer: One more than I already have.

My Summer Vacation (so far)

I think it's time for an update...what have I been doing?

1. Dyeing. Lots of it. Mostly silk fibres that I have kicking around for eons. The weather has been nice the first week I had time so it seemed like a good idea. I look at it as stocking up for winter spinning.

2. My BFL came in the mail. I knew it would show up the day after the Twisted met up. Yup, it did. I got my weeks mixed up & thought we weren't meeting up last Wednesday but it was this Wednesday that everyone is away. Sorry ladies, you'll have to wait to get your fibre.
It's so tempting to throw all this into a dyepot and go wild. BTW, it's not all mine. The big bag is mine...5 lbs.

3. Knitting Olympics. Well, this year's Knitting Olympic was less than stellar for me. It was a rough start with me getting my dates mixed up. The yarn was spun up and ready to go when I discovered I misplaced the magazine with the pattern. I ended up winging it which wasn't difficult. The Ribwarmer vest is pretty basic. The problem was that I didn't start knitting until Monday. The Monday in the SECOND week of the games. Oooo! I was cocky! Should be no problem. Then I got distracted by sushi and lunches and fun outings and dye project and other stuff. It's almost done but close enough doesn't win medals. It's going to be hit & miss if I have enough yarn to finish the vest.

4. Played WoW...a lot. My druid is a smidgeon away from level 70. I never thought I would ever get this far when I started playing. It's been fun. You get to level up crafting professions like cooking, fishing, first aid, etc. It's quite an amazing game. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at 70 though. At 70, a whole new game world opens up. I can start playing the high level instances that the BIG BOYS play. You start playing with people who takes the game much more seriously than I do. Ack!

I've been thinking that I might hold off hitting 70 for a little while longer. You get bumped up to the next level of battlegrounds and it's going to be harder going up against other level 70 with their purple epic gear. At 69, I'm at the top of the heap right now. This way, I can get a bit more honour points before hitting 70.

I've also been busy leveling up alts. One of my favourite is the little Gnome Rogue. She's going to be my battleground pro. :D She is such a cutie pie!

Franzenstein, if you're reading this, those are your legs sticking out in the snow.


And it doesn't help that Ravelry has a WoW guild too. Of course I had to start a toon (or two) to play with the Ravelry knitters.

So that pretty much sums up my first two weeks of vacation. Much better than camping in someone's field.

Summer stuff

Other than winning a zillion $$ lottery, having three weeks off in the summer and a new LYS opening soon (if not today) is right up there under PERFECTION!

I finished spinning the yarn for my Ribwarmer for the Knitting Olympics. Whee! I'm hoping that I will have enough yarn for it. *cross fingers & toes*



It was a last minute decision as to what "event" I was going to do. My first thought was the shawl but realistically, I knew it was not going to be likely. I completely lost track of my days & thought the Olympics started 2 Fridays ago & thought I missed it. It turned out that it was only last Friday. With the yarn finally spun, I can cast on today. A few days after the Opening but better late than never, right? Despite the rough start, I think I might have a chance in finishing.

No plans for my vacation except to knit, spin, weave, & play WoW. I'm a little glad we don't have any set plans. Originally, we thought about going back east to the land of giant mosquitoes. Attending a school reunion with a bunch of people I've never met or will ever see again. And the worse part of it is CAMPING. That's the reunion. Honestly, I am just not the camping type. Been once (and I was told it wasn't real camping) and I almost had to kill people.

World of Warcrack

Somehow, I managed to get a co-worker hooked on WoW. Heh! Honestly, it really didn't take any convincing at all. I just mentioned that I play and she said oh? next thing you know, she's on a trial account & signed up a week later.

:D

The next step will be to get her knitting.

BBWWAAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!

DPNS

Did I mentioned that I started a little Rogue on WoW? A little tiny Gnome Rogue named DPNS. My son nicely informed me that it's supposed to be DPS (Damage Per Second) but I said no, it's a knitting thing...Double Pointed NeedleS. Appropraite in so many ways as the Rogue will be dual welding and specializing in swords and daggers.

Figures in Silk

Last week, I picked up Figures in Silk and read it through in one sitting. I wasn't expecting to like the book. Historical fiction is usually not my first choice for a book but it did say SILK WEAVING on the cover. I was expecting it to be badly written, along the lines of Maggie Sefton's books. There were a few weak spots but overall, really enjoyed the book and will defintely read it again.

Over the weekend, I finished plying the first skein of the BFL from Yummy Yarns and started spinning the second skein. It was nice spinning in the morning because it was still cool enough that the fibres didn't stick to my sweaty fingers. As far as weekend goes, it was perfect. The mornings were nice and cool so I got a fair bit of fibre stuff done. The afternoons & evenings were spent with family & friends, bbq'ing & relaxing.

How I spent my Friday night...

I'm at work...I'm actually hiding in my office. We have an event happening and I'm waiting for my family who are here to watch the event. I'm going to get some food, put on some music, and finish my sock. I will have 3 hours of uninterupted knitting time.

I was just thinking it's too bad I can't load up WoW on my work computer.

Silk

Hand-dyed silk tussah ~ 100 gms (give or take with all the fluff sticking on clothes) and no idea on the yardage. I lost count somewhere past 100 wraps on the the niddy noddy. Again, Navajo plyed. I love Navajo plying. I love the results.

It's hot today...~ 29 deg here. Not complaining but it would have been perfect if the change was a bit more gradual. Nothing like going from heavy winter clothes to summer tank tops in 3 days or less. Tried to do a bit more spinning but the silk kept sticking to my fingers.

Sunshine!

Ok, sunshine can hide a multiple of faults. The skein doesn't look too bad...at least I can tuck the faults inside. It's Navajo plyed to keep the colour blocks a bit more together. There were a bit of barber poling but not too bad. It still needs to be set and whacked.

Didn't get around to do any dyeing today. It was too nice to work that hard on a day off. I did finish spinning the silk I've been working on FOREVER and even started plying it. A little silk really does go a long way. It's going to take a while to ply all this.

Pst! Angela, can't remember the name. Do you know where T&T is in Chinatown? The restraunt is in the Tinseltown mall, upstairs near the food court. They have a dinner buffet too (haven't tried it but heard it's good too) with lots more selection and lots more seafood.

All you can eat Sushi

...is a bad idea for lunch. It's scary how much one can really eat at an "all you can eat" place. Good sushi, good selection, good service...all for $9.99. That's a lot of sushi.

I feel like crawling under my desk for a nap now.

Woohoo!! Long weekend!

Technically, next Tuesday is the Stat Holiday. July 1st is Canada Day. As much as I wish I was taking Monday off to make it a super long weekend, I'm ok with just taking Friday off and making it a normal long weekend. Monday will be fairly quiet and hopefully the rest of the week will be uneventful. <--wishful thinking on my part with the upcoming game happening on July 4th.

As usual, no big plans for the weekend. I was thinking of dyeing some fibre on Friday. Sunday morning is the Fibre Party at the Farmer's market. I needed to pick up fresh veggies anyway...and hubby is going kayaking so I don't have to worry about him.

BTW, just finished plying the Yummy Yarn fibre last night. I won't bother with pictures. It does reinforce my thought that I need more practice spinning wool again. I've been spinning so much everything else that I can' remember when I spun any wool last. BFL is REALLY easy to spin and there will be fibre for sale there on Sunday. (I know...I know...it's not like I don't have any wool...it's just that I don't have any handdyed BFL fibre.)

I've been trying to figure out if I have enough heddles on my loom to weave the huck lace project. Counting up how many heddles I'll need on each shaft, I'm short. I've ordered extra heddles but wondered if it would be a good idea to dress the loom and add the extra heddles when they arrive? Ok, after reading this over, even I can see it's not a good idea. I'll have to be patient and wait.

WoW content...
It's the Fire Festival on WoW right now. That has been a lot of fun, running around putting out fires...you get really good xp for just doing that. Hit 60 and got my super fast mount! Man! It really is fast! It's a bit nerve-wreaking to think that I'm getting up there...almost high enough to play with the big kids soon. I do need to do more battlegrounds for practice and honor points but I just can't bring myself to do that yet. Thanks to Drop Bears and my son, my druid is ready gear-wise but I'm not sure I have enough experience yet. I keep telling myself a few more Outland quests and I'll do battlegrounds.

International Knit In Public Day

...was a big success. Knitters all over the world got together & knit in public. Locally, we had groups meeting up on the Skytrain, beaches, & community centres to knit. A lot of the information got out word-of-mouth through Ravelry, an online knitting forum.

*photo courtesy of Inara

Yup, knitters come in all sizes and colour and there are girls on the internet.

Highlight of the event was me winning the draw from Yummy Yarns.

It's being spun up right now.

Thankful for:
1. A few hours of sunshine today.
2. Roses are blooming.
3. It's summer!

A Very Full Weekend

It was our 21st wedding anniversary, Internation Knit In Public day, Father's Day, and my son's high school graduation. Luckily, the weather was nice.

I wish I could say I was organized enough to bring my camera to the Knit In Public but I didn't. Forgot I had my cell phone camera with me. It was so much fun! Lots of local knitters came by. Some of us brought our spinning wheels and we have a new wheel convert now.

(Sorry Maryhanna...it was just a matter of time, you know. Did I mention that the Little Gem is a great accessory for your new Suzie?)

For a knitting function, I got very little knitting done. Lots of talking and socializing happened. And Yummy Yarns did a prize draw at the end and I got new fibre for my stash. :)

The commencement ceremony went well. The kids all had a great time and it was a little sad to see them all so grown-up looking.

Thankful for:
1. My son for turning out so well despite having a crazy woman as his mother.
2. My understanding hubby who puts up with my obbessions.
3. Everyone at the Knit In for all the fun.

Oh Dear!

Last night, after playing many hours of WoW, I stayed up later than usual knitting...just so I wouldn't dream of killing giant spiders all night long. Top that off with a very full lunch and your eye lids will droop in the middle of the day. I have two very long and boring meetings this afternoon and I'm not sure I'll survive.

Help!

Better go get another coffee...

The new shafts are here! Picked them up Saturday. It was a busy day but I had to insist that we make a stop at Rusty's place to pick up the stuff. It was hard waiting until I had time to put it all together though. Finally, on Monday it was done!

It was pretty straightforward. One thing I didn't think of was to order extra heddles so I don't have to move them around. I'm lazy that way. :)

Everything works and everything looks great. The only problem I ran into was removing the old rod from the treadles. It has a locking washer on both ends which the instructions say to pound one end of the rod with an hammer. Not a good idea as it mashed the end so the treadles can't slide out. I ended up using pliers to pull off the washer on the other end and everything slid out.

No warp on the loom yet.

Sometimes my husband surprises me. I was looking at the apron on the table loom, wondering if I should move it the floor loom. He looked at it and said that it's just a piece of cloth so can't you just make one?

Light bulb moment. I have canvas...lots of it.

The rest of the day was spent quietly spinning & knitting, with few rounds of WoW in between.

Leveling up on World of Warcraft is going slower now. I've been playing "tourist" and exploring a bit more. For me, the game is not all about getting to level 70 as fast as you can. It's a fun game with so much going on that you want to take the time to play and poke into corners and buildings to see what's there.

Thankful for:
1. Rain - I love how lush everything is.
2. A week off - no explanation needed.
3. New toys. :D

Two more LONG days!!

I am really looking forward to having next week off!! No set plans yet as to what we're going to do. So far, we've changed our minds 4 times. I would be perfectly happy staying home vegging in the backyard and knitting or spinning.

The silk I'm currently spinning is going fast. I'm using one of the lace bobbins with the very narrow core and it's still filling up fast. I've almost filled one bobbin. No idea what this will be yet. This will probably end up in a basket with all the other single skeins of silk & whatnots.

Thankful for:
1. Vancouver is a great city to live.
2. Feeling very blessed.
3. All the things that goes well but you don't want to say out loud because you're superstitious and don't want to jinx things.

What did you do this weekend?

Me and a friend thought we would just hang out at the bottom of the Sunken Temple.

Silk: The Spice of Life

Dyed silk always looks like something the cat threw up. Silk is absolute magic! You take your silk and "pop" it and it turns into a shiny cloud of softness. I can't remember when I dyed this but it was done with the starter Procion H from Maiwa.



It's not like I don't have other spinning projects on the go or I'm out of things to do...I decided to start spinning this silk today. Just because it's Saturday and it's sunny, I guess. Reasons enough to do whatever you feel like.

Silk is my favourite fibre to spin...not that I would give up all my other fibres but silk is the best. :D

Thankful for:
1. Cool breeze coming in the house.
2. Laundry is done and folded.
3. Going out for dinner so no cooking.

It's not raining!

I just didn't think of it but this long weekend would have been perfect for blocking my grey cardie. Someday, it will be done.



Finished the Monkey Socks and the heels match! The temp yesterday was 24 degC. Today is looking a bit cooler but still not sock weather. But I'm ready.

Next OTN will be another pair of Elfine Socks. Not only is it a great pattern but I love the book reference.

The Spirogyra are well on the way. The right hand is done except for the thumbs and I'm up ~1/3 on the left hand. I spend too much time on WoW.

It's going to be a strange day today. My son's grad is this evening so from 4pm onwards, I'll be a basket case. As hard as it is, you gotta let go sometime.

Thankful for:
1. Beautiful weather and shady backyards.
2. A fantastic kid for a son.
3. Fibre distractions.

Priorities...

This morning, at work, we are getting ready for a MAJOR PRESS CONFERENCE. It's a big deal. Those of you who knows me IRL and have read the daily newspaper probably know what I'm talking about.

Exciting stuff but I'm more excited that I just put in my order for another 4 shaft for my Minerva loom. I am SO excited I can hardly type!!! I've been planning my next project & now wondering if I should wait. No, I think I would like to get something on my loom. It looks lonely when it's empty.

I'm also excited because it's Friday before a long weekend and it's sunny. And I'm also excited because I found a nice guild of players on WoW. I had been thinking of transferring my toon over to Draenor so I could play with the other Ravelry people when I met up with Drop Bears but I rather stay here. They're a fun group with a good semi-serious/casual attitude. It's amazing how serious some people take this game.

Thankful for:
1. Friday before a long weekend
2. Knitters and fibre freinds online and IRL
3. Magnolia tree is blooming

Testing, testing

Not the best picture in the world but I wanted to try uploading pictures from my cell phone camera. At only 2 megapix, it's not terrible. The blurriness could be contributed by me having too many cups of coffee tonight.

At the very last minute today, I asked if I can have Friday off. Usually, the Boss is not big on last minute requests but he was in a good mood. I have the day off tomorrow. It's supposed to be nice so the plan will be to sit outside & spin. If it's not nice, sit inside & spin.

Bah! Monkey!

As much as I was hoping that WoW and knitting would somehow mesh together, it's probably not a good thing. Monkey socks are done but the second heel is shorter than the first. It bothered me so it will be frogged. Bah! That's what happens when you knit heels while playing on the computer.

I started the Spirogyra with one of the Trekking yarn but decided it would be better as socks. I'm using the yarn we (Twisted by Choice) used as mop-up yarn when we did the sock yarn dyeing. I've done three repeats of the pattern and but haven't decided if I'm going to keep going for the long version. I like to think that I'm a pretty fast knitter but it's kinda scary how much knitting I got done this weekend while playing WoW. It's those long flights.

One of those days...

Today's kind of day is my favourite kind of day. A quiet boring day at work. A short staff meeting. I got cake & chocolate (Denman Island chocolate). Came home and no one felt like cooking so it was dinner out. I got yarn in the mail. Any day that you get yarn in the mail, chocolate, AND cake is a good day.



Thankful for:
1. A boss who thinks meetings should start with pastries from Thomas Haas.
2. Good coffee done in a french press to go with said pastries.
3. Yarn in the mail.

DING! 40!

A momentous occassion! Thymeformom, the Nelf Druid, hit 40! I got my mount! I think I'll call her Spot, the spotted Frost Sabretooth.

Westcoast Colours

There's something so appealing about fibre and sunshine. I love the colours! This is the Superwash Merino/Tencel I got from Fibre Fest. I felt like spinning on Saturday and it was too nice a day to spin grey (Ping - yes, that's still a WIP).



Thankful for:
1. The local Art Knapps.
2. Sunny Saturdays.
3. Lots of fibre fun to chose from.

Yay! It's Thursday!

It seems that I have been remiss in updating projects and stash enhancements on Ravelry as well. According to my Ravelry stash, I have 19 different yarns. heh! It just seems like a lot of work to put photos on Flickr. As well, unless you have a paid account with Flickr, you are limited in how many photos you can store.

The last Monkey sock is half done. Just one more repeat & on to the heels. I changed all the purls to knit to make it an easier take-along project. Did I mention it was the Trekking Pro Natura that I'm using? I love this stuff!

Can't wait until my yarn order arrives from Webs so I can start the Spirgyra. I ordered more Trekking. :) Some of the yarn is for the WoW Knitalong - a project to be knitted only when playing WoW. Another great thing about Ravelry...you can do a search on just about anything and you will find other knitters AND there will be a forum set up to discuss your obsessions. Athough, I'm not sure I want to measure how much time I've spent playing computer games by how much knitting I get done! lol!

Thankful for:
1. Tulips are up and looking very spring-like.
2. Twisted By Choice - I really missed you all the last month.
3. Boring days at work - once in a while, it's good to have a quiet boring day.

Shhh! Don't tell!

I haven't finished twisting the fringes and the thread ends are still hanging out and it hasn't been washed yet. I don't care. I wore my scarf anyway today. It was so cold this morning.

Snow? Really?

When I heard that we were expecting snow on the weekend, I was doubtful. It didn't snow on the weekend but it did on Friday. BIG FAT FLUFFY FLAKES OF SNOW! Luckily, it didn't stick. There was nothing on the ground on Saturday.

Jean's Finishing class on Saturday was everything I thought it should be and more! It was fun and tiring at the same time. My brain was so full! Good thing I brought a thermos of coffee with me. I even had enough to share. :)

Now I have no excuse not to seam up my grey cardigan. That's a project for next weekend.

The rest of the weekend was spent gardening in the sunny areas (coz the shady areas were so very cold!)...and playing WoW on the Ravelry guild while knitting my Monkey socks. I was hoping the Trekking I ordered would arrive last Friday so I could start on the Spirogyra gloves for the knitalong.

Warning! Lots of WHINING

/start of WHINE

What can I say? I haven't fallen off the face of the earth (although, falling through space would be relatively peaceful in comparison) it just has been very busy...and stressful lately. I had hoped things would settled down at work with this new position but new things kept popping up. That very reason was what kept me from taking this position years ago. It seemed like the right thing to do this time but I'm having doubts. When work interferres with RL, I'm not happy. Usually, it's busy in the Spring season and I'm hit & miss with fibre functions but this year has been the absolute worse.

/end of WHINE

On to fibre stuff...

I am so looking forward to Jean Wong's workshop tomorrow. All my swatches are finished, labeled and ready to go. There is very little that compares with a full day workshop with other crazy knitters who are equally obsessed with fibre as oneself.

The monkey sock is still plodding along. SOMEONE played with my row counter and I lost my place. It took 4 rows before I noticed and ripped out the offending rows. It looked messy and since I was still so close to the beginning, I ripped it back to the ribbing. I'm knitting these socks in the green Trekking I got from Fibre Fest. It's a wool/bamboo blend and it feels really nice. Knits up nicely too.

I ordered some more of the wool/bamboo Trekking in different colours. One of the colourway reminds me of Murloc scales so I'm going to use it for the WoW knitalong. :)

Finally finished the scarf on the loom. Reason #423 why you shouldn't warp with only silk boucle...it makes really ugly fringes. Now, I just have to weave in the 6 zillion ends and it's done.