Even More Steps Back

I enjoyed Fiona Ellis' workshop at Kniterary today - "Twisting With the Cable Girl". We knit a swatch with cables going every which way. Of course, I ripped out as much as I knit but I was pleased with the practice. It was also very interesting to hear what Fiona had to say about each of the sweaters and how the patterns were inspired. I forgot my camera - duh - but here's a link to the pictures Vicki took.













Here we are beavering away on our swatches.













Here's the actual sweater from the cover of the book! Oooooh - Ahhhhhh!













I hauled out the back of my Must Have Cardigan and upon close inspection, I realized I had made a mistake in the very first cable after the ribbing. Argh! So when I got home I ripped it all the way back to the ribbing and recommenced.













Here's a closeup showing how I modified the pattern and mirrored the big cables so they twisted in the opposite direction.













Here are the Basic Cable hats for the silent auction. They're from "Stitch 'n Bitch Nation".

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I had about 9" knit on the back of the Must Have Cardigan and noticed I had made a mistake on one of the cables about 3" back. I couldn't see any way to fix it without frogging it and re-knitting it. Ripppp! I'm about half way back to where I was.

I did finish a second Basic Cable hat for the silent auction at the school I used to teach at and also found a book to donate. Maybe I'll post some pix tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to the knitting workshop tomorrow at Kniterary with Fiona Ellis. The topic: "Twisting with the Cable Girl".

I'm also looking forward to the Yarn Harlot's book launch on Tuesday evening. I'm going into The Big City in the afternoon and will go exploring at Romni Wools. I saw some Regia Galaxy sock yarn there last time and might pick up a couple of skeins for my stash.

Happy Birthday, Aidan!!!

Today is my friend, Aidan's, 6th birthday. He is one of my favourite people to knit for. Here he was at age 1 2/3:

















And here he is more recently sporting a scarf he commissioned me to knit for him:


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AIDAN!














His mom, MaryAnne, has also recently taken up knitting and seems to be almost enthralled with it as I am.

Here's a pic of the first 'embossed leaves' sock:













And the water bottle cozy I just finished for Skip - as yet unfelted:

I learned how to do an i-cord bindoff on this one. I've gone back to my stained glass fan purse and am almost finished the i-cord bindoff on it.

Another Grey Day - UGH!

It was cloudy again today and the temperature was just below freezing. It's snowing again tonight but not as much as predicted. I'm getting really fed up with the weather and am SO glad I missed 6 weeks of this wretched winter.

I finished the first embossed leaves sock. It's so nice and squishy. I have cast on the second sock. If I make this pattern again with the same yarn, I'll go down one size of needle just to snug it up a bit.

In a stash-busting attempt, I have cast on the Basic Cable hat from "Stitch 'n Bitch Nation" p. 75 & 76. It will look a lot like this when it's finished. I'm going to donate it to a silent auction my former school is having on April 9. I hope to knit a couple of them. I'm using Patons Decor yarn, a worsted weight which is 75% acrylic and 25% wool. It was given to me a couple of years ago when I was teaching knitting at a crafts club at my former place of employment.

I knit a couple of inches on the back of the Must Have Cardigan. I'm looking forward to having it done as I realize I don't own a wool cardigan!

I went for a dental cleaning today and everything looked good. I guess being a 'floss-aholic' does have its payoffs. I then treated myself to lunch of enchiladas and red sauce with rice and beans at our local Mexican restaurant, 'Mexico Lindo' on the corner of Taunton and Garrard in Whitby.

Ribit, Ribit

I've been working on the right front of the Must Have cardigan. On the left side, I put the shoulder stitches on a stitch holder until I get the back finished and get the exact length. Although I've pretty much got the pattern internalized, I do have to continuously refer to my notes to make sure I keep the four stitch patterns straight. At times, I notice I've made some mistake or other so I have to frog it back and re-knit those rows. Fortunately, this is not a hard item to pick up stitches on as on each wrong side row, you just knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches as they appear. I'm almost ready to cast off the stitches for the armhole.













We have our own neighbourhood Easter bunny.

However, he is a destructive little bugger and we are going to encourage him to go away and not come back.




As soon as anything green appears in our garden, he is there to nibble it down to the ground. One year he consumed almost an entire globeflower plant and another year he gnawed a clematis plant within an inch of its life.

Last night I 'drew' some Ukrainian Easter eggs.










I also posted a bunch I've created over the years in my facebook album.

Spring is Here?

You tell me. Does this look like spring to you?













I didn't think so. However, I am glad it is sunny out.

Yesterday Skip and I went into The Big City for our last show in the Mirvish subscription series, "Nicholas Nickleby - Part II". We attended Part I last week. It was a British production and in total is 6 1/2 hours with 27 actors playing 140 parts. That Charles Dickens sure knew how to depict despair, squalor and poverty on stage. Sheesh!

Afterwards we went to the World's Biggest Bookstore and I didn't buy a knitting book! There really was 'nothing to die for'. I did buy a birding book - the definitive birding guide for eastern North American birds by Sibley - which I now see I should have bought online --- argh!

I did make more progress on the embossed leaves socks on the GO train yesterday and only have about an inch to go before decreasing for the toe.













You will have to excuse my unsightly bunion.













And here's a closeup on the 'leaves'.









A couple of days ago I stumbled upon this website whose pictures made me laugh out loud. I particularly love the second one with Penny in a ribbed, pink turtleneck. I can just imagine the Herculean effort it might have taken to get the sweater on the cat. And how the heck did she get them to sit so pretty for the photos? She has more posted on flickr.com. I think Ollie would look good in a black ribbed turtleneck or possibly a red one...

Our Sick Boy

Scooter has not been feeling 'up to par' this weekend. We really knew he was unwell when he wasn't interested in being glued to the computer, he didn't have a very big appetite and was running a fever. It could be the flu. Skip and I have been keeping our distance and washing our hands like crazy. It's the first time I remember him being sick other than when he had his one earache when he was about 4. He may have missed one day due to illness in his entire school career. He's had the odd cold but nothing that's laid him out like this. Hopefully his mom will let him stay home from school tomorrow.

I have more done on the Must Have Cardigan. I decided to knit the left front first because I really wanted to internalize the pattern before I attempted the back.




























I plan to mirror the cables so they run in opposite directions reflected on the central vertical axis as suggested by Stephanie Pearl McPhee on Ravelry. I'm almost to the point where I don't need the spreadsheet to stay on track. I read someone's blog today where she wrote about learning how to do cables without a cable needle from a tutorial Grumperina posted. That is a very useful skill for this project so I thought I'd give it a try. I found the explanation here. I'm getting better and better at it as I use it. I'm now really looking forward to going to Fiona Ellis' cable workshop at Kniterary from 1 - 4 on Sat. March 29.

I'm also looking forward to the (Toronto) Downtown Knit Collective Knitter's Frolic on the April 26 - 27 weekend. Today I noticed that the Marketplace (where many yarn retailers will be present) is only going to be on the Saturday but the class I really want to attend is on the Sunday. Pooh! I guess I'll be going both days. Interestingly, it's the same weekend as the CreativFestival at the International Centre. But the Knitter's Frolic definitely has my vote.

There has been conflicting information about when Stephanie's new book will actually be released. I e-mailed her last night and got a response from her today that the actual release date will be April 1 - the date of her book launch at the Isabel Bader Theatre at U of T. She says there will be autographed copies available for sale.