PayDay! and Earth Hour

I know I mused aloud somewhere about not observing PayDay as usual yesterday given that I am awaiting yarn in the mail...

HA!!!

Instead, I decided to check out a new (to me) shop called Americo on the basis that I had been in there once before, and left with nothing.

Well...


Not this time. Ahem. This lovely stuff is laceweight llama!! The colourway is called kyanite. I've never had llama before, but it is wonderful soft stuff. Approximately 1400 metres of it is now mine.
And...

Laceweight cotton, which I've never seen in such quantity.


The white nearly blinded me - turning it almost into a real colour. I had to snap some up.


I thought that one of these might be perfect to make a stab at the Laminaria in the near future...


What say you?


This is a stunning pattern, in my humble opinion. It looks quite difficult, but hey!

So, that and some drinks at Fynn's then ribs and wings at a new joint near work was all the excitement I could handle last evening... I then sat and fondled the llama all evening.

And tonight - blackout night! What are you all planning to do for Earth Hour anyway?

I have no idea. We're meant to go to a dance tonight which was rather poorly planned, I suppose. The original start time was 8:00 p.m. - which is the Earth Hour shutdown time in this next of the woods.

I suppose I could try to knit by candlelight - but given that I already have bifocals at the age of 37, that mightn't be the wisest plan.

Anyway, however you decide to observe Earth Hour... have a good one!

The Group of Seven still lives!!!!

Look!!!! UFOs (the ones with aliens, not the ones with yarn and sometimes needles attached which you might find stuffed into the back of the closet if you're like me) have descended upon Toronto!!! The Group of Seven just came in on those, I swear to you (the large one must be the Mother Ship).



Er... I'm jesting, really. This is my (extremely lame, even worse than usual!) attempt to photograph the buttons I bought yesterday for JJ's cardigan in progress. I won't show you the photo taken without the flash because it looks like mouse dung (and, having lived in 15 apartments in Toronto since I moved here 16 years ago, I have a really good sense of what that looks like!).

Now for some (slightly) better photos: my Mason-Dixon Knitting Miniature Series. (a.k.a. the Group of Seven. I really hope I don't get visited by seven irate male paint stained ghosts during my sleep...).


It was originally supposed to be the Group of Nine but my ADHD kicked in even sooner than usual.

All of the below were knitted using Svale Stork fingering cotton (lovely stuff, highly recommended!) and 2.5 mm doublepointed bamboo needles (no casualties - yippee!). They were then mounted on little 4"x4" canvases. JJ will be earning his dinner tomorrow evening by putting them up during the day while I'm at work.

And here they are in clockwise order from the top right corner (how organized am I?!?)

1. Baby Nina Shawl
This is the my original modification of it - my mother's Christmas present last year.

2. Baby Baby Moderne

Here is my full-size version of this blankie (knitted with Bernat Handicrafter yarn sometime in mid-late 2006):

I'm not big on the colours (aside from the red) but they were what were plentiful (at Zellers) and cheap. This was my first blanket and I didn't know if I'd go the whole distance, so didn't want to shell out big cash.

3. Baby Curve of Pursuit

This is an absolutely wonderful pattern by Pat Ashforth of Woolly Thoughts. I truly believe that everyone should try knitting one of her afghan patterns at least once. There are dozens to choose from!

This is my Baby Curve right smack dab in the centre of my large Curve.
4. Ballband Warshcloth

I have never knitted a real warshcloth. Until I knit this one, I had been firm that I never, ever would (never say never!) However, as you may recall I've done two high-falutin' artistic versions: A Woman's Work no. 1 and A Woman's Work... #2.

5. Baby Baby Kimono

Again, I've never knit the full-sized version. I'm not around babies all that much - well, never. Probably a very lucky thing for them.

6. Circle of Fun

Here is the mini-version of this lovely rug.
I haven't made it full size - although one day I think I will (I would use Brown Sheep Burly spun or Bulky rather than anything else doubled). However, I did adapt the centre pattern for my Pinwheel Blankie.
This poor blankie was cut down (or bleached) in the prime of its life by some chickenhead who lives in this building and believes it's a good idea to put an entire bottle of Javex in during the wash cycle. I got that washing machine immediately after (and there were quite a few more casulaties, trust me). A pox on his/her head!!!

And, finally (in my inimitable "couldn't take a good photo to save my life" fashion - this time I'm blaming the fact that it is dark these days both when I leave work and when I come home):

7. A baby log cabin square

The true colours are something between this:
...and this:



This was my first stab at this concept:


(It has been gifted to Holly Ogre together with some Smarties and Terry's chocolate orange. Maybe if Holly's feeling nice today she'll post a comment linking you to the photo of the full-size version on her blog...)

... and this was my second stab at it (with Fleece Artist Curlilocks and wool slub from one of their afghan kits. I got sick of the yarnovers.)

So, that's all, folks!!!

Oh, not quite (you didn't think I was going to let you off the hook that easily, did you?) I know you'll be shocked, but I did end up going back to the LYS today and acquiring the lemon yellow Super 10...

... and some in a lovely fuschia/purply colour besides. It was on deep discount, so I actually saved money!!! (yes, keep talking, Evil Kristina...).

And, in parting, I'm sure you'll all be thrilled to learn that today marks the 17th anniversary of the resignation of the Iron Lady (now Baroness Thatcher) as Prime Minister of Britain. I've decided that when I grow up, I want to be a Baroness too..."Baroness Brouhaha" has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Samus, redux

Here it is: based on the Samus pattern at the Knitty website: http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/PATTsamus.html




Yarn: (body) Super 3 (Kerzner - discontinued - mercerised cotton, aran weight) - 650 g approx; (edging) Newport Pima Cotton by Classic Elite Yarns (mercerised cotton)
Notions: 5mm circular needles; 3.5mm crochet hook

I had committed some kind of sin some months back by knitting a cardigan for DH where I knew I would want to use the same pattern again for myself (see my post on 25 October 2006). So - the challenge was to make sure that the two, seen together, did not look some some cutesy "his n hers" deal. I think I've managed, more or less. How?

Some notes:

- when I first saw the pattern (which was knitting in roughly the same orange colour as you see above), my first thought (with no offence to the designer at all) was "Who would knit a gorgeous sweater like this in the colour of a pumpkin"? Answer (with the cold light of 20/20 hindsight): *I* would... at least if I came across a Super 10 like yarn on sale!

- I changed the cable pattern on the bottom from the original, partly in aid of avoiding the "his 'n hers" syndrome. The pattern I used is located in the fabulous book "Cables Unlimited" by Melissa Leapman.

- the edging choice was torturous and expensive (considering that I spent only $45.00 or so on the yarn for the body). My initial thought was fuschia Super 10, then lime green. I ended up buying two skeins each of fuschia and KELLY green (the latter "by mistake"). I couldn't find the lime green (one of my favourites) and ended up buying another scarlet coloured skein yesterday. After all that, the Super 10 did not work out well for me because the gauge (DK) was too different. AND I now have spent more on the Super 10 than I did for the original yarn! (probably just my subconscious telling me "Buy and hoard Super 10... buy and hoard Super 10...)

- re. edging: I'm also a bit sad because my ultimate choice, the Classic Elite, did not work well for the i-cord eging specified as there was not enough give and the slip stitches seemed to pop out. I was particularly peeved at this as I had wanted to do a cable I-cord edging. Oh well. I resorted to the handy old crochet needle - at which point I could not find a way to make the edging 100% even. This, I will term a "design feature".

- there are no fasteners. I will be using this as a spring/summer light jacket and find I don't do up my other jackets in the spring and summer anyway.

- the sweater has not been properly blocked. This is because I am lazy and impatient and hate blocking. (I must reserve any energies I have for seaming, which I also hate). I did throw the knitted pieces into the wash after finishing and steam-ironed the crocheted edging and trim. I'm sure it would look much better if blocked, but I can't be bothered.

- the sweater was very fun to knit (as was DHs) and I would highly recommend this pattern for people relatively new to knitting who want to try out a cable pattern for the first time. The one in the actual Samus pattern is quite a bit more intricate than the one I chose, and ultimately looks better with the cardigan... but I'm happy with this one as well and it was quite a bit simpler.

Now, on to the He gansey from No Sheep and to figuring out how to convert some sale yarn (polyamide wide ribbon, Rowan Cotton Tape and Pheonix "soy silk" into cute little tank tops... I don't know that I have enough in quantity of the latter two nor that I have the mathematical brain required to compute the stitch count for wildly different gauged yarn in the tank top patterns I have... SIGH).

new acquisition

At the LYS near my work today a gentleman asked me if I was planning to knit up some pumpkins!



In fact, I was (inordinately?) excited because there was Super10 for sale (or so I thought until I got to the cash). In fact, it was something called "Super3" (which for some reason I'd never heard of - aran weight mercerised cotton) and which apparently has been discontinued. Can't figure out why - unless it was too heavy to make decent sweaters. So, I'll be making a bag instead (the "Scarlett Carpetbag" from Big Girl Knits, with the following accent colours (in Super 10 (DK) so we'll see how THAT works out...)



Yeah, also acquired yesterday (at full price). Like I *needed* more super10. Oh well, it's made in Greece and so (indirectly) was I... or that's my excuse for this week anyway.

Now all I need to do is line my denim bag... which I have been putting off. Wish I liked sewing... I have finishing anxiety with anything involving more than seaming yarn (which actually I don't enjoy either... but I seem to view as a necessary evil). Please wish me luck!

Oh - and I also bought "No Sheep for You" yesterday. Big mistake. I now want to make EVERYTHING in the book (minus one thing which I would probably still make for someone else...)...I need a second job at which I can knit! (just to pay for the habit...)