Thursdays Are For Knit Group. Survivor Starts In 2 weeks.

Wow! What a day we had at knit group. Barbara, or The 100 Mile Miss, as she was dubbed by Marie in a comment left here, got her socks. They fit!!! She loves them!!! Here she is with all the knitters that knit a round or two or encouraged from the sidelines.

And again with yours truly (and my new short! haircut).

Barbara stayed and studied the knitting projects.

Barbara, why not let the staff manage the market on Thursday afternoons? That way you could come to knit group.

Look at some of the knitting that caught her eye. Ingrid has another dress started. That's it laid across her waist. This portion is being knit up, and then she will reverse the process and knit down. Or is it the other way around? Either way, the ribbing will be around her waist.

What about the piece you are wearing today, Ingrid! An innovative piece with great buttons.

The machine Wilma knit a sweater and hat for a grand daughter. Brown was the requested colour, which makes it difficult to show off the lovely picot edge. Grandma hopes there will be a pink blouse underneath.

Poetic Pat finished the doll. You were right, Pat. She looks better with arms.

Sandra's scarf looks great. It wasn't long ago, that Sandra would not have tackled a colour change. Way to go, Sandra!

Marlene is 'cro-hooking' an afghan. Positioned perfectly here, to reveal how the colours reverse themselves on the other side.

Nicki made herself 'Newfie socks' with left-over sock yarn.

Joanne, the mitten maven has another pair on the go.

I love her mittens.

All fun stuff. But the laugh of the day went to Sharon for the fingerless mittens she made for her hubby, Bob.
Sharon, is there a reason Bob needs mitts with a middle finger so much longer than the others?

Duty. Are You Talking To Me?

Number 2 son, Peter, was up for a few days of skiing, last week. While here, he told me that he had LOST!!! the very warm Alpaca hat that I had knit him a few years back.

He suggested that I knit him another. I asked if he didn't still have the little black and red hat I had knit.
"Oh yes", he said. " But that is my truck hat. I keep it in the truck and if I'm cold while driving, I put on the little red and black hat."

"Well" I asked. " Don't you still have the brown and black hat I knit for you?" After all, my 'mo-jo' was returning and I wasn't sure I wanted to knit another hat. Especially a black one. Especially a black one of very fine gauge.

"Oh Yes", he said. " But it is a bigger stitch and therefore not so wind proof as the Alpaca hat. I walk to the studio and back each day and wear the very warm, cozy, wind-proof Alpaca hat for the walk." Sweet talker, eh?

Ok. Ok. So, I ordered some black, timiQuipa Sport Weight Alpaca from Grandriver Yarns. Darn, she's quick. The yarn is here. But so is my 'mo-jo'.

The Vienna sweater,

I have decided will be, with Elizabeth Zimmermann's help, a version of this and/or this. And I am thinking that I might do the 'plain-jane' back on the machine. Since my machine is languishing in my basement and should be used. I am excited. My 'mo-j0' is back and I can't wait to start. But Peter will be back up for more skiing next week. That means, I am sure, I can hear 'duty' talking to me.

Oh, well. It is wonderful that he wears what I knit for him. So a new Alpaca hat he will get. Knit with love and no bitching complaints.

" I Would Walk 500 Miles

and I would walk 500 more. Bottle 'a vodka, da, da, da. Bottle 'a vodka, da, da, da"
I have no idea if those are the correct words to that song, but it is what members of my family (including me - I'm no party poop) sing loudly every time we hear the song.

And a 'bottle 'a vodka' is as good a choice as any to crack open. I am celebrating. The 100 Mile Socks are finished!

Well, really the 150 Mile Socks as I knit one of them twice, if you recall.

The test will come on Thursday when I visit the 100 Mile Market after knit group. Will Barbara like them? Will they fit? Details at 11 in Thursday's blog.

Ici, Le 'Mo-Jo'

I think my knitting 'mo-jo' is coming back. Saturday, I was invited to tag along while a friend went to our 'almost-local' yarn store. Riverside Yarns in Owen Sound.

As silly, ridiculous, stupid, insane, dumb as it may be, this was my first visit to Riverside. What a lovely little store! Such a bright and cheerful place. And best 0f all for me - a great source of inspiration! Lots of great yarns to fondle, and lots of wonderful display garments on the shelves.

Emma, was in the store when we first arrived. So I met a long-time, virtual-friend and fellow blogger in person, for the first time. When I told Emma, that to date, I had resisted harming the environment by driving the 40 minutes to Riverside, she assured me that when buying or even looking at yarn, the 'gasoline fumes harm the environment theory' doesn't apply. That sure is great to know. :) :)

And of course, I couldn't leave empty handed. In the discount bin, I found a bag - 10 balls - of this yarn, priced at 50% off.

It is a lovely, Aran-weight wool & acrylic blend (I wasn't too pleased about the acrylic, but the colours won me over) in variegated tones of gold and green. I have 1000 metres. What shall I make? Perhaps this. Or maybe this. Or (pattern 82-3) this. No matter which pattern I finally select, the dreaming has begun. The lull is over, people. The mo-jo is back.

I Wish I Could Count

I got close. Close to having sock #2 of the 100 Mile Socks ready for knit group. The heel flap was done. The heel turned. The first side of the gusset picked up.

Then kitting around, I came to the instep. It's a 48 stitch sock, so there should have been 24 stitches. Instead there were 28.

Shocked. I counted again. 28.

Unbelieving, I counted again. 28.

Ah, I thought. The error is probably in the heel flap. Instead of the 24 required, I probably short changed the heel flap and only put 20 stitches there. That would account for the 4 extra stitches in the instep. (And be an easy fix)

I counted the heel flap. 24.

One more time. 24.

As a last resort, I counted the 'very-easy-to-count-so-who-could-ever-make-a-mistake' 2x2 ribbing at the top of the sock. 52. Dang.

Count again, says I. You're tired. The light's not good here. Probably a miscount. 52. Double Dang.

So 'froggy went a courtin' and he did say' "Rip it."

January is always my month for mindless knitting. A reaction, as I posted earlier, to busy Decembers. But January is drawing to a close. Although the inspirational. and/or creativity gene hasn't kicked in yet, I can feel it coming Something big and wonderful is on my knitting horizon. I just know it. I can feel it in my fingers. My needles are twitching. But it will have to wait a while longer. I have sock #3 sock #2 to knit.

Thursdays Are For Knit Group - And When Oh When Does Survivor Start?

That Wilma is a machine, I tell you. Remember when she knit the Easy Peasy scarves/stoles? At the rate of about three of hers to everyone else's one? Today she was wearing the vest she was working on last week.

It looks fantastic on you Wilma. This is the first time Wilma has knit a garment with negative ease and she is quite pleased with the fit.

Poetic Pat has another doll on the go.

She will be much cuter with arms said Pat.

Brenda - the other Brenda - is making a scarf with these gorgeous jewel tones.

Gorgeous colours to go with your blonde hair, Brenda.

Ingrid was wearing a one-of-a kind scarf while she knit on the 100 Mile Sock

Ingrid gave her spinner friend some fleece as a birthday gift. Her friend spun it, dyed it and knit the scarf to give to Ingrid for her birthday. That's re-gifting!

Nell has a lovely vest and matching scarf ready for her box of mission knitting.
Another pair of Newfie mitts were happening at the far end of the table.

And the talk was all about the big day on Tuesday. His speech, her clothes. Great fun.

Winter Slippers! No Kidding!

Remember these? Nicki's HUGE pre-felted slipper boots from last Thursday's post?

Here they are today.

The surprise of felting never gets old for me. But holy needles Batman! This is felting with a capital 'F'.

What with our winter of frigid temperatures and power outages, wouldn't these be just the best slippers for keeping your toes toasty? Not to mention your ankles, shins and knees.

100 Mile Sock update.

Sock number two has the heel turned. One gusset to go before knit group tomorrow.

And should you wish to be warmed by things that went on in San Diego last weekend at the TNNA, take a look at Knitspot's blog. Sigh. Someday.

Our New President

A big day for inaugurations. Our new president's name is Joan. She is the newly-elected president of the Church ladies group I belong to. She took office today. Which, surely, must make me and the other ladies at today's meeting the only people on the planet to not have watched that other inauguration. There will be a re-run or ten thousand, I'm sure.

On the knitting front, the 100 Mile Socks, as I have now dubbed Barbara's socks, are at about mile 66, I would say. Sock number one is past the heel turn and gusset

and ready for Thursday and some group knitting.

Sock number two

has three more inches of leg knitting before the heel flap. Then a quick heel turn, a gusset and easily ready for Thursday's group knit. These socks have l-o-n-g legs. Barbara, a tall lady, requested knee socks. So 12 inch legs!!

The ribbing on these socks is 2x2 which morphs into a 3x1 leg. The 3x1 leg is a favourite sock leg of mine. It is much faster (at least for me) to knit than the 2x2 but stays up way better than plain stockinet.

Off I go to watch those re-runs. Maybe some of that positive presidential hopefulness will transfer itself to the 100 Mile Socks.

Hats Are Disappearing.

I mentioned that we have lots of winter-time visitors and that I keep a basket of hats to give away to any who want them.

This weekend, was a perfect example. Our house was full of skiers. Three children - ages 3 to 8 - from two families, along with -thank goodness - their parents. My hat basket is now empty - but for one hat. The only kid hat not picked for the baseball team day on the slopes was Thorpe.

Poor Thorpe. Well, the winter has just begun. There is yet time.

I did manage to get one picture before the batteries died. This is Jill

with the 'Yellow Hat and Mitts'.

Her daughter Meghan took the pink hat.

And 3 year old Spencer took the 'teeny-tiny Unoriginal Hat'.

It fit him just fine.

Jill's hubby, Mike, was wearing his hat from the winter of /08.

So all in all, it was a very satisfying, hat-give-away weekend for this knitter.

Socks and Snow

Barbara's socks are moving along quickly.

My goal is to get both socks past the heel and gusset before next week's knit group. I mean, taking a turn with a round or two of knitting is one thing, but
"Here, turn the heel, please" is quite another. So I will do the heels and gussets and then take them in for a group session of foot knitting.

While I've worked on them, Fred has been outside shovelling snow. For hours. Poor man. This is what all that hard work looks like in our neighbourhood.

That's Fred in the red. Next door neighbour in the truck and next door-but-one in the purple snow suit. Yikes! I just realized our guy neighbour is wearing a purple snow suit. How very ??? ( What word would describe my guy neighbour in a purple snow suit?) of him!!

Much later the work continues.

Fred has just come in. His toes are cold! Ha!

Thursdays are For Knit Group And - When Does Survivor Start?

The first order of business today at knit group was to work on Barbara's socks. You might remember that just before Christmas, Barbara who along with her husband David owns
The 100 Mile Market, bartered two big boxes of yarn for a pair of hand knit socks.

But there was a slight hitch. The Briggs &Little yarn Barbara had reserved for the socks, fell apart in my hands. Moths had been at it! So Nicki came to the rescue with a donation of new (or at least newer) Briggs & Little Tuffy - in two colours no less.

Last week, Ingrid suggested that I should bring the socks to knit group so we could all work on them. They would then, really be 'from the group' and a great way to thank Barbara for all the yarn she gave us.

I simply started the socks at home and then gave them to Ingrid to be the first to work an inch or so.

And while Ingrid was working on 'the sock', Wilma was working on a vest.

Great cables and great colour, Wilma.

Nicki has these two 'honkin' big socks.

They are the pre-felted version of the Fibre Trends pattern (Scroll down to see pattern AC81) for felted slipper boots. HUGE! I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Bonnie has a pair of Newfie Mitts on the go. Her first.

She was inspired by Pat's pair last week.

And who do you think knit this Puss In Boots?
If you guessed Poetic Pat, you'd be right. Isn't he cute?

Time to go and knit my share of those socks.

Cabin Fever Averted

No, not that Cabin Fever. The other kind. The kind you get from being forced to stay indoors because of frigid weather.

At 8 this morning, the weather channel said it was minus 24. I tried to imagine what body parts might freeze coming down the ski hill at that temperature and shivered just to think of it. Mind you, Knitsnthings son went skiing at minus 31, but he's way crazier younger than me.

But what to do with my indoor, winter day? A bit of housekeeping. A bit of baking. Then, just as I was thinking 'what next?" the phone rang.

"I have invited a friend over to knit, would you like to join us" asked Nicki. Ohhhh! I'd love to. (My Mother used to say " Never ask Brenda unless you really want her because she always says 'Yes'.") And I had the perfect little project I was anxious to start. I grabbed some leftover sock yarn, my 2.75 DPNs and off I went.

A lovely way to spend the day and no cabin fever.

Thorpe And Book Club

Thorpe

is finished.

She even has her hair done - in braids!

And just in time too. We are about to get some frigid temperatures.

So frigid, that even though I had no intentions of making Thorpe my hat, I think I will wear her to Book Club tonight. My walk is only about three blocks, but at minus the 'wrath of winter' I better wear a hat.

Book Club, you say? Yes, indeed, 'oh glee, oh glee', book club. It was hard, and took several years, but finally, I belong to a book club. For eons, I have wanted to belong to a book club; every time someone mentioned being a member of one, I would ask if I could join their club. The conversations went like this:

Me: You belong to a book club?
Member: Yea.
Me: Could I join your club?
Member: No.

One club restricted membership to 12. They had their 12 - and couldn't possibly squeeze in one more member. One club was a Mother-Daughter club. I have no daughter. One club was only for retired teachers from a certain college. And on it went. I began to think book clubs were elitist groups.

Then I moved to Thornbury and discovered Knit Group. One of the members mentioned belonging to a book club. She didn't know I had been turned down several times, so I asked.

Me: Could I join your book club?
Member: Oh, well, it's a pretty intellectual group.
Me: Oh
Member: Yea, we have a couple of retired university English profs and a high school English teacher.
Me: Oh
Member: Yea, the discussions get pretty deep.
Me: Scr@* You Oh.

So when I was in the local library one day and overheard the librarian talking about a book club, I barely had enough self confidence left to ask.
Me: (Timidly, in a small voice) Book Club? You have a book club here?
Librarian: Yes we do.
Me: Could I join your book club?
Librarian: Sure.


Peter,#2 son, when he heard I had finally been accepted into a book club, said " Gee, Mom. Do you really want to belong to a club that will have you as a member?" Funny. How did his generation hear of Groucho Marx?

So tonight is Book Club. Thorpe and I will attend, despite the weather, because January's book was MY selection - No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod - and tonight, I lead the discussion.

Take that you Full-Up, Mother- Daughter, Retired Co-workers' clubs.

A Partial Thorpe

Thorpe

was started on the weekend. Thorpe is a great pattern by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops

And again, I am using the same, sadly- discontinued worsted weight, washable wool, by Patons as I used for this teeny tiny Unoriginal Hat.

I had to set it aside this morning though to take in a couple of hours of skiing, then home to the hot tub. But I'm ready to pick up the needles now.

I know. Tough life.

Another Hat

Januarys, for some reason, always seem to be my month to knit hats. It is my stress-relieving reaction to strenuous Decembers, I think. Just a quick, little project to keep the hands busy while not taxing the brain too much.


And like the yellow hat,

today's hat,

is also a Scarf Beanie Hat by Anne Gilmour. The head-band portion of this hat

was made with yarn that 7 year old, granddaughter #2 gave me for Christmas. She told me she went to the wool/tool store in Hearst with her Daddy and picked it out all by herself. The yarn is Be Mine by Patons . Fluffy, furry and a lovely shade of light purple. A great choice for Grandma's gift, don't you think?

The rest of the hat is knit with Patons Classic Merino - stash yarn. Another hat for our visitor's box.

Thursdays Are For Knit Group and - When The Heck Does Survivor Start

Today was the first meet-up of knit group since before Christmas. Starting things off was another Great Give-Away. All the yarn donated by Barbara from the 100 Mile Market.

When those 30 seconds were over ....

Pat (is there such a thing as knitters ESP?) made a hat and Newfie Mitts. But she wears hers. Mine? A wearer has yet to be selected.

Sharon's holiday knitting time was spent playing with 'flat socks'. How cool is that!

Can you guess what this is?

A sock? Mittens? Understandable that you might think so, but it is neither. Intrepid Ingrid has knit another of her creations and she says the sleeves are very wide. This will be a long cuff that she will attach to the sleeves. Lovely colours, lovely yarn. I can't wait to see this one, Ingrid.


Joanna has almost finished a gorgeous Noro Diagonal scarf.

And Nell is working on an afghan.

Her husband has put in a special request for an afghan big enough for two. They've been married 50 plus years, so that's a pretty special request. Will it be done in time for Valentine's' Day, Nell?

Now off to do some TV knitting. But what to watch until the next Survivor series. Suggestions??