Merry Christmas To Me

From Brenda.  To Brenda.

Not  my first self-given gift, but it was still a pretty exciting time here at the Harris House when Fred brought the mail home.

This arrived today.

 

 Although there is nothing special about being a Canadian girl and an Anne fan, there is definitely something special about being a Canadian girl, an Anne fan, a knitter and the owner of a book of Anne-inspired patterns.

Joanna Johnson has published this delightful little book of Patterns For Kindred Spirits.  The book has 8 appropriately-named patterns: Anne's sweater, Diana's Hat and  Gilbert's Scarf to name a few.  They are interspersed with  lots of L.M. Montgomery's  black and white photographs of some of the PEI  places important to the Anne stories. 

This book, like the Anne books, is a delight.  The models couldn't have been more carefully chosen.  See Diana and Anne. 

They look exactly as my  10 year-old imagination pictured them. 

What hours of fun this book will give me.  Thanks, gift giver. Oh - that would be me.

I Skipped Thursday

I skipped knit group this week.  My apologies to all readers who look forward to seeing  FOs and catching up with the Meaford Magnificents each week.  Especially Nan, now down in Toronto and waiting, I know, for her weekly fix of Meaford Knitters.

I had hoped to get to knit group but instead, this 'king' was in the counting room, counting all the money.  Poppy money that is.

We are lucky enough in our area to have a multi-million dollar business that offers us a day with it's coin counting machine to count our Poppy money.  I cannot imagine the hours  days it might otherwise take to count all that coin.  We did the  job in two hours.  Unfortunately, the two hours they were able to accommodate us was the same two hours as knit group.  Dang!  The responsibilities of being committee chair. 

With the money counted and deposited, my duties are winding down.  Knitting can now recapture it's right-ful, first-place position in my life. There is some knitting news.

The gift I was preparing of tam and potential  scarf   pair of fingerless mittens, is to be a tam only.  Sandra  wisely suggested I weigh the yarn and use half for each mitten.  Great idea Sandra  - if the knitter remembers to weigh BEFORE starting to knit.  At about my 3rd attempt I did, in fact, remember.  I had 36 grams total, weighed off 18 and cast on.  I am here to tell you that 18 grams of DK weight yarn is not enough to make an adult sized fingerless mitt.  So tam and chocolates will be the gift I take to the luncheon.

An idea that did work out for me though was a lucky chance sighting of the Ziggly Zag Hat  -free- pattern on ravelry. 

The pattern calls for one ball and a bit  of Noro Kureyon.  Left over from my Mitred Square pillow, I have exactly one ball and a bit.  How often does fortune smile so brightly? 

The hat is a very easy to follow, mini lace pattern.  Last night,  instead of posting about knit group,I skipped the Thursday thing altogether and started the hat.  

Sorry about skipping Thursday.  Next week, I promise.

Definitely Distracted

I was just about to start knitting on my Autumn Fair this afternoon when I decided to check out what  is going on in ravelry today.  Bad, bad idea.  Look what they deviously  put in my Pattern Highlights page today. 

It is Anne Of Green Gables, red hair and all.  And now there is a pattern book filled with 'Anne' designs.  And the book is in the  pre-order stage.

Now what Canadian woman was not raised on,  was not infatuated with,  Anne Of Green Gables. 

Now what Canadian knitter could possibly  resist that?  Certainly not this one.

What A Rube!

A Rube - an uneducated person who is usually from the country
              - an awkward unsophisticated person

That's me.  
 I mean, I try.  I get out.  I go to knitting events.  I dress nicely.  But when I read Marie's blog this morning about her DKC (Downtown Knit Collective) evening in Toronto with so many of the world's well known knitting stars on stage,  I realized my knitting adventures could possibly  probably do define me as a Rube.

Beaten, but not out, I read Lyn's blog.  Lyn comes from Australia and travels lots.  Take a look at her shoes.  Mine come from Winners.   Rube.
 
There is no cure for this feeling of Rube-ness, other than to bury myself in my knitting.  I am off to do just that.  Have a good weekend everyone.

The Knitters Fair - A Mixed Review.

Well, my personal jury is still out on the 2013 Kitchener Waterloo Knitters Fair.  The change of location made a BIG difference to the feel of  the fair.

Previous years, the fair was held in a very pretty, park-like setting, with picnic tables for those of us that brown-bag our lunch.  The interior of the  building was also pretty. Nicely decorated with a feeling of elegance.  The showrooms were  in the ballrooms.  That set the bar high for the feel/tone of the fair.

This year, for reasons rumored to be more parking and cheaper rent,  the fair was relocated to a hockey arena. No park-like setting for our lunch - we ate  on the grass beside the parking lot.  Nothing elegant about washrooms, stairways or  eating areas in a hockey arena.  A different tone altogether.

We arrived early and thank goodness we did.  Within an hour of the show opening, the Fire Marshall had arrived and was limiting the number of people in the showroom.  That meant  l-o-n-g  lineups to get in.  Some  knitters said they had a 45 minute wait before being allowed in.   Yikes!

The number of vendors was way down, it seemed.  Down a bit last year from the historic 75 - 80, but this year, there were only 54.  As one of our group said, it is the first year  she would rate the Knitters Frolic in Toronto a better/bigger show than Kitchener.  Sad.

My spending was down this year too.  Is that related to atmosphere?

First stop was the Knitca booth where  I picked up the  bulky yarn that was waiting for me.

 

Seeing the colours in 'real life' made me change from my original choice of Lion - shades of brown and orange - to Rainbow.  Vibrant and  multi-coloured it should please  Nicki, my personal, colour critic.

The Knitca Mom & Dad were very clever people I thought. They stationed their two, knitting offspring at this little table with lots of Knitca yarns and needles, giving shoppers, like this lady,  a chance to try out their yarns.  

Beyond that, I found some long cables for my Knit Picks needles at Grand River Yarns.  Thanks, Rochelle.

Beyond that, I went to the Colour Riot workshop

 

 presented by Anne Blayney and her sister and learned that I really need to spend some time studying colour to know what I am talking about.   Yes, that is the famous Glenna C you see in the purple sweater, kntting and  listening.

And beyond that , the knitterly items that caught my eye were this  great coffee mug  -

and this DVD & pattern by Meg Swansen.

 

Overall, the day was great.  The weather perfect.  The drive easy and uneventful.  Some, but not too much money spent.  Great, like-minded friends to hang out with.

 

But that hockey arena.  Really?

I'm Ready

I'm Ready.  Well, as ready as one more big sleep can get me.  Tomorrow is the annual
Kitchener Waterloo Knitters Fair.   Christmas, birthday, anniversary and Mothers Day all rolled into one for most knitters.

My bag is packed.

This lovely bag, made by Julia and gifted to me at last year's fair, 

 

Julia was intriqued by my blog posts about the  fair and    came  all the way from New Mexico to see it for herself.  I intend to return that favour one day.

This pattern is packed.

 I bought the pattern but no yarn  in the spring while in Nanaimo.


Then, I came across a brochure featurinng the  perfect yarn.

 

I emailed the folks at Knitca and indeed they will have the colour I want at the fair and have promised to save me a bag of it.   That will be my first purchase of the day.  Any guesses on which colour I chose? 

Beyond that, maybe some new  cables for my Knit Picks  needles.  A girl can never have too many.  Beyond that,  a workshop on colour and beyond that -- well, who knows what great, knitterly items  will catch my eye.   I'll let you see the haul on Monday.

Look Who I Met While Shopping

On a weekend trip to the mall, I came across an old friend.  In that stupor that often seems to accompany me on mall trips, I was surprised to look up and see this.

A new store, filled with trinkets and 'home dec' items.  The staff,  I'm sure, knew not who they referenced  when they hung those initials.

And me, my first thought - "Oh, I wish I had my camera."   Then, I remembered that I had recently de-fossilized myself and purchased a cell phone so indeed, did have a camera. 

It made my day to see Elizabeth Zimmermann's initials on that shop wall.  

Mental Overload Loves Mindless Knitting

Lately, I have been whining about  mental overload.  One of those times in my life that I sure wished I had some drugs in the house.

It started, a month ago, with the new van. Always, in the past, we have had vehicles with the bow tie on the front  (Fred's extreme prejudice)  but this time we diverted our monies to another of the 'big three'.  One would think driving was driving, but there were so many things different about the new van, that I had a steep  curve to climb before I could even climb in.

Next was my ipod.  The van salesman told me I could plug my ipod into the van and listen to my own music.  All I needed was a cord. I bought the cord, plugged it in, and   -  nothing happened. Another learning curve to figure out what else I had to do to make that work.  Currently I have achieved 50% success with that item. I get music out of the driver's side speakers only.

Third up was a new camera.  The Hearst gang surprised me with a new camera for Mothers' Day.  What a wonderful thing to do.  It relieved me of the job of studying cameras and listening to sales reps, but of course there is still the  new-camera-different-from -old- camera curve to navigate.

Next up was WiFi.  Yep, as astonished as you will be to learn this,  despite owning a laptop, I did not have WiFi in the house.  I perused that market on the phone with the big R but had to go to the store to actually get the device, then  install it myself.  Not a bad curve that one, but still there is the curve accumulation factor.

Most recently, I decided to de-fossilize myself and get a cell phone.  One that can send those non-intrusive, text messages so favoured by the more enlightened amoung us.  Big, long, Rocky Mountain style curve here now.  First up, there were many emails arriving in my box before the phone came, keeping me informed about the status of delivery of the phone.  Every one that the big R sent, Canada Post sent a similar one saying "we have been asked by the big R to send you this email to say ..."    Double the number of emails.  Same amount of information.

Once the phone arrived, I suggested to Fred that he call me from the home phone to see if the cell worked.  It did.  It rang.  Too bad I couldn't figure out how to answer the call.  Had to call son #2 to find that out.

Then the Big R sent an email saying I had to activate an online account.  They gave me a temporary password and warned me to set my own password ASAP.  But, as often seems to happen, I ended up on one of those infernal, cyber loops. The system would not take my new password becaue it didn't recognize my temporary one. But, luckily for me, the-about-to-have-a- breakdown customer,  right there on the screen was a help desk called Live Chat.  Oh yea.  I had seen that advertised on TV.  Figuring it would be better - or at least not worse than being on hold on the phone, I logged on.  It reminded my of the old MSN system of messaging someone.  Except s-l-o-w-e-r.   By the wait time between communiques, I am sure my service rep was servicing multiple customers at one time.  My help took one hour.  As a result, I fell the big R should rename the service.  With all that dead air time, it is not so much live as dead.  It should be called Dead Chat. 

All this mental exercise has done nothing to improve my mood or keep my brain healthy for my old age.  In fact, I'm sure the brain is on life support right now.  But what it has meant is that I have become quite interested in mindless knitting.  No  Cinnie lace for me.  I am working on my skirt -

 

Tinks' Twirly Skirt.    

 

Plain old stockinet knitting.  Round and round and round.  Change a colour when I feel like it. I tried it on  to make sure  it would go  over the hips.  Seeing that it fit, I put it back on the needles and have knit comatosely since.

Have a great weekend everyone.  May all your techno gadgets work easily and as imagined.

 

Inherited Genius

Yesterday's mail brought an anxiously-awaited package.  A copy of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Circular Stranded Surprise Jacket.

 

I first saw the Stranded Surprise Jacket on ravelry - in both adult and child sizes.  I was captivated.

I saw colour work.  And a second look had me saying the "Oh Yea.  This version is not garter stitch." I was  Captivated.  A must-have pattern for me that just might take the rude approach and jump the queue.

The adaptation from Elizabeth's garter stitch version was done by her grand son Cully.  Meg Swansen's son.  Isn't that every knitter's dream?  Not only a daughter following in your footsteps but a grand son as well? 

But how did he do it?  We all know that garter stitch produces a square stitch and it is the squareness of it that enabled Elizabeth to create the Surprise Jacket.  As Cully says on the pattern front, garter stitch, with it's squareness  was  'an enabler of EZ's most recognized design, the Baby Surprise Jacket.'

Cully goes on to explain how he and Meg played with the square feature to enable the pattern to evolve into a design that could be knit in stranded, stockinette stitch.  He says
  'Meg Swansen discovered that the use of a square, diagonal colour pattern in Stocking stitch will produce a fabric with equal stitch and row gauge.  I was inspired - why not apply this to EZ's Surprise jacket?  It seemed obvious to me that the initial cast-on row of the BSJ could be joined with a steek and worked in the round, and I soon saw that the neck edge and lower flap could be handled in the same way.  ......  With steeks and the square nature of a biased ( diagonal) stranded pattern, the circular adaptation of the BSJ can retain the shape, construction, and mystery of the Garter stitch version."

I quote you all that , not so  that you will instantly understand what he says,  or  what he has done or how he constructs the CSSJ, but rather that you will see the genius he possesses.  The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.  He has  his Grandmother's genius in spades.  Three generations.  Knitters are blessed to have been and to be, still, led by such people.  Thanks, Cully.

8 Months 'Til Christmas

Christmas is 8 moths from today.  Which means it should be spring here in Ontario.  But the season is stalled.

This is what I see on my patio table this morning.

Stalled describes  my knitting is as well.  The sock and I were too busy running errands for Dad on our visit to make any headway towards completion.  Not one stitch.

My Modified Mothed sees hours of knitting each evening - but with the fine, lace-weight yarn, it sure doesn't show.

I need the air to warm up, the sun to shine, and some bulky yarn to appear on my needles.

Spring Cleaning

It must be spring.  I am in the 'get rid of it' mood that strikes me from year to year.  This time it is the printed word in my yarn room.

I have  had knitting magazines galore.  Some   date back a decade or more.  Some  have great patterns in them.  But I had to speak sternly to myself to say  " If you haven't knit that garment in the last ten years, what are the chances of knitting it in the next ten?"  

Add to that the fact that ravelry and other Internet options are  now  my  primary  and favourite source of pattern inspiration, and it was definitely time to divest myself of my magazines.  There were a few issues that made the cut and a few  individual patterns that I saved.  But for the most part -  gone! 

I will offer the discards to knitters I know and what they don't take will be donated to the local second-hand store.  Someone, I'm sure, will be happy to have them, and  I am happy to have cleared my shelves.

Freezing Friday

April 12, yet freezing rain and ice make the day seem more like one in  March than April.  Sane  people  stay indoors.  Me, I had plans to visit my Dad.  In all, with our B.C. vacation  plus previous commitments, it has been several weeks since I have seen Dad.   I planned on being down to his retirement home in time for lunch. 

After 3 hours of driving during which I encountered closed roads, hydro poles broken in half with downed hydro wires being guarded by police, and roads so buried under ice as to be invisible, I arrived - safely, thank goodness - back home.

This is a day to knit, not to drive.  Perhaps I will work on the second sock of the travelling sock pair.

 

Or maybe I will surf ravelry to find inspiration for the yarn I purchased at  the Beehive Woolshop in Victoria B.C.

Either plan sounds better  saner than driving.


 

BIG Has Benefits

My stash is big.  So big that sometimes it overwhelms me.  Already  a pension collector I  wonder when will I ever get time to knit all that yarn.

But other times, big is a gift.  Truly a gift.  Here is the new  colour palette for Colour Block.

Chosen from my stash  and all but the purple are gift yarns.  Ruby from Hearst and Sandy B's sister Sue keep me supplied.

The variegated green has shades of lilac in it that complement the purple and shades of light green
that  complement the mohair.  I have 900 metres  and it WILL be enough.  In the meantime, disappointed with the earlier, differing gauges issue,  I took up, once again my Geodesic Cardi.  It is not any enjoyable knit but I will force myself to focus on it.  I will not start colour block until Geodesic is done.  Promise.

Our current winter storm is being dubbed 'Perfect'.    Knitters will not disagree.  Stay home.  Stay warm and stay knitting.  Have a great weekend everyone.

Colur Block Progress

Stay with me here.













That's right.  No progress.  I have spent several knitting hours studying my pattern books, determining just exactly what I really wanted in a colour block sweater, working out gauge (Thankfully I had a giant gauge swatch in my Vignette, knit of the same yarn) working out stitch counts and design features.  Ready, finally,  to  cast on last night. 

6 stitches into the cast on, I thought - "Wow!  The orange Lamb's Pride yarn seems much thicker than the purple I used for VIgnette."  That is when I looked - really looked  - at the label. 

Compared to the  leftover balls of purple that got this entire Colour Block concept started.

Oh, how sometimes I yearn for a better brain.

 

Yarn Crawling

It has been awhile since I have yarn crawled. But Saturday a bunch of like-minded knitting nuts and I took off for our closest Big Smoke.  That would be Barrie.  Perhaps I should call it the Mini Smoke.  It isn't Toronto, but it does have two great yarn stores.

First up. we hit what used to be called Knit &Quilt but is now called True North Yarn Co.  What a great store!  Easy to find  - just a couple minutes off Hwy 400 and boy is it Big!  Bright! Clean! and Spacious!   And - there is a  discount room which  literally snatched the self-control right out of the needles  of some of my fellow crawlers.   With my stash already containing several bags of sweater quantities, I restrained myself nicely.

But there was no restraint when I walked in the door and saw Bolivia.

 

A gorgeous, multi-fibre yarn from Barcelona.  Smart marketers those True North people!  Strategically placed, right inside the door was a skein knit up into a simple scarf. The tag outlined the pattern; 10mm needles.  Cast on 18 sts.  Knit.  I can do that.  Purchase #1.  And lucky for me, needles were on sale.  The 10mm needle the scarf requires cost me just $4. 

Next the  baby yarn caught my eye.  My entire stash of baby knits have been distributed over the last few months - a baby boom in Thornbury, it seems.  Long winters, you know.   Time to stock up on baby knits.  Wicked, from King Cole Yarns,

a bright, happy, laundry-friendly acrylic was purchase #2.  It will be  one of Cabin Fever's Top Down Baby Cardis, very shortly. 

The group was starting to fade, so off we went to be watered and fed before stopping at Eliza's Buttons & Yarns.  Eliza's is Barrie's newer yarn store.  What a delight.  True to it's name the first thing inside the door is  a cabinet filled with buttons.  If you ever need that 'certain' button to finish you knitted garments, Eliza's   would be the place to find it.  And of course there is  yarn too. Lots of it. On display was a great tam and curly scarf knit from Liberty Wool.  My itching fingers said -   'I want to knit that.  In exactly that colour.'  But figuring I already had enough hats, I settled on only  one  ball for the scarf.

 Big mistake.    I wonder if Eliza ships.

Even the tough, snowy, winter drive home could  not dampen our enthusiasm.  It was a great day.  Definitely put the city on your radar if you want a great yarn-crawl day. 

 

Thursday And No Knit Group

Looking out my window today, I was undecided whether to tackle the drive to Meaford for knit group.

 But having been away last week, I really wanted to go.  So I tried.  In 15 minutes, I managed to get about 3 minutes from home. Poor visibility,  roads not ploughed  and snow falling like crazy.  The local radio station advised  'Stay off the roads' and for once I agree with them.

Back at home now, I will knit   with the girls in spirit.  With extra yarn left over from  Kitimat,

 I have decided to knit matching  mittens.

 I wondered if  I might have to alter the depth of the pattern.  After all, hands are not the same depth as heads, are they?

But - ta da - turns out they are.  When I laid my hand against the hat, it fit perfectly.  The stitch count is the only difference between the two pieces.  The colour work is exactly as written in the hat pattern.  And now I know if I ever lose my ruler and wonder how deep to make my hat - just hold my hand to my head.

If this snow doesn't stop, I'll need this warm and cozy pair asap.

One House Cleared Out. One Overstuffed.

Back home now, from a  few days of clearing out Dad's house, I wonder  how is it that my house is now overstuffed.  It seemed to me that all I said over those few days was "No Thanks."  " I don't want that."  Nonetheless, I arrived home with a van full of stuff.

One of the things I brought home are some of Dad's CDs.  A lover of music for sure, his greatest love was reserved for the Big Band/Dance music, seconded only his love for Dixie Land Jazz.   Music was played at home, 24/7 - the louder the better.  He thinks his bad hearing is a result of the bombs during the war.  However, those gigantic speakers played a role, I am sure.

Last night I created a few playlists and as I type I am listening to one I dubbed War Time.  Vera Lynn, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and the like.  With a few speeches by Winston Churchill and 'Ike' Eisenhower thrown in for a full dose of patriotism.  The kind of music that makes you sit up straighter.

There was a bit of knitting done - I finished Kitimat.

 

 It is a great hat.  Free pattern on ravelry.

Mine is knit with stash yarn.  The white yarn,  long ago, lost it's label.  The green, however, is a 100% Peruvian Wool from Diamond's Luxury Collection.

Thanks  again  to one of  Sandy B's, sister Sue's, great, yarn give-aways.

It is a fun and - most important for me over the last few days  - easy knit.  One of those pieces that looks almost as good on the wrong side as on the right side.

Perfect for the days you leave the house before your eyes are open.

A Different Thursday

No knit group for me today.  I am off to Dad's for a few days.  Last week, my Dad was re-hospitalized and is still there.   If the doctors can get him back on track, he will go to a retirement home when released. 

So - Sis and I are to get the house ready for  market.  This morning, I leave to help with that process.  Sorting, cleaning, painting, etc etc etc.

But I leave you with some progress on my Geodesic cardi.  Not much but some.

 The back - complete!  Yippee!  One dropped stitch, marked,  as you can see which I will tie off.  Otherwise done! 

The front.  Working on the left front at the moment, I realized as I snapped the photo that I am about half way to the top.  There are 8 tucks to be knit and I am working #4.

See?

The yarn is fine, splitting and IMO does not make for the most consistent or perfect    or neat knitting.  I am hoping that blocking will put those stitches in their place.

Geodesic is not the knitting I am taking to Dad's.  Required at a time like this is a  small project with thicker yarn.  I am taking pattern and yarn for Kitimat.  A Fig Cottage Free pattern that suits the times exactly.