Enough Already

November.   Although the next few days are reported to be warmer than usual, I know it soon will be time to wear my winter duds.  That means removing the summer tees, sandals and sundresses from the closet and installing the heavier skirts, closed toe shoes  and of course - my wool sweaters.

In transferring the sweaters from their summer storage boxes to the closet, it occurred to me that maybe I have enough.  Six cardigans.  Four pullovers.  One vest.  An eleven day wardrobe right there.

Then I realized I had forgotten to include these latest additions to my fall closet.

I can look at each one and  fondly recall the knitting.  Even when there were struggles - poorly written patterns,  getting the finished to replicate the vision, lace charts that baffled,  limping to the finish line in the Olympic challenge  -  the  memories are fond.  The feel of quality yarn in the hand, the finished product that fits and flatters and the many, many hours of time  well spent.

But I do have to ask myself - is this enough already?

My Summer Day

August means canning at my house.  Top of the list today is the sweet pickles.  Called 9 Day pickles  in kitchens across the country for generations, yet recently named, in my kitchen,  Scummy Pickles.  

A few years ago one of my neighbours asked me for my recipe.  With this variety of sweet pickle, the cucumbers sit in a salt-water brine for 9 days.  During that time they become very scummy.  And they stink.  Following the brine period, they are washed a few times then put in a vinegar/sugar solution which gives those cukes the best taste ever!  (especially  since I omit  the Alum  and have drastically reduced the amount of food colouring traditionally used in Grandma's day)

So used to the scum and the stink have I become over the years that I didn't think to mention it to my neighbour when she took the recipe.  As a result, every day for 9 days, in a state of shock and disbelief,  she called to say   " Brenda, these pickles are really scummy.  Are they supposed to be that scummy?"

It was a puzzle to her, that first year,  how anything that started so disgustingly  scummy and stinky   could possibly be the delicious pickles that she had tasted at my house.  Since then she and I have re-named the 9 Day Pickles, Scummy Pickles.

One more day of syrup solution to be poured over these and they will be ready for jars.

Once the pickles have been attended to, I move on to my knitting.  The Serendipity Vest is bigger than it was. 

 

Though I can only guess at where I am.  I am hoping that the designer, like Elizabeth Zimmermann is a genius and has published a pattern that only makes sense upon completion.  Hoping.

Gifted

Grand Daughter Abi has been vacationing here with us  for a week or so and yesterday helped me scour my knitting room for yarn and patterns to take to the trailer.  We came across a couple of knitted items in my bag of give-aways that had not yet found homes.

Abi tried them on - and now - homeless they are no longer.  

First claimed was the multi-coloured H20 Hat. 

One of several  knit but unclaimed from my Great  Christmas Give-Away of 2014.  Also in the bag were the Kitimat hat and mittens, knit a couple of winters ago, still waiting for a home.

Abi like them all. 

No mean feat in a 13 year old.  Previous  address - my give-away bag in my yarn room. Current address - Abi's suitcase.  Future home - Hearst.  They will arrive this weekend.

Back From The North

20 plus hours of driving.  Tons of socializing,  visiting and getting caught up.  Shopping with grand daughter number two, Abi,  to buy her an appropriate outfit for the funeral (which she wore for the hour long service then tore home to change into sweatshirt and jeans). Picking up and delivering  Sarah, our oldest grand daughter,  from her out-of-town school.  Experiencing once again the extreme weather that is Hearst -  26 degree heat and sun followed by 2 degree cold and rain. And now home again.

And how much knitting did I do in the 20 hours of driving?  Here it is.  My little poncho to use as a cover up for my black outfit.  Not yet complete but only a few inches to go. 

You are looking at the third attempt.  The first try, I cast on the number of stitches and used the needle size recommended in the Yarnharlot's pattern.   I didn't like the very loose look.  The Yarnharlot used wool and I was using cotton.  Those two fibres react differently  to such loose knitting. 

The second attempt, I used a smaller needle - 6.5mm.  Larger than the 4.5mm the ball band calls for, but smaller than the 9mm the Yarnharlot  recommended.    But - with the same number of stitches cast on, the poncho now became  way too small.  Hard to get over the head and   not wide enough to fall over my shoulders.  

Try number three, I used the same 6.5mm needle but took the cast on number from 64 to an arbitrary 84.  It seems to be working.  I want the point to fall near  my waist line - similar to  the lower right-hand sketch

 -  and I am almost there.  I estimate two more inches of plain knitting, then the Fern Kerchief lace pattern just before the cast off. 

Almost there.

 

Off Again

Canada's first long weekend of the summer starts Friday.  Almost as one, the  nation heads for cottages and campgrounds spending time     huddling in frozen massess  beside campfires or in tents in what we teasingly call, the great outdoors.   This year, we are no exception.  Today we leave for our trailer near  Hearst.  No fun and frivolity for us though as we are headed up north for a funeral.  Our daughter-in- law's Mother passed away in January.  What with unpredictable   winter weather,  iffy winter driving, and many of the family being at their winter homes in Mexico and/or Florida it was decided to have the celebration of life on the May 2-4.

Coming so soon after my road trip to Baltimore I started thinking about how many hours of my life I have spent in a car driving somewhere.  More than I'd like to count.  Except for the fact that it always gives me lots of knitting time.

And what's in my knitting bag this time?

Well, at the bottom is the yarn for the third attempt at the failed Maryland experiment.  Before I get to that , though, I hope to start and finish a short poncho cover up.  I have a back shirt/skirt summer ensemble which has  a touch or rust at the skirt hem.  Black is so not my colour, but rust looks good on me.  Clever fashionista that I am, I hope to knit something in rust to wear close to my face.  As they say in decor land, to echo the touch of rust at the hem.  I spent much time this week, sketching out the best shape for a little cover up and have decided that it needs a point. Not a circular swing, not a squared-off  bottom but a point.  Poncho style.


I'll use the Yarn Harlot's Poncho pattern as my guide.

But mine will be shorter, falling just above the waist.  And mine will not have fringe.  Instead I hope to be able to work out the stitch numbers in order to use the lace bottom edging from Fern Kerchief.

AND I hope to have it completed by the time we return Tuesday night.   We'll see how that goes.  You all know how that will go.

In the mean time, have a great weekend.  Enjoy the first long weekend of  the  summer.  Hah.  Post winter at least. 

What Did Brenda Knit?

A more accurate title might be - Did Brenda Knit?  One would  think with 25 hours of sitting in a passenger's seat, to-ing and fro-ing from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that indeed I could have knit a sweater, a pair of socks or two, a baby's outfit etc.,etc.etc.  But no. Here is what I accomplished sitting in  that seat.

 Would it help if I told you it was the second attempt?  The first being about as long as  this second try before I ripped it back?  No?  Didn't think so.

This is supposed to  be an Eyelet Cardi look-a-like.  I've made Chic Knits Eyelet Cardi in the past and it worked out well.  I wear it lots.  But I wanted top-down this time.  So I thought - "Hey, I can do that."  Just add the eyelet part to a normal, worsted weight, top-down, vee neck cardi.  But so far, things have not being going well for me.
The first attempt was too small.  This attempt, the fit is fine, but, I don't like the squared, pointy corners where the neckline starts to head down into the 'v'.  I see attempt number three in my future. In the mean time, back at home, I picked up 'Sheer' again.


It is moving along quickly.  The back is finished and the front is almost at the neck shaping. 

No, you are not seeing things.  The front chart is somewhat different than the back chart. With three different colours in this 'Tee' it will either be a  'goes with anything' or 'goes with nothing I own' summer tee.  Of course, I'm  hoping for the former. 

A pitiful amount of knitting for the couple of weeks that I have kept you all in blog, desert-land here at Brendaknits.

And, yesterday was my annual test.   In 2006, a year of an early spring, on May 11,  the  day we bought our house,  Fred stood at the patio doors and asked the realtor  "What is that building back there?"
This year, 2015,  can we recognize the building behind us for the Church it is?  Yes I think we can.
Are the leaves as full as they were in 2006?  No, I think they are not.
Spring just failed my annual test.

But as true Canadians might say "Well, at least it's not snowing."

Into The Riot

Later today, I leave for Baltimore.  I am travelling with Lynn Gemmell of Shelridge Yarns to help her with her booth at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  As I did last year.  Only this year, they are having a riot down there at the moment.  Far from the fairgrounds where we will be hanging out, I hope.

My packing is done and  more importantly, my car knitting is ready.  Sheer, not yet finished, is nonetheless too 'complicated' for my car knitting.  Three colours on the go and a chart to read  while riding in the car, would make it - for me -  a nausea knit.   Instead, I have dug out the yarn I purchased last year at Maryland.  Being 80% cotton, 20% wool, I plan to make a spring cardigan inspired by Chic Knits Sitcom Chic Cardi.  Top down, but on my sweater, the  eyelet detail will be  done  in the pink and off-white.  It  will be a pattern-free knit - with Barbara Walker's guidance.

 I will cast on about 50 stitches, work a few rows of increases at the raglan lines, put in the eyelet trim and then just knit to fit.  The beauty of top down.

With green, pink and cream, it should look very spring-like and be a great addition to my seasonal transitioning wardrobe.  Blogging will resume post- Maryland.

Sheer Panel

Last weekend was a 'wash' as far as my knitting was concerned.  No Problem.  I had  nothing on all week and expected to get in lots of knitting time.  Or so I thought.

Then I received one of those great phone calls.  Our Hearst friends who hosted us for two weeks in Florida this winter called to say they were driving home from the sunny south.  If we were going to be home they would stop and stay a couple of days.  Yippee!  I would drop anything  - even knitting - for a few days with friends.

After two evenings of laughter and fun, I finally dug out my knitting.  Sheer has the back finished,

as you knew - and the front started. I am almost at the point where the third colour will be joined. Will it progress THIS weekend?   Not likely.
The last weekend in April is always the Jazzmania Weekend in Thornbury. A conflict with the DC Knitters Frolic in Toronto.  Why can't the event coordinators separate these events? Perhaps there aren't too many knitters who enjoy Jazz.  A battle of interests for me for sure.  This year,  the music won.

 Sis and her hubby are coming up and we will see the Toronto All Star Big Band on Saturday.
See them here or here .   A great orchestra of young people, some as young as 15 but none older  than 22.  At that age they must leave the band.  It is unbelievable how well these young folks play.  All big band, dance music of a previous era.  I look at them and think how many hours it must have taken  Mom and Dad to help their kids achieve this level of excellence.  Driving them  to lessons and urging them to practise.  Dedicated parents  for sure.

All of this socializing though means that Sheer will probably end the weekend where it started.  Here.

Whether 'Frolicing', listening to music or otherwise enjoying yourself,  happy weekend everyone.

After All These Years

Son #2, Peter, and his lovely Lady Of Spain came for a weekend visit.  One of the things he wanted to do, while here, was to join his Dad at the weekly 'target shoot'.

Fred belongs to a group that target shoots every Saturday afternoon, January to April. Most of the men are hunters and target shoot to keep their skills honed for next year's hunt.  Fred goes for the camaraderie.  The 4 inch target is 100 metres from where they shoot.  From that distance, Fred says it is a speck.  His aging eyes prevent him from getting a high score. At least,  that's his story and he sticks to it.

I learned years ago, by raising Peter and his brother, Charles, that  you can't keep boys from being boys.  They were raised during the 70s and it was, at least in Canada, an anti-gun era.  Guns  were forbidden in my house.  Toy guns or real - they were not allowed in my house.  Without the mass-produced, plastic variety to play with, my boys, at lunch time,  would bite their peanut butter sandwiches into gun shapes and 'shoot' each other all the way through the meal. So much for my example.

Digression aside, when Peter and Fred were  putting on warm clothing,  getting ready to head out,  Peter thought  he should wear another layer.  He surprised me by digging this oldie from his bag.  It took a bit of head scratching, but eventually I remembered that I had knit him this  sweater  -  the first Cabin Fever sweater I ever knit  -   in 2002.  It was knit with a  Patons chunky weight yarn that I recall having  an iconic Canadian name.  Something like Banff or  Muskoka or North.  Both the yarn and the store where I purchased it - the Hearst Northern Store - no longer exist.  

The sweater is 13 years old.  AND HE STILL WEARS IT!!!!!  Woo Hoo.  What an invitation to keep on knitting.

Home from the shoot - at which Peter scored much higher than weak-eyed Fred -  I snapped this photo.   

I've Been Robbed

My missing knitting bag is proof positive that I not am always the fastest to catch onto what is happening around me.  

Home on December 29th  from our Christmas travels, I discovered my knitting bag was missing.  Thinking through where I had been knitting over those travel days, I concluded that I had left my bag at Number Two son's condo in Toronto.  Unfortunately, he was out of the country until January 8th.

January 9th he called to tell me about his trip and I asked if he had seen my knitting bag sitting where I presumed I had left it - on the floor in the corner of the condo living room.
"I didn't notice it" he said.  "But then we got in at midnight and went straight to bed and I am at work already this morning. I'll check tonight."

The message later that day confirmed that there was no knitting bag in the condo.  Anywhere.

I had to re-think  where it might be.  The fact that none of the relatives had emailed to tell me I had left my bag at their homes, confirmed my memory.  I remembered that the only places  on our tour where I was knitting, was in the car  on the way to  Peter's condo, then,  while at  Peter's condo.


Then I remembered something.  When ready to leave Toronto, I opened the passenger side door of the van to see the contents of the glove compartment sitting on the front seat.
"Someone has been in the car," I said to Fred.   "I thought you locked it."
"I thought I had," replied Fred.  That made us laugh.  How old are we getting that we think we have locked the car but really didn't?  Something I remember Fred's parents doing on the way to Florida one year - and they were REALLY old at the time.

How old are we, really, when the only thing in the glove compartment is the car manual and a cheap $6 phone charger?  Obviously way too old to entice a savvy Toronto thief  as  both items were left on the front seat.  With no damage done to the van, we chuckled  all the way to our next Christmas visit, thinking ourselves quite clever to have outsmarted a thief - even if unknowingly.

But.  My knitting bag is missing.  If I had not taken it into the condo, I must have left it between the two front seats, where it had been placed when we packed the van for the trip.  And that savvy Toronto car thief took it.    Two kits of Knit Picks interchangeable needles.  One kit of multi-sized, Knit Picks sock needles.  A lovely satin case containing every size double pointed needle I own.  Plus a hand-woven case given to me as a gift by Sharon, containing all my accessories.   Scissors, darning needles, tape measures - well you  know what all is in  a kntiters' accessory bag. Not to mention that the knitting bag was purchased from the long-defunct Knitting Guild of Canada and therefore irreplaceable.

The only chuckle to be had now is the one I am having when imagining the look of incredulity on  the thief's face when the bag's contents were examined in the light of day.    Perhaps he/she will start to  spend their spare time in different - more woolly ways.