just another raveller

Everything on this plate was spectacular and delicious, given to me by a friend. Still have chocolate and shortbread up the wazoo. And, there was enough yarn for the vest except for the armbands which I did in a complementary colour of Heilo. Now I will get on to finishing the Warm Orenberg shawl I've been working on for some months.

Sweater body found in back of cupboard was probably thrust there in disgust during past Xmas frenzy. There isn't enough yarn even to finish a sleeveless pullover. If I could find some yarn that will blend with this, I could do a fair isle pattern across the chest and use the last of the King Cole Merino Blend DK on the shoulders. It's superwash. What would do? Heilo, er, help?

I'm so excited! I've just had a windfall. I was feeling around in the back of a cupboard this evening and came up with a half finished adult sized sweater body knit in the round up to the armholes. King Cole Merino DK. Knit, knit, knit...yay! I pretend not to do Xmas knitting, but I think it's just a ruse to prevent myself from getting into a state of frustration and last minute frenzy.

I haven't written here since the beginning of November. So hard to get near the computer at home, but I'm off for the day and I have the time to write and knit. Hooray! The (Maximalist) Minimalist Cardigan lies in a heap on the ironing board. It is finished. Blocked, sewn and ironed. I am still in the denial phase. I'm telling myself that maybe it doesn't fit because I accidentally knit one size too big. This is true. But maybe it's because I didn't set the sleeves in right...or, it just occurred to me now - maybe I knit the back in one size and the fronts in a smaller size! No. I can't bear it. This will have to be a story for another day. After the sweater disaster, I got down to knitting hats for our guild's community knitting effort. I had promised to knit some small hats in dark colours so gosh darn it, that's what I did. I knit two plain tuques in black Cascade 220, all the while thinking about Jared Flood''s (cool-ass) Koolhaas Hat ...

Made some progress this week. Cleaned out a couple of closets and photographed the yarns I had stashed away there. I threw out all remaining plastic bags and organized and repacked the yarn in cloth carrying bags with pillowcase covers. I realize now that I am a hoarder. I'm not a collector. Nor am I a reasonable garden variety knitter who has some bags of odd skeins and unfinished sweaters and a few sets of skeins puchased at sales all of which will be duly used in projects. No, not me. I had skeins and skeins hoarded away in multiple corners and containers, like a squirrel hoards nuts. I had only a hazy recollection of the actual yarn wedged into the spaces between boxes of off season clothing and laundry. Yikes! There is yarn that I have purchased and yarn that previously belonged to my mother, my sister, my aunt and my grandmother, not to mention friends and neighbours. There is yarn from unravelled Sally Ann sweaters. I have yet to catalog the yarn in the attic, in the yarn bi...

I never said I would be good at keeping up with this, but here's an update. I have recently completed the Wildebeest and am stalled on the Mark II. Wildebeest is a lovely shawl. I finished it with a simple black scalloped edging of Mission Falls 1824 Wool. I was pleased with the way this yarn blocked around some pretty pointy corners and with the way it blended with the Di.Ve Autunno that I used for the coloured center. Definitely one to wear outside the house. The Mark II is another matter. I keep worrying that I'm going to come upon another weakness in the yarn. When I'm coming near the end of a skein, I keep asking myself when I should just give up on it and start a new one. I've finished the back - 22 inches from underarm to hem and am halfway up the fronts. I think I'll keep at it because I still have an encouraging image in my mind of how it will look when it's finished. The gauge and width are working out nicely but I need to start something else. Somethi...

This is an adaptation of The Breton Jacket (IK Fall 2006, page 104). I'm using a sport weight yarn - Brunswick Yarns Pomfret Mark II in the Blue Ridge Heather colourway. I'm getting a gauge of 6 stitches to the inch on 3.75 mm (US 5) needles. This is from an old batch of yarn that was stashed in a cedar attic for many years by a woman who ran a yarn shop many years ago in a distant state. The yarn is probably 25 years old or more. Because it was so carefully kept, it seems to be in pretty good shape. Knock on wood. Puts me in mind of a pair of sheepskin ankle boots I wore to work once. On the return trip, coming up the stairs at the Verdun Avenue Metro with the rush hour crowd, the smell of wet wool in the air, my feet began to feel very odd. After the first flight, I switched to the escalator and peeked at my foot. Panic set in. I could distinctly see my sock in an unexpected gap between the sole and the upper. Erp! This was a pair of boots my mother bought probably twenty yea...