Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Snow/FO Day!

The weather in Ottawa is nuts today, and since my brother had a snow day, and my mom (aka my ride to work) was not driving, I took one too. Sure, my dad offered me a ride, but I'm glad I called in to work instead of taking him up on it, since he got stuck in the driveway. He had to plow around the car, have my mom and I come push him off the solid ice that was hiding under the snow, and didn't actually get onto the road until 9 am. Madness.

What makes today an especially great day off (other than being pleasantly unexpected) is that I was up and showered at alert by 8 am. Usually on a day off I sleep until 10 or later and lounge around in my pjs all day. I kicked off the day by playing some DDR and drinking coffee from a ceramic mug (it makes a difference!). Then I destashed two grocery bags full of yarn (Sally Ann time!) and organized the rest of the stash. There's been a lot of sheet set/drapery/duvet cover purchases in the household over the past few months, so I organized my yarn into all these clear plastic bags with proper zippers. I am super pleased!

Aaaand, I finished the Jaywalkers! Technically I finished them yesterday afternoon at work, but today I wove away the ends and blocked one of them, which means they're almost gift-ready!


The first picture shows the colour a little more accurately. For some reason the camera refuses to pick up how the lightest green is almost yellow and springy, and how the darkest one is a dark spruce-blue. Ah well. Here, too is a pic of a pre-block Jaywalker.


It bears saying that I've never blocked socks before, partly because I couldn't find a sock blocker anywhere in Montreal, and partly because they look fine once they're stretched out on the foot. While I stand by the latter, because I'm gifting these, I really want them to look just as pretty sitting in the box as they do on the feet, hence the blocking. Ironically, my dad offered just last night to make me a sock blocker from 1/2" thick plastic if I made a cardboard mock-up (he owns a machine shop). So I made the mock-up this aft... and couldn't wait until tomorrow night! So I wrapped the cardboard in plastic wrap. XD

Up next... I want to make some Mad Colour Weave Socks in solid coral pink! After the quick, simple and masculine (camouflage green) Jaywalkers, I'm eager to start something engaging and girly! Expect updates on Ravelry first. ^^

Friday, January 4, 2008

Frivolous

I got started on Frivol last night, and by this morning, I was stumped. I couldn't figure out the "pick up wrapped stitch" bit; I kept ending up with an extra stitch. So, I emailed Debi, the author. And, because she's amazing, she replied in less than 15 minutes! Awesome! Here's what I've gotten done so far, mostly during breaks from putting away Christmas decorations.



For some reason the colours look less intense here than in the pictures I took last night. Still getting comfortable with my new camera. I'm hoping to finish before the week is out - January and February are our coldest months, here.

Stash Enhancement!

I'm in the middle of moving from Montreal back home to Ottawa, which here means that 90% of my stuff is still in Montreal, and I have just the bare necessities here: some clothes, toiletries, some waaaay backstash yarn (like, that I bought before moving to Montreal 6 years ago), and my "spare" needles. I have a pretty inclusive set in Montreal, so what I have here consists of doubles and mismatches. All my Christmas knitting is done. There's only so much a girl can do with 8 balls of bulky, navy blue, acrylic yarn.

Stash enhancement was in order! My mom and I went to the Ottawa Yarn Forward and came out some 45 minutes later with...



The Lang was on sale. And I had no stashed sock yarn. Well... only two balls, and that's practically none! The Arequipa was pretty! And soft! And pretty!

And the Fleece Artist. Oh dear. I wanted to knit a Frivol. Ever since seeing Pam's, I've been itching to cast on. Except there was the whole not-having-any-yarn bit. So I scoured Yarn Forward for the perfect yarn. I held skein after skein against my tweedy grey coat. And then the Fleece Artist called to me. "Look at me, Erin. Aren't I just the perfect colour to match that coat? Come feel me." That Fleece Artist is one smooth operator. He put a dent in my pocket and made me wrestle him for nearly an hour, but we now have ball! Two luscious, fuschia balls of ready-for-the-knitting yarn.



Oh yeah.