Everything old is new again

Wow...an entire summer, fall and winter have passed since I last updated my poor old blog. This is even more delinquent of me than usual. Where to begin?

I'm afraid that Ravelry is partly to blame, since it's so simple to post my projects there, to have them all in one spot, so tidily. It can also be a little frightening as well, seeing how many 'ongoing' projects I have on the needles at one time. Though it's hardly my fault that there are so many adorable items out there just begging to be made.

My penchant for multiple projects is also partly the fault of this cute little sweetheart shown above. I mentioned her very early beginnings in the last post, and now here she is, 6 months old in March 2009 and wearing her little knittles, very adoringly made for her by her Aunt Hilst. She is my little niece, Audrey Elizabeth, and I have fallen head over heels for her! She was born on October 19th, 2008, in Toronto, to my sister and best friend, Christy and her handsome husband Lev. Little Audrey, a.k.a. Mrs Puddlebum, is now a smiley, roly-poly 6 1/2 month old bundle, and she loves her handknits (both by her aunt and by her talented mummy). I am smitten.

I have been loving the baby knits all this time. So small, so quickly finished, if I could only convince myself to hurry up and sew. My brother-in-law and his wife are expecting their 2nd little girl, a sister for Abigail, so I've been working on something from the Sirdar Baby Bamboo Too booklet for her and just finished the sewing up on the weekend. It still needs to be pressed, but I was very pleased with how it turned out so far. Now I'm on to the matching blanket.

I've started on a little summer top for Audrey as well, a cute little tunic from the Sirdar 352 Seaside Babes. Can't wait to see it paired with a pair of white pants or capris.

That's it on my projects though for now. Lots more actually in progress, but I'm too embarrassed to confess to them all here...

I'm looking forward to getting some outdoor knitting done over the weekend, out at our land, where we have now erected the beginnings of what used to be just an imaginary cottage. We spent what could only be described as a 'helluva' summer last year trying to battle torrential rains and rivers of mud trying to get a foundation constructed. It was a struggle, but by the end of August there was a building, and we are looking forward to getting back to work on it, and hopefully to begin to enjoy it ASAP.

An excellent week in knitting

Well well well...sometimes days, weeks, and yes even months can go by when my knitting habit goes underground, existing solitary and quiet within the confines of my family room like a little late-night secret between the cast of endless reruns of Frasier and me. Often this is because of a large, long-suffering project upon which I am earnestly trying to make some headway. It can also be the result of yarn-purchasing guilt, while I try to use up some of my stash. Then there is the UFO-guilt, when I haul out half-completed sweaters and spend some time actually finishing projects so that I can justify NEW purchases. In any case, these periods of knitting isolation are very much assuaged by a week like this one.

On Wednesday afternoon, my friend Jackie (my most steadfasted knitting friend---read: fellow knitting geek) picked me up at work and we jetted off to Kingston for yarn-related fun. After a quick and entertaining stop at Wool-Tyme (There's a sale; you should go!), we made our way to Chapters on Princess St to hear Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, a.k.a. The Yarn Harlot. Many avid knitters are already familiar with this author, though trying to explain her to non-knitters can be a challenge. She touched upon this in her talk---the joys of explaining her genre. Not how-to, not patterns, she writes knitting-related humour. As usual, though we arrived with 45 minutes or so to spare, they had already run out of seating. They had only put out about 25 chairs---duh! Jackie and I prowled the store like chair vultures, and finally managed to snag a couple and bring them over. Not sure how many we were in total, but I'd guess at least 75. She was very witty, and Jackie and I enjoyed many a chuckle as we sat there working away at our respective projects. Highly enjoyable!

Then, as if the Kingston trip wasn't indulgence enough, I took a trip to Hamilton on Thursday/Friday and on the way back had a great time exploring an amazing yarn store in Ancaster. My brother Michael was competing at the all-Ontario track and field championships in the Javelin. After watching him compete and finishing in an amazing 4th place spot with personal best throws, my parents and I drove off to Ancaster to find The Needle Emporium. It was fabulous: housed in an old stone building with a layout of small rooms which led you, as if ambling along a quaint little path, through the store. It held an incredibly diverse selection of weights, styles, and types of yarn, and in each room I liked leafing through the leaflets of patterns that were held upright in bunches in wicker baskets. The range of colours and textures was dizzying---I really think I could have wandered around staring and touching for hours. I ended up buying 2 skeins of Lorna's Shepherd Sock yarn in a blue-green variegate. I had been hoping to get some Handmaiden Sea Silk, but the only skeins were 200 gms and were therefore priced at about $77. A little out of my league yet. The store in having a big tent sale in a couple of weeks so if you'll be in the area, I highly recommend checking it out.

So now I'm basking in the cozy post-purchase yarn high, and imaging how nice it'll be to get myself onto my porch (or to the cottage), a nice cold brew in my hands, all this nice new stuff on the needles!

Little teeny-weeny sized knits

Once again it would seem that I am in the running for the world's most delinquent blogger. (The possible exception might be my brother's girlfriend, Jenn, with her lengthy periods between updates on their New Zealand travels---you can find it here.) Much has happened and my needles have been busy, though as usual, I have far too many projects on the go at once.

The biggest and happiest news, for me and my needles, is that my sister and best friend, Christy is having a baby in Mid-October. As this is as close as I will likely come again to having my very own infant, I have been luxuriating in her experience along the way. Last week, she and her partner found out their little one will be a girl (hurrah!) so though I've already worked on a couple of sweaters and a little hat (shown above) for the wee bairn, now that we know more about who she is I can't wait to buy some girl-icious yarn and make her something lovely. So fun---I can't wait to teach her to knit one day...

Ravelry has provided me with endless hours of browsing for the perfect baby girl item, and as luck would have it our little lys, The Wooly Lamb, is having a sale for the next couple of weeks. I plan to go pick up a couple of projects worth of yarn and get to work.

Christmas holidays are over, and I made it. A tree went up, gifts were wrapped, parties attended, meals hosted, and knitted gifts (for the most part) completed and (I hope) enjoyed. (I.e. pink alligator scarf, seen at left.) Now it's nice to imagine the whole year laid out before me, and plan all the great projects I might begin over the next 11 months...

The only thing I wasn't successful in finishing was the mammoth 'reversibly cabled afghan' which I began way back in June. It's a slow-going work, and I find that I just don't have the gusto to work away at it for more than a couple of nights in a row. Cold winter nights when our old house just won't warm all the way up will be a good incentive to get the afghan out, spread it over my legs and eke away at it, inch by inch. Hopefully I can get it done for a June birthday!

I've dabbled in felting over the last week or so, and I'm quite pleased with the results so far. I started with a small bag which my friend Jackie made for herself a short while ago. I was impressed, and it peaked my curiousity so I went out and bought some wool for myself and got knitting. After just two tumbles in the washer, the bag had felted fabulously, and I used our Simpsons Puzzle box in a plastic bag to shape it while it dried. So now I have the bag, and I'm working on the i-cord handles. I'm a little confused about how long to make them, but I'm throwing caution to the wind and just knitting until it feels about right.

Back to work, back to school and back to routines with kids. Little time for knitting, just like through the fall, but I'm trying to stick with it. Having fun browsing through patterns, websites, and Ravelry. (Still loving Ravelry.com---so fun, so useful!) I'm trying to avoid snacking and sweets at all costs now that the holidays are over, so at least keeping up my knitting should keep my hands busy and away from chocolate! That's the theory anyway.

So very busy, so very knitty

I am deeply, deeply into giftly knitting right now. I've whipped off scarves, fingerless mitts, began a baby sweater (now on hiatus for post-holiday resumption), and am toiling away still over the dreaded afghan. So much lovely yarn about, and so many pretty patterns...why am I so easily distracted?

With my Ravelry account now keeping me acutely apprised of how many projects I have ongoing, I am trying resolutely to complete as many as possible before moving on to the next conquest. So far, not too bad.

Now, Rhinebeck. We loaded our family into the van on Friday after school and drove four hours to Albany. There was a relatively brief stop in Syracuse to appease my ten year old daughter, Bridget, who was anxious to visit the Carousel Mall. (There weren't too many people at the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival wearing Hollister shirts, but Bridget was one of them.) It poured rain on our drive to Albany, and we spent the night at a frighteningly bad Super 8 Motel near the airport. In the morning the weather had improved markedly, and we headed for Rhinebeck.

The countryside was beautiful; I hadn't such a picturesque little highway once we crossed the river. The autumn colours were peaking. We were all quite spellbound. We began to encounter more traffic once we neared the town itself, and in fact there was a long line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot once we reached the fairgrounds. The festival itself was wonderful---I'll definitely be back. Barn after barn of beautiful yarn, fleece and roving, as well as spinning wheels and felting equipment and all variety of accessories. So many attendees wore the items they themselves had made, and I recognized several shawls, scarves and sweaters. (Ironically it wasn't exactly knitted garment weather, as the temp was over 20C...) Saw loads of sheep and goats also. I felt comfortably surrounded by such incredible textures and colours...a very sensual experience in that sense.

I was quite well-disciplined in my purchasing. I came away with a beautiful skein of bulky yarn from decadent fibres, with which I plan to make a scarf for my sister. I bought some birch double points, and birch cable needles, both of which I've been thrilled with, and the price was much better than what I'd seen at Canadian stores. Also bought a few crafty sheep items, and then a beautiful carved celtic cross for my father for Christmas. There were so many lovely things at Rhinebeck...next year my plan will be to make careful notes of yardage requirements and weights to take along with me. Can't forget to include the Alligator Scarf kit from Morehouse Farm that I picked up. It's an extremely cute little knit!

It was a great day all around. My kids were well entertained by the wide variety of children's activities, and though my husband didn't come away quite as thrilled as I was, he enjoyed himself all the same.

On the way home, we got lost in the Catskills, which turned out to be one of the best aspects of the trip. The landscape was glorious: serene little roads lined with forest and canopied by leaves, and bends in the way that would lead to scenes of entire hillsides of orange, yellow and red fall colours. The detour added about two hours to the trip, but it was worth it, and we stayed over another night in a hotel about an hour south of Syracuse. This hotel was a huge improvement over our previous night---no bugs, no mildew and clean beds! We all slept soundly.

head in the clouds

Since finally receiving my ravelry invitation last week, I've been luxuriating in the comfort and the indulgent quality of this new little universe which I am now visiting on a twice or thrice daily basis. I get a wonderful, daydreamy feeling as I sift through the projects, patterns, yarns and blogs. Then there's the guilty pleasure of categorizing all my knit stuff---works in progress, stuff I want to make, all (or most) of my needles, which books I have, which ones I want---the list goes on. It's lovely! Highly recommended.

My travels on Ravelry led me to the exciting discovery the upcoming Rhinebeck festival. Rhinebeck is a town near the Catskills in New York state, where they hold a yearly fair featuring sheep, wool, fibre arts, etc etc. It's coming up fast on October 20th. The website gives lots of great information, and I found myself immediately mapquesting the location to see if it is weekend do-able from Brockville. Mapquest quoted just over 5 hours, and after a brief discussion with my husband we have decided it's a go! So we look forward to a little autumn getaway in a couple of weeks. Hopefully our plucky Canadian dollar remains strong, and I come back with heaps of great deals on wool.

Great success in the finishing department: the silk sweater is all done but for the blocking. I'm looking forward to seeing it on the recipient, but I'm a little concerned it might be a tad short through the body. Fingers crossed.

Also working on a scarf for my sister-in-law (another of the my so-called scarves), and the baby bamboo sweater for little baby-in-waiting. (He/she is still only imaginary at this point.) Fingers crossed again.

Did another little ponytail hat. Great little project to whip off in a night or so.

So now I'm looking forward with great anticipation to Rhinebeck! I plan to bring cash and camera, and look forward to posting my results afterwards.

the old ennuie

I am itching to finish a few projects right now. Specifically, the silk v-neck sweater I've been working on all summer. I've been doing the sleeves for what seems like forever. It will be a great relief to get them off the needles and begin the sewing!

I've made two of the pony tail hats in Opal sock yarn for my daughters and they've been a big success: easy to complete and very well-received by the wearers. They would make a great little Christmas gift to whip off in an evening or two!

I'm still labouring away on my reversibly-cabled afghan, which is going well but seems to move along at a snail's pace. I've got a good two feet completed which puts me at about the half way point (I think). It'll be a very cozy, comfortable blanket when it's finished, and it's a great fall knitting project. Perfect to let drape down over your legs on a crisp afternoon, whenever we get one of those!

I'm very eager to try the new Sirdar Baby Bamboo DK yarn, and to buy the Baby Bamboo booklet which features a number of really classic patterns for infants and kids. I like the colour choices of the yarn, not just your standard baby pastels (who's knitting with those anymore anyway?). I'm thinking ahead here, but my sister/best friend is beginning to drop hints that this may be the year that they start trying for a baby, so I am getting my niece/nephew knitting all lined up in my head!

I'll also be keeping my eyes peeled for a beautiful christening gown/set pattern, since the family christening gown, which all five of us siblings wore, was singed with an iron (by me) right before my last daughter was baptised. I have been feeling horribly guilty about it since, and have always planned to knit something gorgeous in order to make up for it. So we'll see.

All my plans for Christmas knit gifts, except for the afghan, seem as though they will be going unfulfilled unless I pick up the pace in short order. Which I doubt is likely. The nice thing about knitting plans though is that they can generally always be rolled over into the following birthday/anniversary or even next Christmas!

Still haven't received my fall issue of Interweave Knits, which is bothering me. I've been drooling regularly over the preview on their website, and I placed the subscription order way back in August. Will have to send an e-mail...hmmm