Saturday, January 27, 2007

Tea cozy and sunshine

Four years ago I started knitting a sweater for a friend of mine. She and I travelled across Canada one summer when she moved back from Ontario to Victoria. We had a good time, were silly, drank lots of wine, camped and saw some amazing country. And agreed that I would knit a sweater for her and she would make me a dress. She bought the wool, I bought the material. Well. I decided for some silly reason to make up a pattern as I went a long. A year and a half the sweater was finished (while the dress was done in 4 months) and it was horrible. Awful. Big, ugly, bulky. I bought her a sweater and we called it even.


I didn't pick up knitting needles for at least a year after that!

But I found the awful sweater the other day and thought I should felt it up. Here it is. I threw it in the washing machine and washed it about 4 times on the hot and cold cycle. And then today I was inspired to turn Ugly Sweater into Funky Tea Cozy. Not bad eh? It is now a gift for that friend, and I can't wait to give it to her.






The cats seem to love the tea cozy too.


The dogs were actually feeling frisky enough in the sun to pull out the toys again.Here are the crocus in the lawn.
















And some views from Maple Mountain taken in the sun yesterday. This is the beautiful place I live! I am so lucky! The Honey and I went up for a hike on the mountain with the dogs and were searching for the perfect picture for the logo of our new forestry company. We got a great shot too.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Secret pal swap

Check it out! She got my yarn!
http://zarzuelaknitsandcrochets.com/blog/?p=184

I have no idea about secret pal etiquette- am I allowed to share who she is? I am just very excited since I have never participated in a secret pal swap before.

For guidance on hot pour dyeing see where I got the idea from at Yo Mama Knits:
http://www.yomamaknits.com/?p=105

Glorious sun is out! After dismal days in November and December (dismal even by coastal standards) we are back into a more typical pattern of rainy days interspersed by warmer sunny days.

Crocus are coming up in the garden. And to my surprise, since this is a new house for us, also in the front and back yard! How terrific! I have always wanted a spring lawn full of flowers. In fact, the front is still gravel from the house being built so it is amazing these hardy little bulbs are poking through everywhere. I promise pictures when they bloom.

On the knitting front, still working on my falling leaves sock. I plan to dye up a new batch this weekend for secret pal skein # 2 so I promise more pictures of fibre.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Progress on new year's projects


The Lincoln fibre is spinning up lovely. I am having a great time with it- trying to spin something lighter for my secret pal so she isn't stuck with 1 skein of unusable bulky weight. Nothing wrong with bulky weight, I just thought a lighter yarn might allow more flexibility in whatever she intends to use the yarn for.

The colours are very pretty and much more vibrant than my camera portrays. I am using my Honey's Olympus C-770. It has been a great camera for landscapes but is proving more difficult for taking pictures of my fibre. In particular it does not capture the blues and purple colours well at all. It makes them all a bright, nondescript electric blue, very unlike the colours I dye. I had a bit of a break through last week though and upped the redness in the picture, which brought out more of the true colours, but it is still frustrating.

My other current project are the falling leaves socks in Lorna's Laces sock yarn. Oh. my. goodness. Why did no one shake me and insist that I try REAL sock yarn? It is LOVELY! My previous socks have been using dk weight yarn, and there is no comparison (I am reformed! I AM!). This yarn was purchased as my post-defense treat, and I am having a great time knitting up "real" socks with "real" sock yarn.

But here's the problem, the cash flow is, well for the most part, nonexistent these days. Despite the enormous amount of work I have on my plate, as a consultant I have to wait for invoices to be paid, and in the mean time scrimp to get buy. I can't be spending $20 a pop on socks when I really need new underwear. Can I? Can I maybe knit underwear? Would that be as cool as socks? I would likely want to show them off all the time, which might label me as a tramp. Damn social niceties anyway!

Ok and the other thing I wanted to say about these socks is that this is my first time knitting on double pointed needles. I am thinking now I really am more of a circular needle kind of girl. These points just get in my way, and mostly I am glad I wear glasses so I don't have to worry about poking my eye out. Cause it could happen! The Honey and I were driving to Victoria (and I was knitting to relieve my stress at having to go to a meeting) when I had 2 incidents with the needles. The first one was just me worrying that if I were in an accident head on I might die from injuries caused by knitting needles penetrating my body. I don't worry about that with circulars! So I put away the sock and in doing so dropped one of my needles beside the seat. Because I am obsessive I had to retrieve the needle at the next stop light by opening the door so I could run my hand under the seat. As I opened the door the needle went clang onto the highway (I guess it fell right near the door), I whipped off my seatbelt, jumped out of the car, and scrambled around on the ground, finally pinching the darn thing between my nonexistent fingernails. All the while the Honey is yelling "What are you doing" and I am wondering what happens when the light turns green - do I abandon the needle- but then I couldn't knit after the meeting if I wanted to- but all was ok, needle was safe, I was back in the car and THEN the light turned green.

I have been looking for another project and I think that since spring is coming (I know it is January but on the island here, daffodils start poking up in a month) I may knit this crop sweater. I am considering knitting it up for Best Bud since she: 1) Hates February and this would be a nice treat, 2) is going to Mexico in 6 weeks and could sport this over a bathing suit, and 3) has a birthday (like me, actually only 4 days later) in April, so this could count as an early b-day present (if you think me cheap, please refer to the rant about money and underwear above). Although these are pretty fabulous too, and may have to be a fourth project/adventure.

I love how this whole fibre thing is actually adventure, and wow does it ever keep me sane (really it does)!