Teeny weeny feet covers

 As you may recall, I spent an awful lot of my free time with the Guild and all the things they do.  I'm especially keen on the Knitters' Fair, where I was first introduced to the Guild.  This is where I was initially drawn in to volunteer when I joined the Guild, and where I will continue to shovel my time-coal after my stint on the Executive committee is complete.  As someone who is involved on the planning committee for the Fair, I spend very little time shopping or enjoying all that the Fair has to offer.  This year was no exception, and the total of what I walked away with fit inside one TARDIS-shaped bag:

This was the very last time that these TARDIS bags would be for sale, since the lovely folks at ZigZag Stitches received a cease and desist letter from the BBC, as they apparently own the rights to all police boxes.  I snagged one of the boxy bags partly because I enjoy Doctor Who (although I'm not a superfan) and partly because they are now very rare and precious.

 I also bought a handful of teeny tiny yarns from The Black Lamb.

The rainbow-coloured ones were purchased for a pair of stripey baby socks for a co-worker's baby.  My work's logo is rainbow-ish, and I knew she would absolutely DIE when she saw tiny socks in our colours.

The other colours were purchases for tiny socks for a mantle decoration for our house.  We just recently installed a mantle (we don't have a fireplace or anything, we just like the look of a mantle), and it needed some holiday decoration love.  I decided to make 24 teeny tiny holiday socks, each to be filled with sweets and treats to enjoy on all the days leading up to Christmas.  I already started the project in the summer with whatever red, green, and white socks yarn scraps I had lying around, so this was just to introduce a few more shades of holiday cheer to the collection.

 Here are some in-progress shots of the tiny socks, from the yarns I already had:

You'll notice that I snuck in a few pairs of mittens, just to mix it up.

And here is the finished product:

They are lovely.  And wonderful.  And teensy tiny.  Each sock took about 2 hours to make, and I used the Hunca Munca pattern (the plain version, although I chose to graft the toes rather than use a three-needle bind off).  For the mittens, I improvised based on the same number of stitches as the socks, and my general knowledge of mitten construction.

For the treats inside them, I chose candy for me, and a LEGO set for Fuzzyhead, broken down with a pinch pieces inside each sock, and the instructions for assembly handed out on the last day.

As for baby socks for an actual baby, here's how they turned out:

For gifting them, I made a small box from cereal cardboard I found in the blue bin, and covered it with brown craft paper.  I neatly folded tissue paper inside and tucked one of my washing and care cards behind the socks.  The box itself was done up to look like an old-timey parcel you'd get in the mail, and it was addressed to the wee recipient, care of his mother.

That's my "hand knitted with love by me" stamp on the underside of the lid.

And as hoped, she loved it.  I got my very own mention on facebook.  Baby Max was born December 12, a month early, so any fears of the socks being too small to ever fit him were dismissed.  Mom and baby are doing well, and he's home in time for Christmas.

Onward,

vrock

See my vest, see my vest!

Yesterday I expanded by knitting shopping horizons and went to the Downtown Knit Collective's annual Knitters' Frolic in Toronto.  The Guild organized a bus to the Frolic, and for ten measly dollars, I sat in comfort on a big yellow school bus and chatted and knitted while someone else worried about driving and parking (shout outs to Dee-Anne for being a rockin' chauffeur!).  I've been to the local Knitters' Fair a number of times, and it was at the Fair that I first learned about the Guild.  I've been part of the planning committee for the Fair for the last two years, and part of the reason I wanted to check out the Frolic was to compare notes and see if we could be doing things any differently/better. 

Let's start with what I bought:

I finally own a yarn bowl!  I've been seeing these at every fair and festival and yesterday I took the plunge and bought one.  This little beauty came from a vendor from Quebec, called Sheppard Handmade.  I toured the whole Frolic before coming back to buy my pottery here.  Her stuff was the best by far.  I especially like that the notch for your yarn is SMOOTH.  Every time I've seen other yarn bowls, if you run your finger along the notch it's all catchy and grabby, and the exact opposite of what you would want for your yarn.  Kudos Sheppard Handmade!

 

Look how cute it is!

She also makes ceramic buttons, so I search through the piles and found 6 relatively small buttons for my finished paulie cardigan.  I sewed them on when I got home, and now my sweater is officially complete.  Ps. I love moo cards for tags on yarn and knitting notions, don't you?

My favourite project bag maker, Zig Zag Stitches.  The robots make me think of Fuzzyhead, so I've decided this project bag will be for boy projects, like boy socks.  Which leads me to...

The TARDIS yarn from indigodragonfly!  Fuzzyhead and I watch Dr. Who on a regular basis and I thought this would add some much-needed colour to his handmade sock collection.

Yarn bowl in action, securing Maeva from rolling around all over the place.

I didn't buy a whole lot, since I haven't gone through the stuff I already have in my stash, and I have big, exciting plans for it.  I brought $200 cash to the Frolic, and I still have $65 left over.  I did real good!

I liked the Frolic a lot over all, they had a great selection of vendors, including some I had never seen before at the Fair.  The venue was really nice too, it was held at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, which was pretty and open and easy to navigate.  The vendors were mostly set up through different rooms on the main floor, with a small strip of vendors upstairs (only about 5 in total, which makes me think they were last-minute additions).  They also had fantastic food options - the Knit Cafe handled all the food service, and I loved the sandwiches Catherine and I shared.  Everything was vegetarian, which also happened to be what I was in the mood for, and the sandwiches were very interesting.  We shared a grilled zucchini and mozzarella and a sweet potato and cheddar sandwich.  Sweet potato on a sandwich!  I have never even thought to do that.  I rushed home to tell Fuzzyhead about my sandwich epiphany.  

And of course, there were some things that could have been improved on, and I'm keeping these ideas in mind as I work with the Fair committee.  There was no bank machine on site, which caused a hiccup for the two people I was shopping with when they needed more moola and many of the vendors don't accept plastic forms of payment.  At the Fair's previous location, Bingemans, there was a bank machine on site which, I heard, regularly runs out of cash before the day is over.  At the Aud this year, there are TWO bank machines on site, and they care about keeping them full.  Hooray!  Our next committee meeting is coming up soon and I'll prepare a run-down of my thoughts and comparisons, since the only committee members who went to the Frolic were Catherine and I.

In current project news, I'm making good progress on Maeva, I'm on to the second sock, and I'm more than halfway done the foot.  I'm debating whether I should start a second project at the same time (gasp!) since I completed neglected Maeva while I worked on paulie.  The very next project for me will be my Annis shawl, and I hope I can get that one on the needles by the end of the moth.

Happy knitting,

Onward,

vrock

Microwaved day old coffee

Hello lovelies.  I've been re-energized with knitting power in the last few weeks, and I have visions of many new projects dancing around in my head.  Let's kick things off with a re-cap:

 I made a sweet little turtle shell cape for a baby-to-be that belongs to a gal who works for my mom.  She showed my sister a picture of this baby photo prop last year and asked if she could make her one.  My sister's knitting and crochet skills are there, but she doesn't really knit much anymore, so I took it on myself to create this little beauty.  I bought the pattern on Ravelry for $6 and I made it in one afternoon.  The pattern called for Vanna's Choice acrylic yarn, which made my heart sad, but I used the same yarn anyway for the sake of new mamma being able to easily wash it.  I hear babies dribble all sorts of gross liquids in their first few months.  Gross.

 I've been teaching some knitting workshops at my museum this season, and I dragged out my project planning book to show my newbie knitters.  The page for paulie is one of the more intense entries I did for a project because I was so determined to make something right so it would actually be wearable.  I followed the guidelines from Little Red in the City for taking my measurements, and then I made two generous sized swatches to check my gauge.  I got stitch and row gauge for once in my life, and I'm a happy little camper.

 This is paulie's progress report as of this morning.  That's me, modeling in my pj's (it's my day off and I have no intentions of getting dressed, deal with it).

The body is completely finished, and I'm 3/4 of the way finished sleeve #1.  I'm constantly checking for sleeve length, which involves whipping off whatever sweater I have on so I can freeze ever so slightly for a few minutes since it's bare arm town on the other side right now.  I'll be glad when my house will be consistently above 18 degrees soon.  Come on spring!

Paulie's body, before sleeves.  Look how pretty!

I also owe you a stash update, readers.  The following yarns have been added to my collection as of September, and I only just got around to taking pictures and officially adding them to my Ravelry stash.

Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20, my draw prize for being a volunteer with the KW Knitters' Fair this year.  It's got 20% cashmere, so I'm thinking really hard about what to make with it that is worthy of the luxury.

My Christmas 2012 gift from dearest Catherine, and also my very first 'tosh, believe it or not.  The handsome rusty orange will be a fine pair of socks for either me or Fuzzyhead.

Birthday sock yarn from Catherine!  This is Miss Babs "Yummy" hand-painted sock and baby yarn, 2 ply superwash.  She ordered 2 different skeins online and let me choose the one I wanted.  I'm a sucker for greens and any natural-ish colours, so this one was a clear winner.  

I taught my first lace knitting workshop yesterday to one attendee (who knew quite a bit about lace already, despite being a brand new knitter as of December 2012), and I've been jonesing to pick up a lace project.  Here are the next two on my list:

Say hello, this is Annis.  I love her.  She will be made out of this:

My single lace from indigodragonfly that I bought at World Wide Knit in Public Day in June 2012. 

The other lovely on my list is this elegant lady:

This is Triangular Summer Shawl by Nancy Bush with a beautiful lily of the valley pattern.  I'm leaning towards this as the yarn:

I'm hesitant about the long colour change and if that will blur the pretty pattern.  I've been madly looking through the Ravelry projects for this pattern to see if anyone else used a striping yarn, and I saw one, but it wasn't the ombre style that I have with this yarn.  I'm still thinking on it some more.

That's full time for me this morning, happy Monday to you!

Onward,

vrock

Sunday afternoon swears

I've been in a knitting slump for the last few weeks, with no new yarn tickling my fancy, and no really great projects I'm itching to start.  I've been determined to work through the yarn I bought at the 2011 Knitters' Fair, partly because it seems silly to buy more when I was so excited about the new yarns I bought last year, and partly because I shouldn't be spending money on yarn when I have real things to pay for.  I finished off the last of the sock yarn I had stashed with my Laurel socks, and now I am officially without back-burner knitting.  I used to be a die-hard one-project-at-a-timer, but I graduated to keeping two or three on the go, and now I'm feeling a little lost.  I went to Thursday knit night this week without any real project to work on!  I spent my night swatching a swatch that got way too big for what it was, and left early because I ran out of things to do.  Here's the low down on where I stand project-wise: 

 

 Laurel socks: DONE.  Finished these puppies about a week ago, and I've already worn them twice.  I've never had such a lacey pair of handknit socks, and I was worried that I would feel the stitches too much, but I really like them.  Slim Jim has a deep, deep problem with handknit socks because she can feel the individual stitches on the bottoms of her feet (she has texture issues), and I must admit, I have a wee bit of this problem too.  When my feet get sweaty (get over it, everyone gets sweaty feet and I'm sure I'm not the first one to mention it), I can really feel the stitches and it starts to bother me.  This is true of any pair of handknit socks I own, BUT, the lacework on the tops of my footsies and up the leg don't bother me in the least, hurrah!

 Don't think it's this side, but I made one mistake (that I'm aware of) in the back-and-forth baby twisted stitches up the side, but other than that, they are perfection.

 It's been a rainy weekend and these socks are too cute next to my rubber boots.  Sadly, these boots are only a prop for the socks since they're a year old and have already sprouted leaks - the rubber split on the outside edge of both boots, and they're not that great at keeping my feet dry anymore.

 

 The fingerless mitts in my lovely Viola fingering in "Bruised Plum" are complete!  Here is my left hand next to the too-big swatch I made at knit night for the coordinating neckwarmer.  I'm still playing around with needle sizes for the nicest drape of the fabric, and any way I slice it, I don't have the correct circular needle size for the project.  A quick sidebar on my needle inventory: I have a set of interchangeable plastic needles which include every needle combination I could ever need, except the little ones.  The smallest size I have is 3.75mm, and from my swatching, I need either a 3.0mm or 2.75mm for my neckwarmer.  KnitPicks doesn't seem to have an interchangeable circular set with smaller gauge needles either - is this a thing?  I am firmly against buying a fixed circular needle in one size and length, is there such a thing as an itty bitty interchangeable needle set?

 

Both hands together, thanks Fuzzyhead for taking this picture!  The twists really evened out after blocking, they're so much smoother and relaxed.  The pattern called for me to soak the mitts for an hour (!), and since I regularly forget about things I've left in the sink to soak, this would have happened anyway.  Not sure if an hour of soaking is what really made the difference, but I love them!

After humming and hawing for weeks about which shawl pattern to use for my last skein of luscious Viola yarn, I had narrowed it down to Rock Island or Annis.  I liked the idea of having a challenging project on the go, so I chose Rock Island and bought the pattern last night.  I've adopted a wind-on-demand system for all of my new yarns after winding for hours when I first got my ball winder (and releasing clouds and clouds of dust and yarn fibre into the air causing me to sneeze for days), and it was a big exciting moment to unwrap the skein for the first time.  I sat down to wind with the yarn on my swift just after letting the dog outside, and when I got nerve-y about how it had been a little too long since I last saw Oscar outside and thought the gate might have been blown open, I dropped my ball winder.  Bad news bears - plastic ball winders aren't designed to stand up to repeated winding and dropping (this was not the first time I dropped it...).  The handle snapped clean off, somewhat inside the winder, making it useless and unfixable.  Ugh.  I was only about a third of the way through winding the skein and had to finish winding by hand.  As you can see from the picture below, this makes for an ugly and somewhat tightly wound little ball.  New ball winder is going on my list of things to buy with my next KnitPicks order.

The first four rows of the border edging, next to an ugly ball of yarn.  I did a garter stitch swatch first, which is nestled inside my project book.  I did my first swatch with my favourite (and only) Addi 3.75mm 32" circular fixed needles, but they were too small.  I ripped out the swatch and did it again with a 4.0mm and I was happy with the sizing and the way the fabric looked. 

 The edging pattern when it is stretched out a little bit.  I'm loving the YO loops at the top for picking up stitches later - Brooklyn Tweed gets my stamp of approval so far.

Next project on my list is a set of throw pillows for my living room, from the Winter 2011/2012 Vogue Knitting.  This will be my mindless knitting project to take wherever my knitting takes me, and I already bought the pillow forms from Ikea.  No word on colour choices yet since I will need to go yarn shopping for this one, but I'm thinking soft neutrals.  Our living room includes a purple couch, yellow-green chair with elephants, and brown, green, and blue accents.  Suggestions?

 One of the stitch patterns for the pillows, with a front and back view.

 My living room, from two different angles.  This is an old set of pictures, from when we first moved in - the rug is no more (Oscar ripped open a can of sardines in tomato sauce over it, thanks dog), and there are different accent pieces in the room now.  Some greys wouldn't be a bad idea since the curtain in the room is grey, but I would like some colour too.

Until we meet again,

Onward,

vrock

Keep your fingers out of your mouth

Happy New Year readers!  Today I created a "knitting 2012" folder for all my new pictures, and I didn't waste any time taking the first round of shots. 

Let's begin with a catch-up on one of my last projects of 2011:

  Finished, and had also been worn twice by the time this picture was taken.  The socks were accidentally washed in the machine (but not through the dryer thank goodness) and got covered in little bits of kleenex.  I'm the guilty party there, I regularly stash kleenex in my pants and sweater pockets for later use and then forget to check pockets before laundry day.  The socks weren't harmed in any way, and I picked off the white fluffies just before taking this picture for your benefit.  You're welcome.

I love the twisty design on a plain socks, it really lets the pretty yarn shine through.  This yarn was purchased in September at the KW Knitters Fair from Viola Fibres.  I hear that Emily, the name behind Viola, is taking a break from creating beautiful yarns, possibly forever.  I can't seem to find any information to support this claim on the interweb, but I'm concerned nonetheless.  Now I'm a sad panda, and I have to use and appreciate the yarns I bought from her.  More on that shortly.

I've been working on yoga socks, to keep up the inventory at the studio.  The two remaining pairs that I had at the studio before Christmas have been snatched up, and I'm still one pair short to fill someone's order for 3 pairs.  Here are my latest happy little campers, about half-way done the first sock.  The pattern is Blackrose from Knitty winter 2008.  I was searching for a lacey sock pattern that wouldn't drag me down.  For yoga socks, since I sell them for pretty cheap and I need to produce them quickly, I look for a single panel of pattern without many rows to the repeat.  This pattern is absolutely perfect - the chart is 8 rows, only 4 of which are pattern, and it's done over 17 stitches for a nice off-centre or centred design.  The rest of the sock is done in plain stockinette stitch. 

The yarn here is the rest of the skein of KnitPicks Tonal Sock yarn in "Gypsy".  I bought this yarn specifically for yoga socks because it puts the material cost to make a pair squarely under $5. 

And I finished a pair of yoga socks to add to the pile.  There ones are the same pattern as my lovely Viola socks above, but done on a simply yoga sock.  I also like this pattern for yoga socks - it's simply to follow and makes for a quick knit.  While I don't tend to use fancy yarns that need to be shown off with simple stitches, I think they are a handsome pair of socks in a pretty colour.

The finished pair, blocking on sock blockers and getting some air exposure on top of my swift.  I'm back at the studio late next week for the first class of the season, and I would love to have two finished pairs to pin to the board.  

While yoga socks are consistently in the background, I can also start thinking of all the lovely things I'll be making this year.  Top of the list right now is making something with my Viola yarns.  Remember this pretty young thing, also one of my finds from the Fair?  She is destined to be a shawl for Tam Tam, I knew that from the time I first picked her up.  This may or may not be a wedding shawl for Tam Tam (a ring is supposed to be making an appearance this year, but I'm not holding my breath), but I know she'll like it.

I decided on Brooklyn Tweed's "Rock Island" shawl for Tam Tam.  It's light and airy, a classic triangle, and I'm sure she'll love it.

I have yet to purchase the pattern, but it's at the top of my queue and my next big project.

Also on the list of yarns to use is my "Bruised Plum" from Viola.  I think it will be destined for a pair of fingerless mitts to wear at the office during the winter.  I've had my eye on Anne Hanson's Curling Neckwarmer and Mitts set for a while, I think that might do the trick.  Anne spoke at a Guild meeting a few months ago and I really enjoyed her designs. 

I know Christmas was only over a week ago, but I'm already thinking of ideas for this year's extended family gifts.  Fuzzyhead thinks I'm thinking too far ahead, but I know that my Christmas jams took hours and hours of time to prepare, and had to be done months before Christmas when the fruit was in season.  I just spent a few minutes tooling around the internet for inspiration, and came across some potential ideas:

• Homemade chai tea syrup - just add milk and heat, yum!
• Baking.  I've done this a bit in previous years, but usually only for a handful of people, not everyone.  Based on my counts for jams this Christmas, I need something for about 24 people, and that would mean a butt-ton of baking in December when I have literally no time.  The doughs can sometimes be made ahead and frozen, but our freezer capacity right now is pathetic (thanks a lot tiny Japanese robot fridge), and the actual baking still needs to be done within a day or so.
• Knitted ornaments.  A recent Vogue Knitting had a feature on colourwork knitted ornaments and I thought they would be a great idea, one for everyone.  There are a few flaws with this plan - Fuzzyhead pointed out that many of his family members don't do Christmas trees or have taken all the fun out of Christmas by having colour-coordinated trees (totally lame, right?  In a delicious Martha Stewart way, except homemade ornaments aren't acceptable), and it would mean all of the work falls on me for our joint gifts since Fuzzyhead doesn't knit.  This isn't terribly different from the jams - I made all batches of jam entirely by myself and decorated the jars by my lonesome - so I guess this one is still an option.
• Home-made baking mixes.  I found this idea in a magazine two years ago, and I had intended to do it this year but didn't.  Along with the jams, I was going to include gingerbread scone baking mix (just add liquid), but then I didn't.  It's still a good idea, so I'm keeping it on the pile

In case you're wondering why everything on this list is home-made, it's because I literally have no money, and I don't know most of the people I have to produce presents for very well.  Most of the list of 24 or so people includes aunts and uncles and cousins who I see once or twice a year, and it's too hard to think of things to buy them that they might actually want.  Plus, it's hella expensive.

Thoughts, suggestions, comments?  I really liked the jams/jellies I did this year, but I feel like people are expecting so much more from us.  We included smaller extra gifts for some people, and despite my hours of work on the jams, I think the more traditional store-bought gifts were better received. 

Onward,

vrock

The knitting field trip that almost wasn't

Sometimes I question why I still let myself receive newsletters and email updates from things I really don't need to see all the time.  I get all my personal and work emails on my phone, and 9 times out of 10 I open it, decide I really don't care enough to read it, and move on with my day.  Last week on Friday, this very thing nearly happened and would have caused me to miss a spur of the moment knitting field trip.  I got a Shall We Knit? email newsletter, and while I like the shop just fine, I've never taken a class there, and don't really need the regular newsletter updates.  I opened the email and scrolled down a weensy bit and had a mini heart attack when I read "fleece festival".  The Woodstock Fleece Festival was the very next day, and I had no idea.  Thank you Shall We Knit? for keeping me in the knitting know!  I will read your newsletters with gusto from now on.

I immediately sent a text message to Catherine hoping against all knitting hope that she wasn't scheduled to work on Saturday.  For once in my life, I didn't have anything (urgent) to do on Saturday, and I was all for it.  We scratched together a plan that didn't totally come together until 8:30 or so that night, and it meant only being at the show for not-quite 2 hours.  I accepted this challenge and went to sleep ready for sweet woolly dreams.

Our plan for the festival meant working around Catherine's inconsiderate work schedule for the day, which was created weeks in advance of us even knowing the festival was happening.  Considering I was on the planning committee for the KW Knitters' Fair, you'd think I would be up on the local knitting happs.  Catherine had to be at work, ready to roll for a full day of helping customers, at 11am.  The festival opened at 8:30am, and was only a 30 minute drive away.  I love when life-math adds up in your favour.

Welcome to the Woodstock Fleece Festival!  I love the friendly sign to let you know that the non-descript building next to the farmer's market was indeed full of yarn.

With such a short amount of time for shopping fun, we did a quick tour of the booths and then took a shopping breather at the barn with soft and fluffy animals.  There was also spinning equipment for sale, but with less than 24 hours notice about this festival's existence, I didn't come prepared to purchase the big stuff.

Hello bunny!  We couldn't stay for the angora rabbit grooming demos unfortunately, they were happening at 11, but it worked out for the best since I don't have a rabbit to groom.

It took me longer than I thought it would to find the head-end of this one for a picture. 

This is the friendliest little alpaca I've ever met.  This fellow had me researching my own alpaca hobby farm later that same weekend.  He made adorable whining noises and wanted to be petted, a lot like my dog.

So cute!  They even come with a built-in harness for adorable alpaca walks!

These four little bunnies were huddled together for warmth.  They shouldn't be allowed to put so many cute things all in one place.  Two of the angora rabbits were for sale.  I messaged Fuzzyhead while I was at the show to ask if I could buy one.  He said no.

Without having a real budget in mind, I kept to my budget and only spent about $100 at the show.  I bought a bright pink Namaste bag for Tam Tam for her birthday from the Needle Emporium.  The bags were on mega-sale - I paid $55 for the one I bought for Tam Tam, while I paid at least $80 for it online, plus shipping.  Her bag is exactly the same as the peacock blue one I purchased a few weeks ago, but it's bright pink.  She'll love it.

The only purchases for myself were two skeins of sock yarn from The Black Lamb.  One in "Mochachino" and one in "Olive Drab".  They were $15.99 each, and while I was looking for some deeply discounted show specials for sock yarn, that was a pretty good price.  My final purchase of the day before we wrapped it up at 10:15am (I know, right?) was a set of 2.25mm square double pointed needles.  I was so excited to try them out, I started my third real current WIP (Bad vrock, bad!  Finish your current projects before casting on more!).  This is the Viola Sock yarn I bought at the Knitters' Fair in SeaStorm, on my pretty new copper square needles:

Onward,

vrock