News!!

It’s been ages since I updated my blog and with good reason. I was too sick to think about typing anything coherent or uploading pictures. All this feeling sick is because…..insert drum roll here….there’s a bun in the oven!!!!

Yipee, we are expecting baby #2 and I am 15 weeks pregnant. I was pretty nauseous and exhausted during the first trimester, but things have been looking up (sort of) the past couple weeks and so I am hoping that this will continue. I have not done any baby knitting yet because we don’t know yet if this baby is a boy or a girl…needless to say, we can’t wait to find out.

However, I have been doing some baby knitting for a friend who is expecting her baby boy in June. Here is a picture of seaming in progress. I blocked the pieces but that did not help because the edges are still curling. Could be because of all the stockinette. It was a fun, quick knit. I will make sure to post pictures once I finish seaming, attaching the collar and inserting the funky crochet cord ties at the neck.

I've also been working on a clapotis scarf using some wonderful Koiguuuuuuu that I bought from Three Bags Full in Vancouver. This yarn is so lovely to work with and I love the colors.
I am using the skinnier scarf version of the pattern and I hope that two skeins will give a decent sized scarf. I guess I just have to keep knitting until I run out of yarn:)

Crazy Knitter

The thing about knitting is that you just can’t seem to put it down. Last evening I kept thinking that after I knit this row I will begin making dinner. Then I got to the end of the row and the next row was a pattern row. Can’t mess with the pattern row because that’s the best part of the project right? So I work that row and a couple more so that I can see how the pattern row turned out. Well, what do we have here, the next pattern row? No problem, I thought that I would throw a frozen pizza into the oven, but I just had to finish the next row.

Sigh…I put my knitting down and went into the kitchen and I actually had a great time cooking some killer meatballs for my family. They deserve plenty-O loving because they put up with my knitting crazies.

My LYS is not a LYS

That’s right, my LYS is my local bookstore. But I was so happy when I visited recently and saw some gorgeous Sublime yarn on the two almost empty yarn shelves.

I grabbed 4 skeins in the color "Girlie" immediately with no pattern in mind but I knew that I just had to have this yarn in my favorite color. I love working with this yarn, the knitted fabric is turning out to be really soft and at the same time there is clear stitch definition. All I can say right now is - yum!

I have been trying to work with a vague pattern in mind for a tank and some scribbled out instructions and so far, I am loving how this is working up but I don’t know how it will turn out. I guess I will just keep knitting and eventually find out…

What’s in a swatch?

The skipping of checking gauge is NOT an option according to the knitting police and I am a firm believer of this rule. It is the essential ingredient towards the completion of a finished object that looks right in dimension, texture and finishing.

A swatch made up of stitch and row counts usually never come out as mentioned in the ball band for me. This is frustrating because I end up having to make two or sometimes even three swatches to come up with the accurate needle size to begin my knitting and I am so tempted to just finish the swatch and skip washing and blocking it.

But what with the knitting police watching over my shoulder and knowing in the back of my mind that if not washed and blocked, this garment will probably be better as a dishrag rather than the intended finished object, I swatch, re-swatch and sometimes swatch again and in the end, it pays off!!!

I think that I really like working with thinner yarns at a finer gauge, because the texture or the pattern really stands out with this yarn as opposed to thicker yarns. Also, I think that I prefer finer yarns because of the hot and humid climate we live in which makes knitting with heavy yarns a laborious task and gives me sweaty palms.

Pass the ice tea wudja?

Making...Creating...

The joy experienced when I make things with my hands has always been with me since I was a little girl. The whole creative process is so intriguing and I still feel this way even though I am older now and thrust with the responsibilities of life.

I think about this so often when I am alone and my hands are going through the repeated motions of working with yarn and needles. The answer is always the same...I love the whole process the picking and choosing of a project, getting the yarn to work right in the swatch, working on the project and making entries in my journal about my progress and then finally putting all the pieces together.

I stand back and look at this garment, or this toy, or this whimsy and think with joy, “I made this” and my heart fills up with a feeling of blue skies and daisies and blades of green grass and snowflakes and velvety sand. The finished object goes into the closet surrounded by sweet smelling sachets of lavender and rose to be treasured, and to be brought out and rubbed against my face just to remember how I felt when I was making.