My Apologies

I seem to have lost the urge to blog. I don’t know how other people kept up the 365. I will say this though, hats off to you. I can’t keep this up. Between work and the theatre and trying to have some semblance of a social life I haven’t got any time. I will try to keep a weekly post going, but my 365 has just had the last nail put in to the coffin.

I finished Bandit, it’s lovely. I have got most of the border for Lizard Ridge finally begun. And I have a pair of plain socks about 2/3rds of the way done at least. Lots of stuff going on, just no urge nor good light to take pictures. You will get some eventually. I promise.

That’s it for now.

-Cheers folks

318. My So Far Sock

I cast on for a pair of socks a couple days ago, Wednesday I think. Plain stockinette with some Online yarn that I got a while ago here in Ottawa. Basically I wanted more knit socks, but also needed a no think project for at the theatre and for on busses. Started with Judy’s Magic (15 sts), increased to 58 sts, knit until the foot put over my hand covered my fingers and came down to where my thumb meets my hand (I don’t know if this works for everyone, but this works for me), increased for 17 gusset sts, turned the heel, used a plain slip stitch pattern on the heel, and then immediately went to a k1p1 cuff. I’ll probably keep this up for 2 or 3 inches, we shall see. The yarn is nice, I’m not too huge into the barber pole, but s’okay. I’ve got some more Online yarn that I’ll make up into plain socks. They are just so amazing, and I need more hand knit socks. Everyone needs handknit socks.

-Cheers folks!

317. My Great Find

I was at Winners with my dear roommate today, and made a most wonderful find. A leather bound note book. I’ve been thinking about getting a nice notebook for all my theatre stuff, but I could never bring myself to spend the 30 bucks or more that most places ask. This one was $7.99. Good find. It’s beautiful, has a wonderful pattern on the front, a good size, and all around awesome. It’s lined though, so not much sketching will go on in it, but I still love it.

-Cheers folks!

316. My Alpaca Goodness

Sorry for the horrible flash photo, but light is at a premium, and I never seem to be home when there is decent light in my room. I finished the Springtime Bandit I was working on though. It’s pretty. About 4 1/2 feet across, so a decent size for a scarf like thing. Sometimes I wish I had blocking wires for the tip line because even with the Yarn Harlot’s method of putting a cotton line on the top, I still can’t get it to be straight. Oh well. It’s beautiful, and soft. Oh, and don’t you like my blocking mats? They were finally on sale at Wal Mart. Less than a buck per square foot. I can see lots more blocking in my future. Proper blocking too.

-Cheers folks!

314. Lest We Forget

Today is Remembrance Day. I hope that everyone partook in a ceremony, and if you couldn’t, at least tuned in to a broadcast. I don’t care what your views of war are, it is important to thank those who are giving their all, and sometimes their lives to help others. Past, present, or future. To all those who are in the military or have family in the military, thank you.

-Cheers folks!

313. My Cookies

I baked again. Apparently one oatmeal something or other wasn’t enough. This time it was cookies though. A whole lot less work than bread I will admit, and yet such a different satisfaction. They’re not sweet like most cookies, and these ones have a very cake like texture. I think I added too much flour. They’re still lovely though. Once again, the roommates love me. I made them fairly big, and thought they would level out and get bigger, but they didn’t. At all. Now I have these big chunky mounds of chocolate oatmeal cookies. Love them so much.

-Cheers folks!

312. My Bread

I have apparently gone domestic. I spent this afternoon baking bread. Not just any bread though, I made oatmeal brown bread from scratch. It was so worth it too. I got one decent sized loaf and two dozen small rolls. They didn’t quite rise up as much as I would have liked, but they are still so very lovely. I do enjoy a nice dense and heavy bread though, so it’s wonderful by my standards. The first rise session was wonderful, it pretty much doubled in size, but when I separated it in two, put one half in the loaf tin, and divided up the rest into the muffin tins, that seemed to be all it wanted to rise. So I do have a fairly low loaf, but once again, that’s okay by me. My housemates commented on how wonderful the house smelled, I am not disagreeing. I now have loads of ingredients for more of everything. Maybe tomorrow I’ll bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Oooo, I like the sounds of that. Now I need to find a recipe.

-Cheers folks!

311. My Whoops Again

Between work, the theatre (one show over, doing two night next weeks, and the musical just beginning), and being social with my housemates I have barely had any time to take photos in decent lighting conditions. I have managed to finish a beret which might be too small, and a shawl that I forgot the plain purl rows on, so it has gone to the frog pond. Alpaca does not frog well. It kind of makes me sad. In any case, it will get started again, this time with the purl rows as indicated. The beret is nice. I’m glad I chose a wool and not an alpaca, there is no way it would have had the memory for the ribbed brim. I might cast on the second go with a larger needle though, the 5mm seemed a little dense for my liking.

I really like alpaca though, so I’m glad I’ve got it for the shawl.

Even the purl side is pretty. I’ll be very glad to not have to do all that patterning on the purl side though. That’s for sure.

The beret turned out nice. I tried it on before I blocked it, and unfortunately I think it might be a touch short. Hopefully the blocking makes it better.

I got some funny looks from my housemates as I put a wet hat on a dinner plate, but I explained it and they only think I’m slightly crazy now. That’s okay, I can deal with slightly crazy.

-Cheers folks!

305. My New Projects

A dear knitting friend of mine cast on a fairly sizable project a day or so ago, and he’s nearly done it. I do not understand, seeing as I don’t believe he has perfected the slowing of time, but if he has, I would really like him to share it with me. Seeing as I have been on a shawl kick for a while, and wanted a nearly instant gratification project, I went out today and picked up the yarn.

It is a wonderfully soft Alpaca from Estelle. A nice deep gray mix in a just over worsted weight. It reminds me of the Misti Alpaca I used for my Danica a couple years ago. I got three skeins, which is about 325 yards. I hope it will be enough seeing as the pattern calls for 400 yards, but that’s all the store had. I picked up some DK wool to make a beret to match the shawl too. I knew that I didn’t want to use the same yarn for the shawl as the hat, especially when I found the alpaca and fell in love. Alpaca looses all definition, and I needed something that would stay together at the ribbing, and still be a little slouchy. I’m not sure how I’ll like the beret, I’ve never worn one before, but with my hair as it is, I don’t think toques are the best and most stylish options. We shall see. I’ve currently got 1.5 repeats out of 4 done on the shawl and I’m not even half done the first ball of alpaca, so here’s hoping things turn out alright.

-Cheers folks!

304. My New Month, New Day

It’s November 1st already. Where has 2009 gone? I finished up Daybreak, and it looks awesome. It’s blocking now, and instead of being triangular like most of the FOs on Ravelry seem to be, mine is more of a chevron. It is huge though. While I was knitting it, I never expected it to be so big, and I only did the small size. The pattern is well written, fun, and fairly quick. I would totally do it again, just not in the yarns that I did. They didn’t exactly like the needles I was using, slipping when I didn’t want them to, and sticking when I needed them to slip. It did soften up nicely with a good wash though, which made me very happy. Overall, I give this project a thumbs up. Finishing things always makes me happy, and this is no exception. I’ll get some action shots soon.

-Cheers folks!