Project #2

This is a "candy cane" scarf made from alpaca yarn. Both mom and I are to make two each for this year's Christmas party (the theme is candy canes). Can I just say how much I *love* alpaca? Not just because they're cute, they are cute but they're also very silky and glide so gracefully through your fingers. If I was rich, I probably wouldn't use anything else.

Project: Scarf
Pattern: None, Stockingnette Stitch
Needle: Size 11 exotic wood (Laurel Hill laurelhillonline.com)
Final Size: 4" x 75"
Yarn: Wish I knew. Alpaca purchased from Needle in a Haystack (needlestack.com).
Material: Unknown
Weight/Length: Unknown
Wash Instructions: Unknown, I'm going with hand-wash only, do not dry.
Comments: Taught me how to change yarns and more importantly, sew in ends on same color stitches. Love working with alpaca and the Laurel Hill needles are simply divine.

I'm going to work on the darling husband to buy me an alpaca. He's not convinced that spinning my own yarn would be cheaper than buying it but he's willing to fire up the grill when he's proven right.

Slipping Through My Fingers

Tonight was just absolutely lovely. The darling husband retired early after a rough few days. I grabbed my knitting bag and dug out a scarf that I'm making for a friend who is moving to Beijing in a few weeks. I made myself a small pot of green tea with my favourite raspberry blossom honey (the *perfect* honey for green tea - its made by Intermiel and you can buy it at Marche Jean Talon). I must have been knitting for about 3 hours. I can't believe how much I've missed knitting over the past two weeks - the feel of the yarn slipping through my fingers. ~sigh~

The Blind Leading The Blind

I've been remiss but with good reason - I had friends staying with us from Manitoba. It was a bit difficult to be away from my yarn for two whole weeks but on the final night, one of my friends asked, "Are you going to teach me to knit?" I quickly dug out a pair of needles and my "practice yarn". The slip knot was the easy part. Casting on was a bit less successful but she finally got it down (this was after I started with the "under the thumb, over the finger and pull through" mantra). The hard part was upon us. She was knitting quite well, too well in fact. We started out with 10 stitches but she'd end up with 11 at the end of each row. I'd fix the last stitch and watch her knit the next row. Again she came out with 11. I fixed the last stitch and watched her again. 11. Again! This was getting frustrating. It was also quite funny. Finally we figured out that she was wrapping the last stitch. Finally we started a row with 10 and ended it with 10. She asks me, "What can I make with the knit stitch?" Only just about everything! I showed her the scarf I made for my darling husband. She then asks, "How do get all the stitches for a sweater on the needle?" She's ambitious, that's why we're friends. She asked to learn the purl stitch. I taught her to purl and she was getting confused (quite frankly, when I first attempted to learn to knit, the purl stitch was never a great success story for me). We went over it again and again. I started to chant the little "in from the front, around the back, tighten the yarn and push through" mantra. Luckily, her 11 stitch curse didn't show up on the purl stitch and we got through several rows without incident. We cast off (because there's nothing worse than knitting a whole scarf and not knowing how to cast off) and she was quite proud of herself. I took a moment afterwards to teach her how to read a yarn label. I think I'll hit a local yarn shop to put together a little package to mail to her.

So this is what I learned about teaching someone how to knit:
1. You should have a "knit kit" with needles and yarn so they can take it with them.
2. Teaching someone to knit should not occur without margaritas.

ps, No photo with this blog. Do you want someone to take pictures of *your* first attempt at knitting?

Project #1

My labor of love. This was the first thing I ever knitted (if you look closely, you can tell). It took me more than a year to complete (stopping and starting). It was made for my sister and is being modelled by my niece. Its desperately long so that you can be "wrapped up in love".

Project: Scarf
Pattern: None, Garter Stitch
Needle: Size 10 bamboo
Final Size: 10" x 180"
Yarn: Sensations Rainbow Boucle Color 1064 (that's pink and white to the rest of us)
Material: 88% acrylic, 12% nylon
Weight/Length: 11oz / 853 yards
Wash Instructions: Machine wash and dry, do not bleach, okay to iron.
Comments: A good yarn for a new project considering the length of the skein (no pesky weaving in of stray ends). The scarf is great to take on trips to the cottage when the darling husband is off kayaking.

Project #3

This is a scarf that I made for the darling husband. It was a quick knit, only took about a week.

Project: Scarf
Pattern: None, Garter Stitch
Needle: Size 10 bamboo
Final Size: 8" x 60"
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun "Edwardian"
Material: 98% acrylic, 2% polyester
Weight/Length: 6oz / 185 yards
Wash Instructions: Machine wash and dry, do not bleach or iron.
Comments: Good meditation project, easy yarn to knit with, quick results.

Ottawa Yarn Shops

The darling husband and I had gone to Ottawa to celebrate the 6th anniversary of his sister's bar (drinking establishment? entertainment venue?) and had stayed overnight. Our plans for Saturday were to visit the Mackenzie King Estate and take some photos of the fall foliage to send to the troops in Afghanistan. Of course, being me, I had to wheedle "Can we visit one or two yarn shops while we're there? I've already Mapquested them." We pack the dogs in the car and he asks, "Okay, where do you want to go?"

Knit Knackers (40 James Street, knit-knackers.com) - This is yarn heaven! They spin their own yarn and have an extensive collection of beautiful, beautiful imported and domestic yarn. You can also buy fiber to spin your own. The ladies are incredibly friendly and happily show you around. Check out the baskets on the floor, mohair for $3.99???? I purchased two balls of Minuetto for $3.99 each and four balls of Gedifra New Age for $2.99 each. I love a bargain as much as I love knitting. Did I mention they sell on ebay?

Yarn Forward and Sew-On (581 Bank Street, yarnfwd.ca) - The yarn store you want in your village. The first thing I noticed was a class taking place in the front of the shop and an additional sewing class taking place in the back of the shop (its a rather large shop). The entire front of the shop is bins upon bins of yarn. If you're a beginning knitter, this is where I'd start.

Wool N Things (1439 Youville Drive in Orleans, woolnthings.com) - Adorable, bilingual yarn shop in Orleans. They have some very nice yarns (and some very expensive ones). They also sell Namaste knitting needles (glass knitting needles). A bit cramped but a hub of activity when we were there.

Michaels (4220 Innes Road in Orleans, michaels.com) - Of course Michaels is the ubiquitous craft shop and you won't find imported Italian eyelash but it is a very good place for a beginning knitter to pick up some inexpensive yarn to practice, practice, practice. I picked up two 1-lb balls of Phentex Worsted for baby blankets. I also picked up three skeins of Patons Divine for scarves. A set of #8 bamboo needles, point protectors (small, medium and large) and some stitch markers because I'm convinced that I'll need them at some point (I have big plans for my knitting future). I looked at row counters but the darling husband wants to buy me a stainless steel push-button one because it will be more durable (for my fits of knitting rage I presume).

Woolaine (Les Promenades de l'Outaouais in Orleans, woolaine.com) - The darling husband told me that this one is closed. That's darling husband speak for "I've had enough and my blood sugar is low." So we went to lunch instead and I'll ask to hit this one another time.

Did I mention that the darling husband stood outside each yarn shop with the dogs while I went inside to look? This is why I married him.

A beginning, sorta

I asked my darling husband for a knitting journal. He suggested a knitting blog. He has rather reasonable arguements:

1. I may lose a book but I'll never lose my laptop.
2. I'll never have to try to decipher my spindley handwriting.
3. I can share my projects with my momma without trying to describe it over a cellphone.

I'm a beginning knitter but I have high aspirations and a rather healthy ego. In fact, I knit the way my sister ice skates (you'd have to know that on our second ice skating lesson she approached the ice and skated right out onto it, without really knowing how to ice skate - evidently, neither of us will ever be getting to the Olympics but the hospital is a distinct possibility).

I have serious issues with yarn and like many other knitters, I find myself with a "stash" of yarn I have no plans for. I've asked my darling husband for an alpaca and a spinning wheel. I'm probably over-reaching but that's part of my charm.

Now I just have to contact the first few victims, er, recipients of my handiwork to ask for pictures to add to this blog.