The Great Clean

I am sitting in the middle of a pile of books, cassette tapes, vaguely paganistic paraphernalia, a softball and glove, Hardy Boys mysteries with half the pages missing, mismatched plastic poster hangers, inflatable electric guitars, old board games, and dust. Yes, it was the Clean Out Denise's Closet Day. My closet is the only walk-in closet in the house and thus functions not only as a closet but also as storage and a small but well-stocked library.

Needless to say, I've been excavating things I haven't seen since I started high school and the box of garage sale stock has almost doubled in size. All the major throwing out and cleaning is done, I just have a few more odds and ends - but that's always the worst part, eh? You're almost done, and then the last bits just take forever. I'm happy with the result, I have so much more space and I can actually get at all of my books.

I used to be such a voracious reader before university. Once university hit, I almost stopped. It was one of my New Year's Resolutions to try and read three books a month and thus far I haven't managed even that. My to-read stack is as tall as my sister (which isn't hard, actually). I need to learn how to read and knit at the same time, but I did take the suggestion of some people over on Rav and picked up a book on tape at the library. Right now my local library is selling stacks and stacks of their old audiobooks for a dollar each - I know that borrowing them is free, but this way I don't have to worry about due dates. I just picked up one so far, to see if I can do it. The Cat Who Talked Turkey, by Lillian Jackson Braun. I actually have three or four of her The Cat Who . . . books, but I haven't read one yet. I'm about a quarter done now, and I find it so relaxing. I sit on my bed, close my bedroom door, and the world just goes away for a few hours. It's really, really lovely. I'm heading back to pick up some more tomorrow while I run errands.

My parents gave me a bit of cash for grading and I've been very good to myself with it. No new yarn purchases (yet - I'm eyeing KnitPicks), but I did buy a little digital scale and a digital tally counter both on sale, as well as one of those adorable iGuys and some new headphones. There was also a giant used booksale in Streetsville yesterday that ate another ten bucks, but considering I got twelve books for it including the entire Clan of the Cave Bear series, I'm not complaining too much. I do regret not getting the whole Outlander series, though. I've barely started the first one and I'm not crazy about it, but I'm a completist.

No more lazing about, though, back to work! When it's all done I can sit about my lovely clean room, listen to my mystery-on-tape, and work on my Shetland Triangle.

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We're crafty.

To get the incredibly nerdy news out of the way first - I SAW JOHN BARROWMAN.

YES, THIS WARRANTS ALLCAPS.

Went to a taping of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? on which the Barrowman is a celebrity judge - we were less than ten feet away. He acknowledged our existence when we waved 'I <3 JOHN' banners. He pointed and grinned and chuckled. We made him laugh.



I'm in heaven.

The Barrowman capped off a weekend of Epic Crafty, as Nik called it. He crashed at my place for the weekend and we got our craft on. He finished his very first project - third project he'd started, first he'd finished. The felted military belt from Knitting With Balls. It turned out pretty good, actually, if a bit too long. We picked up a bunch of craft supplies from WalMart and Michaels, and I taught Nik how to reskein yarn into usuable balls while I did the same to the skein of Red Heart LusterSheen that he bought me - what a pleasant boy, he'll make a good little manwife at some point.







Oh, Red Heart. You behave so very unnaturally. The name 'LusterSheen' just makes me giggle, it sounds like such a newspeak, distopian future kind of word. Superplusgood colourway.

After fun with fibre, it was on to fun with dye. We played around with a couple colours of dye, elastic bands, paint brushes, and bleach, and we came up with these little beauties:



I think they turned out quite well, actually. I might start dyeing yarn, once I get the stash down a bit. I have to go on a yarn diet. It's getting to the point of ridiculous, truly. The only yarn I should buy now is more KnitPicks Wool of the Andes to finish my cardigan, but that's it. Oh yes, there is a yarny portion to this post, I haven't rambled completely off into a corner. I finished off my second pair of Evangelines, and they're so adorable and dykey. I can't get enough of them, and they still make me feel like Wonder Woman:



And that selfish project done, I immediately cast on another one. The Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style, already on to the second pattern repeat.



This is my Zephyr Jaggerspun Wool-Silk Laceweight in the Labrador colourway. I? Am in love. The yarn is a dream, and the pattern is so simple but so beautiful. I want to have Evelyn Clark's babies. I can't wait to show it off at the SnB tonight. I've heard it's a quick knit, and I hope so. Apparently there's only eight pattern repeats, so I'm wondering how big it's going to be. I do have 670yds, so I have enough to add an extra repeat, which I may end up doing. We'll see how she goes.

And right now this one is going to mow the lawn before heading down to Port Credit for the Stitch 'n' Bitch. Gotta scrape up the change to pay for my pizza!

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PCWKIP Day!

I was going to call this one SEX on the Water to continue on a theme, but since it was less SEX and more KIP, I didn't. So there, neener neener.

Today was, in fact, PCWKIP Day - Port Credit Wide Knit in Public Day. Hush, it's a thing. As part of Port Credit's big sidewalk sale promotion dealie, Linda invited crafters down to have a mini belated WWKIP outside her store. Apparently I talk about Linda a lot on my blog, so . . . hi!



Not creepy stalker, honest.

But! It was fun. I headed down four, cast on a new project on the bus, got there around five, and hung out until almost ten. Met a few Rav folks, finished the project I had started, watched some spinning. Watched random pedestrians being totally mesmerised by the spinning. Got some very odd comments too. One man wished her "Happy yarning!" and another woman quickly tried to cover up her believe that yarn is spun directly from the sheep. Lots of kids were really into it, too.



And, of course, I had to pick up some yarn while I was there. In my defense, I needed some DK for Maddie's Rose wristwarmers and I didn't have any. Also, everything was on sale. I picked up four balls for about $20, two of a dark blue soysilk for the wristwarmers and two of a light blue baby bamboo. Still no plans for that one, but I'll find something.

I meant to take more pictures, but every time I remembered, there was no one around to photograph! So I took a picture of myself:



Well, sort of. Yes, that is the gorgeous yarn from the Baby Yoda sweater - which is finished! Finally, yay! It was cast off on Friday, spent most of that day and night being blocked.



And then the great seaming adventure began. I. Hate. Seaming. If I make this again, I am most definitely knitting it all in one piece. It felt like the seaming took years of my life. I tried matress stitch, but I didn't like it as much as just wrap stitch, or whatever it's called. Anyway. It is finally done. I'm a little worried about the size of the arms, they just don't seem big enough . . . but I guess I won't know until the baby actually wears the thing. Here's the finish product for the youngling:



The yardage instructions on the pattern were very, very misleading. It reads like you'll need almost three hundred yards - or at least, that was how I read it, I could be a total dink - but I ended up using about 260yds. I say 'about' because my kitchen scale is terrible and I really want a digital postage scale or similar. Which left me with just about 114 yds left over, which was more than enough for a wrist-length pair of my beloved Evangelines. Only in cotton and small, so I can wear them in the summer without wanting to peel off the top layer of my skin. That was what I was working on yesterday in Port Credit, and what I'm about to cast on for the second of the pair when I finish with this post.



Gotta love lazy days off. My class is all finished until the final exam next Friday. No work. My family's scattered to the four winds. Perfect time to knit and catch up on my TiVO.

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La-la-la-la life goes on.

I remember what I forgot in my last post - Bread and Honey update. You'll remember that in this post I talked about the possibility of setting up my own booth in the island craft fair and selling fandom handknits.

Well, I'm glad I didn't. It was possibly the hottest day we'd had yet that year, and the only person selling handknits was doing so for charity. Piles of crunchy acrylic baby clothes and mittens in hideous colours. I don't think I would have done very well at all, and I'd be sitting on a pile of useless hats and scarves and more Red Heart than you can shake a straight at.

Also in that post, I mentioned landing a summer job. Well, the summer job has been unlanded. Resulting in more knitting time but less money for yarn. Time to go stash diving! The job, howver, did result in a deal on the Knitting Bag of Awesome previously mentioned. Some pictures of the new pretty:



The bag at rest. Note how empty and slack it looks, when in fact it is already holding . . .



I'm sorry Queen, I know how you feel about your wheels, but I'm in love with my handbag. That bright green currently on the needles in the bag is my Girl's Best Friend scarf, based on the lacy diamonds scarf pattern from Oddball Knitting. I have about two and a bit feet done, 35% of the ball according to my kitchen scale. So far, I like it, but I hope it will even out with some blocking.



I put down the baby Yoda for a bit to be selfish, but I picked it up for my commute to school. With a solid two hours of time either on transit or waiting for transit, I can usually get a lot done - yesterday I finished one and a half sleeves. Once I finish up the sleeves, all that's left is the i-cord binding, blocking, and seaming. I laid out the back and front pieces together on my bed and it got an "Awwwwwwww!" from my mom. I love this little project, and I love this yarn. I think I'll have enough of it for a pair of wrist-length Evangelines, which will be better than wool in the summer.

One last update: didn't make it to any WWKIP Day events, because of work and general malaise. Did meet one local knitter just before I had to rush off to work, but that was it. I am heading down to Linda's for a KIP during her sidewalk sale - my grabby hands, let me show you them - on Friday, and some local knitters are trying to get organised in this area.

In the wee small hours . . .

It's almost four in the morning and, of course, I'm updating my knitting blog.

Totally normal four-in-the-morning activity, right? Right.

The reason I'm still up is because of ridiculous bad Friday the Thirteenth juju going around, and my jaw is hurting. Not just hurting. Two T3s and 500mg of naproxen with no pain relief and thus no sleep hurting. And let me tell you about the day I had at work. Dead as a graveyard outside of Sunnydale until the second my manager walks in, and suddenly the two salesgirls on the floor have four or five customers each with more rolling in. Stays busy for the next two hours, then starts to die down until about half an hour before the end of our shifts.

Which is when, predictably, both registers go down simultaneously. All day, too, the chainwide stock system had been fritzing, which meant only about half our stock queries could go through and no special orders. The help desk was flooded with calls - apparently most of the Laura stores in the country were having computer problems. And not just with the system that tied them all together, but local hardware and software problems as well. Bad, bad Friday the Thirteenth juju.

Still, not as bad as my friend who lost his job, apartment, and roommate.

To try and counter some of that juju, I decided to be nice and selfish and cast on a new project for myself - the Lacy Diamonds Scarf from Oddball Knitting. No pictures yet, but I've done the first two lace repeats and I like it so far. Ten-row lace repeat, thirteen stitches across with a three-stitch garter border. The pattern calls for worsted weight on 5.5mm needles, but I'm using a laceweight rayon slub on 5.0mm for a skinnier and longer scarf. It's my first time working with this yarn, and it's not terribly evenly spun. So far it doesn't look too bad. We'll see. I think I'll add a long tassled fringe to the ends when I'm done. It's a gorgeous lime green colour, nice and bright and happy.

I've been plunging rapidly through my Baby Yoda for the unborn cousin. Progress update picture time!



The Misti Cotton-Silk is a dream to work with. I hadn't really liked the thought of cotton before, because I've just been used to the rougher Bernat handicrafter cotton. This stuff, however . . . beautiful. I was feeling up some Cloud Cotton at Linda's. Definitely on my favourite fibres list. And it's so easy to work with now that it's getting hot and sticky out. The wool in the hated baby bootie? Hell. That, by the way, has been brutally frogged. I couldn't stand the thought of picking it up again. Ugh. So the yarn's been rewound and is all tucked away and ready to become a felted bag or water-bottle cozy.

I'm trying to put myself on a yarn diet, but people are making it hard. Leah's requested a yoga mat bag out of Noro Kureyon, and Maddie's asked for DK weight cabled wristwarmers - neither of which I have the yarn for. I'll end up with leftover Noro, but that's okay. I finally have the pattern for the labyrinth rug to use up my odds and ends.

Ransacked the library again. I try to limit myself to three or four books on the subject at the time - more, and I won't have any time for them. This time around it was the aforementioned Oddball Knitting, as well as The Best of Interweave Knits and One Skein. I was surprised, but I only got a couple good patterns out of all of them. One Skein has the labyrinth pattern, but nothing else jumps out at me. There's nothing in Interweave that I want to do - which surprised me - except maybe the Forest Path Stole. I might copy the pattern for future reference, but I'm not dying to cast on. The book that I am dying to try almost every pattern in is Folk Shawls. I've been ogling the book at Linda's for the last three weeks, so when payday rolled around I finally went to get it. First up are the Highland Triangle and Irish Diamond, but the latter I may just do as a triangle, because the diamond is huge and I'm not a fan of that construction. Saw some gorgeous baby alpaca that was dying to be my Highland Triangle - but not for almost $50/skein. Not on my budget anyhow.

Other knitting-related purchase from payday: a new purse. Definitely going to get some action shots of this baby. Large but not cavernous, black leather exterior and linen lining. The main bag is divided in two, which enough room on one side for two small projects (both my Baby Yoda and Lacy Diamonds at the moment) and my little kit of notions, and on the other all my other necessary stuff - wallet, cellphone, keys. Even fits my notebook, which was impressive. I love the new handbag with a truly undykelike love.

So, pictures needed: new knitting-friendly handbag, the Lacy Diamonds in progress, and my newly organised stash. In a fit of madness, I went through all my yarn and made up kits for myself; if I did have a project in mind for a yarn, I put the pattern along with the yarn in a large Ziploc and sealed it up. I figure that this way, all my separate balls won't just be floating around, and if I'm stuck for something to cast on I can just reach in, grab a bag, and go. Pictures tomorrow also (hopefully) from WWKIP Day. I'm not entirely sure I'm going to make it up to Scarborough Town Centre to meet up with the ladies from Creative Yarns. It is a pretty long ways to go for only a couple hours. Some knitters up in my neck of the woods are getting together, conveniently at the mall where I work, but while I'm working. I might catch them before or after, in the food court. I should have thought to invite the woman who started talking to me on the bus today on my way into work. She isn't on Ravelry but I spread the good word. She'd noticed my Harmony circs and asked where I got them because they were so funky, so I also introduced her to KnitPicks. Maybe I'll see her around again, who knows?

These posts seem to get longer and longer every time I write one. I really can go on forever. I think I've found my calling, eh?

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SEX in the City

So many new pretties to gush about, I don't know where to start!

Well, first of all, I got my KnitPicks order! My needles are so pretty. My yarn is so pretty. Did I mention the pretty needles? So far, I love them. I haven't had a problem with the cables coming detached, I find the cable way more flexible than my Hiya Hiyas (which I thought were pretty flexible), and the tips are perfect for me. Slightly more hold than metal, the points are pointy but not stabby, and they're so light. I am totally, totally in love.

The pretties in action:


The project they're in action on is the Green Serf Booties from the Old World Booties pattern set, and I gotta say, I think I am having gauge issues and yarn issues and pattern issues. And by 'pattern issues', I mean I hate the friggin' pattern. I'm too far along to frog the whole thing, so I'm going to finish the one bootie, felt it, and then do something creative with it.

I did finish another pair of booties, just garter stitch cotton ones. Again, I think I'm having gauge issues because they ended up massive.



So, not only did the KnitPicks pretties arrive, but I finally got paid - yay money! - so it was into Toronto I went. Took the subway in and basically had a wander. Ate some streetmeat at the foot of the CN Tower before wandering up Yonge St. Bought some books, and some very, very cheap KnitWerx from an insurance clearance place. 100yd balls for $0.50 each, I picked up enough of this deep purple for a sweater and a couple balls of gold and red for future Jayne hat ventures. Then it was over to Kensington Market and Lettuce Knit. It was a great little shop, so many soft gorgeous pretties to fondle. I refrained from more of the Misti Alpaca Handpaint Lace - I already have 1600yds of it, I don't need more yet! - but I did pick up some of the Misti Pima Cotton and Silk in Kiwi for the cursed baby Yoda sweater that I can never seem to get the right yarn for. Hopefully we have a winner with this stuff.

I have to stop buying green yarn. Probably half of my stash at the moment is green. I don't know why, but there's so much of it.

So after Lettuce Knit and a quick detour to La Tortilleria for taco and fresh tortilla, it was off to St Clair West for the Sip Sip Knit at In the Loop Cafe. The cookies were delicious, but I was too full of taco to each much of anything else. Nice group of ladies, bigger than I'm used to. They gave me cake, so I was pretty happy. Didn't get any yarn, but I did pick up a couple of gold buttons for my planned Capitan Hat. It was a nice, relaxing end to my day of adventuring all over the city.

Today I was supposed to be working eight hours, but I woke up with a brutal cough and scratchty throat. I called the store because I'd missed my bus, and my boss told me to stay in bed, honey. I felt terrible, but the day will be so slow they don't need their worst saleswoman on the floor. So instead, I can take my alcohol Safe Serve course and organise my stash. Probably organise my stash first.

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She's a wonder, wonder woman . . .

The Evangelines - dun dun dah - are done!

And there was much rejoicing. They ended up being less elegant-lady and more asskicking-dyke - which works out well for me. They make me feel like Jungle Camo Wonder Woman With Bondage Action. I put them on and just want to punch the air.


Hi-ya!


This shows off the cables to the best effect.


Do you know how hard it is to photograph your own arms?


Rock on, Evangeline.

The second one took twice as long as the first, and I am officially in love with this pattern. I think this will end up being my go-to stashbuster if I have 80yds of anything (I'm looking at you, Cascade Eco+). I love this yarn, but I'm not sure how well the striping shows off the cable pattern. And there's no more! Three Wally Worlds and not a single ball of armytage to be found. I do have about 140yds left, though. Some of it will be baby booties, and I want to try something involving felting. Not the Booga bag, I don't think. I need another bag like I need more yarn - and that would be 'not at all'. I have so many yards of laceweight, and none of it in one colourway enough to make anything. I'm thinking a di-colour Swallowtail, but I'll have a poke through Victorian Lace Today and see what I can come up with for 250yds.

That was my other knitting adventure today. I headed down to Central Library to have a look at the knitting section - the good old 746es. I was expecting about double the collection that the little library back in Antigonish had - all six books. I wasn't expecting five packed shelves of books. Pattern books, technique books, magazines, quote books, essay books, so many books I nearly passed out. For this raid I limited my plunder to only five - the two that I went for (Victorian Lace Today and Wrap Style), a book of essays, Mason-Dixon, and a book by a woman with the best nom de plume ever. I have definitely, definitely found my new favourite knitting resource.

Still waiting on my package from KnitPicks. A box arrived for me today and I got all excited until I looked at the label and saw that it was just medical supplies. Epic sad. I can't really start any of the planned selfish-me-me-me-all-mine projects that I want to until it gets there, nor can I start the baby Yoda for my unborn baby cousin because I don't have the right needles. Right now, I have my hibernating irritating projects, and the first of hopefully a pair of garter stitch baby booties. I don't really feel like working on any of them, but I have project-guilt and feel like I should.

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Falcon PUNCH!

Back when I started knitting the Adamas, I likened the experience to playing Super Smash Bros as Captain Falcon. As I started each new row of lace, I felt like Captain Falcon on the edge of a tilting level - that arm-flailing balancing before plummetting either to his death or to victory with a well-placed Falcon PUNCH!.

And seeing the finished results of my Adamas, all pinned out and blocked, this was definitely the latter.





And this is the blanket mid-pinning. Not to show off my technical brilliance, but because the coincidence made me giggle:



Holy baby blanket, Batman!

I think I have second sock syndrome already - and I haven't even cast on my first sock! I started the Evanglines, and the first one knit up like a dream, and it felt like instantly. About two days of knitting on and off. But, of course, the second one is taking for-freakin'-ever. Today I'm going to buckle down and see how I can do on it. Because the first one is so pretty, and warm, and pretty, and awesome, and did I mention pretty? Because it is.

Forget Queen and their car, I'm in love with my fingerless gloves.

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