Snow!

The view from my balcony window two days ago:

I love snow. We haven't had a lot yet this year (and this snow is all melted now because it rained), unlike my hometown of London, Ontario where they have already had a couple of storms.

What do we do when it snows? We bake!

Chocolate chip cookies with pecans. I use this recipe, but I make normal-size cookies instead of the big ones - the recipe yields about 3 dozen. Bake at 350 F for 12 minutes for perfection!

Why am I posting pictures of snow and cookies? Because my progress on my Xmas knitting is not photo-worthy. I am about two inches away from turning the heel on the giant blue sock, and I did some work on my partner's Selbu Mittens. I also purchased the yarn to make the school colours mug cozies from Red Bird Knits (Robyn has a sale on right now) - it is on its way to me now. I might have also purchased some *cough* sock yarn - Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Pilsen, which I can now take off of my Loopy Ewe wish list. C'mon, it was on sale! And priced in Canadian dollars...I have to say that the exchange rate right now is definitely deterring me from making cross-border purchases (although if there was any Wollmeise at Loopy I would be all over that).

Hope you are warm, wherever you are, and that your Xmas knitting is stress-free.

My kitteh

Just a brief post to introduce my kitty, Sabrina, since posting cat pictures seems to be a requirement for having a knitting blog. She is a perfect knitter's cat - meaning that she has absolutely no interest in yarn. She's currently snuggled up next to me on the couch, which unfortunately means only one thing: a hairball is imminent. Sigh.

Progress has been made on the blue sock and on the druid mittens, but nothing photo-worthy. I'll update again soon.

Over-zealous Xmas knitting

As promised, my Xmas knitting list. With pictures!

Garter Rib socks, from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. These are being knitted for my cousin, who (as mentioned in my previous post) is 6'2" with size 13 feet. Ugh. Since he is a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan, my original plan was to make blue and white socks with a maple leaf on the heel. However, I could not for the life of me find a pattern for a maple leaf, and I don't have the time or the skill to make my own. So, blue socks (Berroco Sox in Doon). I might embroider Go Leafs Go on them somewhere.

Druid Mittens, from the Fall 2008 Vogue Knitting. I originally started these a while ago in a different yarn, but they didn't turn out so well (too short). These are made in Dream in Color Smooshy, in Good Luck Jade (link to The Sweet Sheep, where it is on sale). They will most likely be given to my sister, who loves green and who admired them when I forced her to look at the magazine with me (I was trying to figure out what kind of sweater she would actually wear. No luck so far, which is just as well since I really don't have time to make a sweater now!).

Selbu Mittens, from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. These are for my partner. I am possibly the slowest colourwork knitter ever, so I am actually kind of worried that these will be gifted on the needles. It doesn't help that I can only work on them when he's not home, either. Yarn is Cascade 220 (beloved Cascade 220...inexpensive, many-coloured wooly goodness).

Nutkin Socks (free pattern!), by Beth LaPensee, in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, colourway 403 (Tuscany) (link to The Loopy Ewe). I'm not sure who these are for yet. I bought the yarn in the summer, and I wasn't really thinking about Xmas knitting at the time (which means that they were supposed to be for me, but now will most likely be pressed into service as a gift. Sigh.)

Ditto on the original intention for these - Monkey socks by Cookie A., from Knitty.com, in Koigu KPPPM P531 (I know I'm not the first to say it, but Koigu really needs to come up with some names for their colourways.). I loooooooooove this sock, and it will be very difficult for me to give it and it's unfinished mate away. Le sigh.

I also have a couple of things planned that haven't been cast on yet. I really want to make the Waves of Grain scarf from this past fall's Knitty for my aunt (the only other knitter in the family). I have some alpaca laceweight kicking around somewhere that would work, and I can get beads at the local dollar store (suprisingly, they have a pretty good collection.). If I don't start it soon, though, that scarf will have to be abandoned in favour of the My So Called Scarf, which I will make with the Berroco Peruvia Colors I picked up the other day - since it is worked on 8mm (US 11) needles, it will be a fast knit. I also had a brainwave last night about a gift for my other cousin who lives in Seattle - I was going to make her a scarf but decided instead to make her a couple of coffee cup cozies, one in Washington Huskies colours and the other maybe in Seahawks colours. Personally I think this is genius - a personalized gift that I can probably make in a day or two, and that she is more likely to use than a scarf (she does love her Starbucks, and warm woolies not such a necessity on the west coast). The only problem is I don't have the right colours in stash, but that can easily be remedied (more Cascade 220, perhaps?).

Other fast gift ideas - I know I can knock off a Calorimetry in a day, and I have a couple of hat patterns stowed away as well. I've also already purchased a couple of books, which I don't think violate my intention to stay away from commercial crap gifts - no matter what you may think of the publishing industry, at least a book is something crafted by an artist.

For post-holiday knitting (yes, I'm already looking forward to it), I need to finish my February Lady Sweater, which I really would like to wear someday. I have the yarn and pattern for a shawl (Evelyn Clark's Forget-Me-Not) that I am excited to start - it will be my first major lace project. Also, back when I had more money than sense and was still in the major stash acquisition phase, I dropped quite a bit of cash on the yarn for the Modern Quilt Wrap from Folk Style (that would be 9 skeins of Kidsilk Haze...yeah.). At the time I was not an experienced enough knitter to deal with the slipperiness of the mohair and silk, so I abandoned the project. Now I think I might be up to the challenge...maybe. Hopefully. I also have my beloved skeins of Tanis Fiber Arts to turn into socks...and my Malabrigo Sock (link to Valley Yarns, a Canadian web retailer) that I want to make into a stole...and...and...well, I think you get the picture.

So that is what I am making for the holidays - what are you all making? Good luck with your knitting, all!

Crap.

So, yeah...it's been almost two weeks since my last post.
Time to decide how much I want to reveal about myself here. I think I'm comfortable enough to say that I had a pretty serious bout of depression a couple years ago, and occasionally I still go through bad periods. It doesn't help that I have a bit too much time on my hands of late; time to dwell on stuff.
On a lighter note, part of my process of dragging myself out of the depths of despair involved some retail therapy of the yarn variety. I decided a while ago that everyone on my Xmas gift list is getting something handknit, or a book. Or both, if I really like them. I'm trying to knit mostly from stash since part of the point of this exercise is to save some moula - I can get a bit out-of-control with the shopping around the holidays - but since I tend to acquire stash in colours that appeal to me, I was a little low on manly-appropriate yarns. Somehow I can't see my 6'2" cousin wearing pink and purple socks.
S0 off to the yarn shop I toddled. I decided to visit a couple new (to me) stores, Tricot Quartier in NDG and Mouline. Tricot Quartier is cute, with a decent selection, but nothing particularly appealed to me for socks, especially socks that I am going to be knitting for a loooong time (6'2" man with size 13 feet...). However, I managed to grab a copy of Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks (I'd been looking for a good sock reference for a while) and some of those cute SOAK garment labels. Oh, and some Peruvia Colors in Berry Bush for a scarf (which will be gifted, I swear! Shut up, stop looking at me like that!)
Mouline is a yarn shop after my own heart - wicked selection, including some locally-dyed sock yarn (Tanis Fibre Arts - that link is for her etsy shop), the biggest Malabrigo selection I've seen here so far, and most importantly beaucoup sock yarn in guy-friendly colours. In addition, the owner Scott was a great help in figuring out some yardage issues (again with the ginormous socks for gigantor feet, but he has size 15's so he knew what he was talking about) and just generally super-friendly and chatty. He also really knows his stuff. I grabbed some Berocco Sox in Doon and...two skeins of the TFA (chestnut and stormy). These are also potentially for gifts but I may be tempted to keep them for myself.
Next time I think I will post the details of my Xmas knitting list, complete with pictures!

My first meme!

Well...I have failed in the keeping the blog regularly updated department, but there is a good reason (I swear! I swear!). Said reason being, I finally killed my devoted laptop. My Toshiba had been with me since the summer before I started law school, making it more than 4 years old - a good run, especially considering how much abuse I dished out to it. It was starting to show it's age, though - the fan was dying, it was taking forever to boot up, and it was generally doing unhappy computer things. However, I have to take responsibility for the final death knell - I spilled about half a glass of (wine) water on it, and it finally just stopped booting up at all.
I have now replace it with an eeePC 1000H, which I have named Obama in honour of the fact that it arrived on the day of the US election. My love for it burns strong and bright, especially since it weighs less than half of what the Toshiba did.
Another reason I have not updated the blog...Molehill Empire. Do not click that link unless you are strong-willed, or have masses of free time on your hands (or have already been sucked in). I am a Tomato Dealer right now, and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my first quest.
So I'm cheating a bit here, since I wasn't actually personally tagged, but Glenna posted this list over on her blog and I think it's a good opportunity to get some knitting content on this blog!

Seven Knitting Things About Me:

1. I have been knitting since August of 2007. I started because my doctor recommended that I get a hobby, and I flashed on a memory of my Aunt teaching me to knit when I was seven, so I wandered into a LYS and picked up some yarn for a scarf. I made three of those scarves (2x2 rib in a fuzzy mohair-acrylic blend) and gave them away as gifts in December.
2. Since I joined Ravelry, I have become much more adventurous in my projects, and have learned (I feel) a lot of new techniques, not to mention a lot about really great yarns. Yay Rav!
3. I love sock yarn. Love it. I spend more time than I am willing to admit seeking it out online and mentally fondling it. I am not quite convinced that it does not count as stash, though, probably because the kinds I like are expensive.
4. I did not finish the first sweater I started, because I fell out of love with the yarn I had chosen for it (it was a single, and had the unfortunate habit of pulling apart as I knit it). I am determined to finish my current sweater (February Lady Sweater, because I am a follower), hopefully before the month it is named after arrives.
5. I have a mild obsession with really complicated mittens. I very badly want a copy of Lizbeth Upitis' Latvian Mittens book (second one down), despite the fact that I am very, very slow at colourwork (as evidenced by my snail-like progress on my partner's Selbu mittens...they need to be finished for Xmas).
6. I do not have a ball-winder or a swift, so I hand-wind quite a lot of my yarn, when I forget to have the nice people at the yarn store do it for me (or when I buy it online). After some pretty harrowing experiences with tangled skeins of laceweight, I have perfected my technique (involving the back of one of my dining room chairs and a lot of patience) so that I don't dread winding up a new ball anymore. I still wouldn't say no to a ball-winder and swift, though.
7. Wow, this list is turning into a bit of a wish-list...I'll try not to make this one about commercial aquisition. Okay...I intend to start making mitered squares out of my leftover bits of sock yarn, which I will eventually turn into a blanket. Maybe for a baby...maybe for my baby, since it will likely be years and years until I have enough sock yarn bits to make anything that would cover a baby.

There you go - seven things! I will absolutely update the blog more often, despite my obsession with growing tomatoes.