"Bummer Summer" - Summer 2009

This is the sight that we’ve been looking at most of this summer…dark clouds, rain, wind, and cool…Yesterday morning outside thermostat was 8C…Summer? Really?

Our holidaze start on Saturday — Will we see some sun and heat then?? I sure hope so..Chris and Anna are coming in from the Sunshine Coast….From Sunshine Coast to Rainy Ontario??

Well, okay, I’ll get a grip, and think some happy thoughts….

Sleepwalker socks

ouch…hard to pose for a sock shot with my torn knee ligament…That has been the “other” bummer for me this summer…

Okay, okay, I know that I sound like a real whiner….because..YES! I am whining…

Again, happy thoughts…happy thoughts…

Here is some Mama Llama that I bought to cheer myself up:

Mama Llama Silky Ewe 70% SW Merino & 30% Silk in "Egypt"

Mama LLama Bounty Ewe 80%merino 10% cashmere 10% nylon in "Arcata"

Mama Llama Original Sock 100% SW Merino in "Jude"

Yes, these things do make me happy….

Also making me happy, I started a lacy scarf:

Alexandria in Estelle Cadenza "blue"

This pattern is from the Woolgirl Sock Club April kit - Jen gave us two patterns that month, one for a sock and the other for this lacy scarf. This is my first attempt at a scarf. I am really enjoying working on this, but it’s a little less exciting than socks with the heel turns and such.

Anyhow, I am on the lookout for a nice easy pattern for a “man scarf” that I can use one hank of  fingering weight yarn with. Erwin has told me that if I make him a brown or green scarf, he will wear it. So, if you know of an easy (emphasizing “easy”), fingering weight pattern (preferably free online), please drop me an email.

Other things making me happy:See? It doesn’t take too much to make me happy!

Look outside the window, and what do I see? Adirondack chairs sitting lonely and unused, the deserted gazebo,  potted herbs growing thin and scraggly, the pool sitting cold and abandoned, and a hummingbird feeder that’s seeing less business than a MacDonald’s after 8pm in a rough part of Calgary town (that’s a whole other story). Every day the skies are grey, rainy and early mornings, usually alive with the sound of chirping birds, are quiet, cold and depressing………..This is and has been our summer so far. Hey, GLOBAL WARMING PEOPLE…..WHERE ARE YOU ALL HIDING??? What we’d give for global warming over here!!! That means, hey…our summer would actually be warm, and we’d actually be outside doing summery things!  Not wearing jackets, pants, and wool socks in our Birkies (but, really that’s okay),  hiding in our houses and watching the days getting shorter and shorter, without having had our fill of barbeques and margaritas….(That’s another thing sitting unused…our brand new purchase of a Margaritaville slushy drink maker…)

And, hey, global warming people…this is not an anomaly….last summer was pretty much the same, and, the one before that not so great…and the winters have been colder and snowier….I’m very sorry, but I am not seeing, nor am I living through any kind of warming trend….sheesh…AND, there does NOT exist a floating island of plastic grocery bags…sheesh….AND, the polar bears are thriving, and Lake Ontario is cleaner than it ever was…AND, I DRIVE A HONDA CIVIC!!! Hey, Mr. McGuinty, where’s my handout for buying a fuel miser car? Why are you giving out $10,000 to people who can afford the trendy $40,000 battery-powered cars (made OUTSIDE OF CANADA). And, the battery-powered cars are going to need POWER (which apparently is in shortage in Ontario already), and where are those god-dammed used batteries going to be hauled off to??  Oh…yeah, we’ll stick them all on the floating plastic bag island and watch them float away…And, geez, while we are at it and for good measure, we’ll throw onboard all the disposable poopy baby diapers apparently that apparently have a hand in this “global warming catastrophe”, because we are really being conscious about our planet  using a diaper service that uses the most harsh bleaches, chemicals and detergents known to mankind to clean the yellow & brown poopy diapers . ..(have you every seen the colour of a pre-solid eating baby’s poop??  No scientific team in the world could devise a dye that  is so deep yellow and permeating if they spent their entire careers trying to formulate it)….Do you think that cold water and mild, little meek Ivory Snow baby clothes detergent is going to get that yellow-stained cotton cloth diaper clean??? And, what do you think makes water HOT?? POWER!! Which we are apparently running out of… Just think about it….(well, that was my little rant for this morning…I sure feel better now…)

It’s getting really depressing looking out my backdoor window every day seeing the usual icons of summer sitting unused in the cool, rainy grey days… It doesn’t help that with my poor sore knee, I cannot walk this year. Yep, that would have been the silver lining in this cold, grey clouds of this summer - Erwin and I would be able to hit the trails to hike and walk to our heart’s content without having to wilt away in the heat, and sweat like little piggies….(memories of an 11km hike on Mizzy Trail in Algonquin Park when Erwin, Justine and I got dehydrated and mosquito bit to death, several years ago, but then, that’s another story as well)…

My only solace is that I’m waiting for Chris & Anna to come home for a visit in August, and that at least I can still knit and quilt with bum knees…

My little pretties all sit in a row….waiting to be worked on…(that’s Kiwi waiting for me to go down to my sewing room)…

Erwin's Winter socks in Opal Handpainted

Regia Cotton Weekender socks

Pattern: Sleepwalker Yarn: Socks that Rock in Rose Quartz

So, not is all lost - a lot of people in my family are going to get a lot of socks and quilts this winter…Because we do FREEZE our asses off here each and every winter, and my Honda Civic can hardly make it through the snow covered roads to work in the morning….

I leave you with Ollie…unhappy with the wet day and as miserable about the weather as I am..

C’mon Kiwi let’s go down and get some sewing done….

Ollie whining

Well, here we are, June 23rd already, and I haven’t been able to finish, let alone get much knitting done, on the many socks I am hoping to make over the summer. Okay, I know that it is  really only the beginning of summer, with folks having just had their summer solstice parties over the weekend and all….But, I really have been slow with the sock production lately.

This is one pair on my needles now:

Regia Weekend colour cotton blend

So, just where does the time go? For one, I’ve been very busy in the garden, with some things starting to show for the effort:And, then, there was getting a gift made for father’s day:

Not to mention the three quilts I had to finish up for the Country Quilter quilt show over the weekend:

Holiday Sampler BOM

Angels Watching Over Me BOM

All Spruced Up

Then, there was helping my son secure a student loan for his offer to medical school and re-mortgaging the office building at work!

I seriously need to get down to some intense sock knitting if this is going to be the summer of socks..I’ll have to wait and see….

We are having a cool, but lovely spring this year. This suits me fine. Erwin and I enjoy taking  lunch hour walks at nearby trails, and all kind of little springtime babies have been popping up over the last weeks. Unfortunately I’ve been having knee problems and we have not been walking as much as usual - but, we’ve shortened our walks and we can still get in tune with nature - a little. Physio seems to be going nowhere - I think I’ve just been too hard on this old bod.  But, I just love getting out of the office for an hour or so. That little break just seems to re-energize enough to tackle the afternoon work.

On the knitting front, I hear that RSC has shipped out the May sock kit, and some lucky people have received theirs. I won’t give it away, but apparently something to do with Fraggle Rock.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that mine will arrive soon.

Even though I’ve been knitting every day, progress has been slow since I am so caught up with knitting the Flame Wave socks from Interweave’s Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless designs book. It’s taking forever. I read on Ravelry that this pattern knits up quickly. So, I don’t know why it’s taking me an eternity. I think that the one little M1 is driving me crazy. I mean, I thought that this sock was going to go quickly, being that the needles are sz 3.75 & 3.50 mm versus the usual 2.5 I usually use. And the Cascades Fixation is a lot thicker, but it’s stretchy and doesn’t slide on the needles as well. I’ve got one sock completed and about 1/4 on the other. I’ll get a picture up soon.Good news! The Spring Foward socks recipient, and I can now name names, was Anna (my son’s girlfriend). I sent them to her for her birthday and she loves them!! I am so lucky to have such great sock and quilt recipients.  Anna phoned and was so thrilled to have gotten them, and she said that she has them on all the time. Chris then spoke to me and he told me that she wanted more! The list grows and grows….Does it get any better??

These are three socks that are currently on my needles. Can you guess which is the good, bad & ugly one?

Hint: The good is one of my favourite colours (purples). Well, no guessing there. The purple sock is a Trekking XXL yarn - very nice to work with, knits up quickly and the colours are gorgeous. My gauge is a little smaller than usual on these - not sure why.

Hint: The bad one is a new pattern that I am learning. Yep, I came out of my box of plain stockinette knitting of self-patterning yarn - and I am trying a pattern. It’s the yellow/brown/peach combo, a pattern called “Jaywalker” and is quite easy. I had to learn a couple of new stitches, and after awhile “got it”.  However, this sock is “bad” because it’s got a bunch of mistakes that I made knitting it (the mistakes don’t affect the integrity  or structure of the sock), plus I don’t like to frog. So, I left in the mistakes and my daughter wants them mistakes and all. The yarn is a Brooklyn Handspun 100% merino, and is VERY fine, and knits up slowly - but very nice feel.

Hint: The ugly is the last one standing - the weird coloured one. Hence the least amount of knitting.  I completely dislike the colour combinations and pattern of this self-patterning yarn (Online Supersocke). I don’t know why I bought this colour - somehow in the yarn shop it looked nice. It’s a combinations of maroon/chartreuse/lime/blue. Again, my daughter says that she wants this pair, so it’s not being thrown into a dark closet.

Geez, sometimes work really gets in the way of knitting and quilting. But, if I wasn’t out there earning, I would not be able to indulge in my passions. Here we are, Wednesday already, and I’ve barely had time to put in any knitting/quilting stitches.

On the knitting front, I did go shopping with my sil for yarn (see my last post); I got to the heel flap of my first Trekking XXL purples - this sock is in holding pattern right now,  until I see my sil this weekend - I’ll show her how to turn the heel. I’m still also knitting on the sock from hell (most ugly yarn I’ve ever seen — I know that I should rip it out and just put that skein to rest, but I just can’t help it), and I’ve now started Grumperina’s Jaywalker sock. I saw some finished socks in this pattern on Ravelry, and after reading through the pattern - I figured I could do this pattern. And, it is really easy. Once I figured out the K1 f/b (real easy) and the DD (slip 2 stitches together as if to knit and then knit next stitch, then slip the slipped stitches over the knit stich) I started and, well, I think I know what I’m doing. Some pattern is emerging.

I’ m using some Brooklyn Handspun yarn that I picked up at last year’s Kitchener-Waterloo knitting festival - the colours are a little odd — but I was attracted to them: yellow, brown and peach. They labelled it as Root colourway. I will get a photo up asap.

On the virtual knitting front - I received the Spina di Pesce sock kit from Yarnissima to join the KAL with the Yarnissima Ravelry group. It’s  gorgeous, gorgeous blues Wollmeise yarn. The KAL starts on April 4th. This is the KAL that I need to get ready for by learning how to knit toe-up and learn some stitches, plus figure out how to read those charts.

I also received a pkg from Knitpicks with a book from Cat Bordhi “New Pathways for Sock Knitters” - that should help me learn the toe up thing. I also signed up for some Peanuts kits from Woolgirl (have not heard back yet as to whether I go in on those.) And, phew, I joined the Indigo Moon Ravelry group just in time to discover that Indigo Moon will be running it’s first ever Yarn Club!!! I’ll be watching out for that one. And, last, but not least, I’ve been reading the buzz about some people having received their March sock kit from BMFA.

So, considering I’m having a busy week at work, and, now that I put it down in words, I did have time for some knitting related stuff - and the week is not over!!

On the quilting front, I managed to get a quilt in to Jan (long arm quilter) for quilting and I just have to get one last border onto my Holiday Sampler quilt, and then I can drop that one off with Jan as well.

Wow! Imagine how much of this stuff I will get done when I retire (BTW, very long way off). Nice to dream about it though!

Finally got around to finishing these off. They are luxuriously nice and soft. I think that it is the mohair and silk that makes them really soft.

Apple Laine "garden party"

They knit up quite quickly. I made these 1″ shorter in leg length than I usually do because each skein was 190 yds (174 m), which is less than others that I’ve knitted up. In the end, I would have been able to make them the usual length - there was enough left over. Hmmm..could this be a good case for learning how to knit toe-up?

A while back I started on an Online SuperSocke in a weird melange of maroons/greens -  oh-oh, I think I’ve run into an “ugly” sock situation. I don’t think I like these for myself, and they are too frightful to give to anyone.

To counteract this, today I’ve just casted with some Trekking XXL in nice shades of muted purple — can’t miss with those!

Finally got the Apple Laine (Apple Pie Garden Party) crow’s nest of a mess untangled, rewound and back to knitting. I’m almost done the first sock! This yarn is so soft - it has mohair in it and you can feel it on your fingers while knitting.

Sock #1 Apple Laine Garden Party

When that mess was happening, I had to start some new socks, and now I’ve got an Online yarn going on another set of needles. The colours of this yarn is very weird - hard to describe. It’s like lime meeting maroon and everything else thrown in for good measure. It will be interesting to see how the the self striping pattern will develop - right now, it just looks like there is NO pattern developing.

OnLine Supersocke

Yep, I’m in trouble…deep doo-doo…
I was happily knitting along on the Apple Laine socks and have encountered a big tangled wool mess….Spent most of last evening trying to unravel it. I gave up and started on a new pair of socks.
What’s on my needles now? OnLine Supersocke - colour “living”. Not sure who these socks will be for — but, I need to knit and couldn’t deal with hitting the snag with the other pair on my needles.

Shakespeare (1564-1616)

from Macbeth

A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin’d.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—’tis time! ’tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg’d i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

I have been following a thread on a Yahoo socknitters group about whether one should match the 2nd sock to the first when using self-patterning yarn. So far, it looks like about a 50/50 split. Some people strongly believe that the socks should match, others go out of their way to not match. So far, I’ve tried to match my socks - it’s been pretty easy. I just take notice of what colour I start at, and then I make sure I start the sockinette part, heel flap and toe with the same colours. Being that I like symmetry, I like the look of the matching socks. With that being said, I just made a major change to my thinking with the Opal Harry Potter socks that are currently on my needles (see my post re: on my needles now) A complete pattern is about six inches before it repeats. With my sock formula, I would have had to discard about 4-5 inches of knitted yarn to “find” the colour/part of the pattern where I started the first sock. I just was not prepared to do that! So, I’m really venturing out of my box here by just starting with the yarn where I finished up the first sock — and these two socks will be totally different. Can I live with this? I’ll have to wait and see if I can. I may have to grin and bare it.  I’m not sure I could give away, as a gift, a pair of mismatches though.