Holidays...dealing with irritating wool...and I'm being stalked!

Quick note before I get into the post: Leanne is out of hospital! She and her gallbladder are officially "over". She is definitely on the mend and happy to be back home. Thanks again for leaving her comments on her blog.

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Happy Monday everyone! Why is it happy? Why because I just started my holidays of course. Today I am "sans enfants" (without children) - so I am enjoying a lovely day of sweet sweet quiet and little to bother me...except for my stalker and the construction workers on my roof.

It appears that a local honey bee hive have decided that there might be some good stuff at my house. Here is my theory:

1. At some point last week, a bee (let's call him Bob) came to my house and thought he found something he liked.

2. Bob went back to his hive and told his friends about it (note bee using vector calculus to indicate where I live).

3. I am put on some kind of list where fly-bys become part of regular daily routine.

Every day for the past week I have had at least one bee check out my balcony every fifteen minutes or so. They hover around the balcony, check out the gazebo cover and if the patio door is open, they fly in to check it out. I have used the cup and cardboard technique to facilitate the exit a few times now. I'm trying to figure out how to tag one of these suckers to see if its always the same one (i.e. Bob - which, if it is, means that Bob might need some intervention therapy of some kind - or I need a bee restraining order).

At least its honey bees - a few years ago I had a wasps nest in the box that hangs over my balcony - there is a whole story about a really cute, super muscly exterminator who was also, it turns out, afraid of bees. Kind of emasculating if you ask me.

Stuff I'm up to

Tour de Fleece is on and while I haven't been spinning as much as I would like, I did do something really cool - I almost got all lace!!! This ranges from cobweb in spots to lace to light fingering. I've already cast it on as a Swallowtail Shawl - and I can only say it was probably meant to be because I opted for 3.5 mm needles and it was perfect first try!

The roving is BFL from Fleece Artist that I don't have a picture of - blues, purples and greens. Its overspun in spots, underspun in other and you know what? I don't care! I just love it.

I picked up another Fleece Artist roving at Yarn Forward last week - very oddly dyed - there was red and red-violet, lots of white, patches of blue and pink. When I undid the braids there was no actual pattern to the dyeing which left me in a bit of a pickle about how to spin it up. At first I thought about lashing it all on the hackles but I kind of want a slubby but substantial sock yarn and though I like playing with the hackles, you lose a lot of fibre in the process (the stuff stuck to the hackles after you pull off the top is too short to use).

So I pulled each bit of colour out and ended up with four piles - dark red, light red, violet, and white mixed with blue/pink/yellow/green. I ended up with this:

So I've been taking one of each colour and drafting it out just like this:

Ending up with would bits of pre-drafted top like this:

Which is spinning up like this:

Once I fill the bobbin I will navajo ply it which will hopefully even it all out into predominately shades of red and red-violet with hints of white and specks of the other colours. I promise pics when it is all done.

What I'm knitting

Besides the Swallowtail, there are some socks on the needles I can't show you as this is Christmas knitting although the ravelers can check them out on my projects page - the recipients aren't knitters. Otherwise, a few things are hanging out waiting for me to be interested in them again, and that's about it.

What I Read

...or rather what I threw down in disgust: One Ball. Thankfully I got this from the library and didn't buy it sight unseen ... oh Mr. Bee is back ... My pet peeves were all in this book - sparkly yarn, icky colours and stuff I would never knit. YMMV of course - someone liked it or it wouldn't be a book right? There was a nice enough moebius (but moebius patterns are kind of a dime a dozen) and an okay shrug. That about sums it up. Not a fan. I encourage you to check it out as I wouldn't want to keep you from knitting something that you really might like. I do think the photos left something to be desired. About halfway through they adopt this kind of creepy wire dress form that makes me think about cobwebby attics and serial killers.

Damn bee still outside. I would like to go and rescue some roving from out there but he needs to leave!

The irony is that I don't have any plants in my house, a basil plant with a few flowers out on the balcony (which he doesn't seem interested in at all).

Wierd.

Buzz.

Take this pencil roving and...

So I owe you all a post that isn’t all like “blah blah blah etsy blah blah tired blah blah can’t think” right?

Right!

The news

I started my new-ish job today. And so far, I haven’t done anything new! This is probably because it is a) Monday and b) Monday before a statutory holiday. Downtown Ottawa is a wasteland (no, moi in Vancouver, I did NOT write cultural wasteland…stop that!) today. Tomorrow it will be dangerous to walk around here unless you have a Canadian flag tattooed on your face! I have no idea who that guy is, but he sure looks happy doesn't he?

Yesterday we celebrated Alex’s ninth birthday. We went to the ballpark to watch a Can-Am League game – less talent that Triple A, slightly more than Little League. We had a suite overlooking home plate – it was absolutely amazing and since my kids are used to running around the stadium, we only saw kids at important moments – like when they were hungry.

I can’t believe my baby is nine. I also can’t believe I am old enough to have a nine year old. As a result of my disbelief I did my best to behave as childishly as possible without endangering anyone and had two big pieces of birthday cake. So there upcoming 39th birthday!

Stuff I am dyeing

I think I lost two whole days of my life trying to untangle this holy mess:

That’s a pound of merino-seacell pencil roving. It was like untangling yarn, but yarn that would just drift apart if I tugged too hard. It was totally worth it though…it is so soft!!

The first step in dyeing is to soak the wool – with this stuff I couldn’t wind it up into a ball like a I do with thicker rovings because the water would not penetrate to the middle. So out came the swift and some very gentle skein winding happened. Worked like a charm! This bit got dyed strong blues, reds and greens. I really need to dye up some for me and spin it.

Stuff in the mail

Supplies! Can you believe the number of postage stamps on this? Mail ordered from Copper Moose in the US – there is a pound each of BFL and Merino, and half a pound each of Merino-silk and merino-tencel. Lookie here! Bags’o’wool!

Stuff I’m knitting

Susie Hoodie continues – it looks the same as last time so no boring pictures of blue stockinette for you! Don’t bother to complain about that either as I am not wasting valuable computer space on a picture.

Susie Hoodie might have been chucked aside for some warm weather knitting. Having firmly committed to copying a couple of people who are smarter than I am, I am knitting up the Print’o’the Wave in Handmaiden SeaSilk. Frogged once in favour of smaller needles but so far so good. Isn’t it pretty? This one is definitely for me!

And I guess today is Handmaiden day – because I cast on a sock in Casbah. The yardage on the skein is a bit short (around 325 yards) so I decided to bite the bullet and learn how to do a toe up sock. Now I am sold!!! I did Judy Becker’s Magic Cast-on with the help of Cat Bordhi’s YouTube video (thanks for telling me about it Nancy! Hint: click the link and check out the divine sea silk stole Nancy just finished - awesome!). I am using a rib-whose-name-I-have-forgotten out of one of the Vogue Stitchionaries and last night I did my firstest ever short row heel with instructions out of an Interweave Knits from last year. As I am knitting on 3.75s these are going very quickly!

Places I’ve been

I mentioned ages ago that I would tell you about Kniterary – just about the cutest little yarn shop in Whitby – and I think the ONLY yarn shop in Whitby. That’s beside the point.

The very first time I went there the woman who owned the shop had just bought it from the previous owner that week. Sales stock was…well…unimaginative and more than a little acrylic-y. I don’t go there everytime I go to Toronto but I do try to drop in occasionally to see what’s new.

Huge improvement! A super comfortable couch. Lovely woman who totally left me alone and talked to Alex who was nicely tolerating the yarn store visit (he actually likes knitting but doesn’t have the attention span to do it for long). They had some really lovely sock yarn from The Sweet Sheep and Celestial Merino (yummy). Decent selection of Berroco, Fleece Artist and lots of Mission Falls.

I didn’t buy much as I had just spent a fortune for three hellish hours at Canada’s Wonderland the day before. I did pick up Cat Bordhi’s new sock book – it is pretty cool although beyond the cast on and looking at the pretty pictures and marvelling at Cat Bordhi’s brain (I’m surprised her head isn’t three times bigger than it is), I haven’t tried any of the sockitectures…

That’s it!

Happy Canada Day to everyone!

Stopping by with thank yous!

Thanks to everyone for the insightful and supportive comments on my earlier post. I am feeling more at peace now that some time has passed and I've come to accept a new phase of being in my own skin. Its pretty damned comfortable here (if slightly roomier than I like!).

My last two weeks have been unbelieveably busy but here are the highlights...

1. I don't normally blog about work or even brag about it, but I was the lead on the team that did the focus group testing, branding and creative for this. And last week we got an award for it!

2. I made two trips to Toronto in two weeks (please don't ask how much time I spent in the car - I'm still having post-traumatic stress disorder reactions). The good thing was a very fruitful trip to Romni which may have resulted in some spending. For once I went there with an agenda in mind - I wanted fiber for Henry, Charade (scroll down a bit to see the lovely ribbon cardi wrap from Annie Modesitt's Romantic Handknits book) and more Noro Kureyon for Lizard Ridge.

I couldn't afford the Berroco Zen at $13-$15 per ball. I needed 1o balls so I went on a hunt around the store for a worsted weight ribbon. I found Romni's own labeled brand in 100% silk - more yardage per ball (I only needed 7) and only $7.99 each. I wasn't keen on any of the colours so I grabbed white white and will dye it myself.

For Henry I got (be still my heart) - Lana Grossa Seta Cashmere - gorgeous! And yes I've cast on and damn are those rows EVER LONG!!!

3. http://www.needleartsbookshop.com/- open house! I trekked back into Toronto from Whitby on Saturday to get to this sale. I have been desperately wanting the Latvian Mittens book ever since the Harlot knit a pair (remember the ones where she ended up with two right-handed mittens?) a while back. Plus I am obsessed with really complicated colourwork mittens.

I might have also slightly enhanced the stash with this and this (scroll down to see the wool) in black to make it out of.

4. Ava and Luke - I had a lovely time cuddling the little ones at wannabaa's (of the comments). Luke is definitely 2 but not terrible at all - he so energetic and the way he talks totally cracks me up. Ava is adorable. Which is a good thing because Ava is not the happiest baby and at this point I suspect that a fierce maternal sense of responsibility and the cuteness might be the only things keeping her from going out with the trash once a week. Having a newborn is hard enough...a newborn determined not to sleep and only soothed by nursing or being carried a certain way quickly drains a whole lot of joy from the whole experience. Hopefully she'll get happier when she can more and express herself more clearly. In the meantime, send good thoughts to wb - she needs 'em!

Hopefully soon again...with pictures. Not much in the way of FOs and way too many UFOs but it does make for interesting blogging.

Ottawa-Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Ottawa (pause) Winchester

So I've been a bad blogger! I'll leave you to fill in the blanks with all the usual excuses and get to the fun stuff!

Photo-free travel with stash enhancement

Two weeks ago I trekked to Toronto and then Montreal for some focus groups. I was in Toronto on Wednesday morning and decided that rather than sit in my drab airport hotel room and knit a sock while enjoying the fine view (oil refinery to the left, highways to the right -- Canada is supposed to be beautiful, but we still need gas and roads to visit it!) I would take the oh. my. god. expensive taxi into downtown and visit me some wool!

First stop was Romni...of course. I always tell me myself not to go to Romni without a PLAN. A plan for a specific pattern or wool purchase. Unfortunately, any plans I have going in are wiped from my mind by the sheer amount of yarn in there...floor to ceiling sock yarn...its overwhelming.

In a corner near the Fleece Artist I found Romni's own brand and bought five skeins of this:

Its kid mohair-silk-nylon boucle - 400metres per skein for $12.99. Serious bargain compared to the Fleece Artist Goldilocks (which is likely better quality - but WAYYYY more expensive). It is dyeable and the PLAN (now I have one!) is to spin up enough corriedale for a carrying yarn, dye it all and make my sister the shawl I will reluctantly turn into a poncho - cause she's my sister and I love her even though ponchos are just SO 2003. This is for the girl who wears dresses over jeans and for whom hair colour is...optional.

I also picked up some back issues of Knitters and some other stuff I've already forgotten about...oh yeah - two balls of Noro Kureyon for Lizard Ridge. I was quite disappointed that they didn't have any fleece artist merino rovings on hand.

I took a long walk down Queen street and ended up at Americo Original (OMG...who, I ask you, who!!! has a belly button like that???) where I oohed and aahhed and marveled at how a yarn store can look more like Pier 1 than I ever thought possible. I purchased some pretty 5.5 mm dpns for the mittens I will knit up from the fantastic kit my coffee swap partner sent.

Finally - I found my way up to Kensington Market (this is not a short stroll by the way - at this point the balls of feet were burning fiercely and I was regretting a number of things about my clothes) to Lettuce Knit. I got to meet Meghan (actually I introduced myself and forced some handshaking...she was very nice about it though) who sadly pointed out that I would be missing their Wednesday knit night because of my meetings. Meghan did, however, have a nice stash of Fleece artist roving and I scored four matching "skeins". Because of the way that Fleece artists dyes they do not offer consistent roving - its kind of in batches of whatever, whenever. Here it is in all its glory. I loved the fact that Meghan decorated outside the store with roving...definitely my kind of place.

While I was there I eyed this fabulous baby sweater kits and now, because of THIS, I am seriously regretting not throwing my credit card at Meghan and buying twelve of them.

St. Distaff's day and more roving

The next Saturday the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners Guild (OVWSG) hosted the annual St. Distaff's Day at the Community Centre in Winchester Ontario - which is about 30 minutes down the road from me. I brought Madeline who immediately absconded with the two batteries out of my camera to use in the GameBoy and any chance of pictures was lost!

I had a wonderful time at the morning session learning to card colours together - both hand carding and on a drum carder. I did some carding and so did Madeline (it was so nice of all those grown ups to welcome her - there was another child there with one of the vendors that she raced around with a bit in the afternoon).

Now I want a drum carder. I also had a wonderful time chatting with other knitters and spinners around me including the delightful Christine of Daisychains and Buttercups. Please go say hello and wish her luck - she is up to her elbows washing the Shetland fleece she bought at St. Distaff's.

I managed to score a pound of Corriedale roving imported from South America...that is a LOT of roving for me. Might have to commit to a large something or other.

Stash management

I love you Home Depot!!

Home Depot had these fantastic Safari storage boxes - with windows! - and I bought eight of them to manage the stash - the knitting stash mind you. Here is the fabulous stash all organized - one box for sock yarn, one for current projects on the needles, another for orphaned skeins and one for large amounts meant for a single project.

Finished objects

Last of all...I was pretty embarrased by the sheer number of project on the go and the stash management exercise only served to drive home the point that I had a lot going on at once. So I put away a bunch of projects and took out three that I promised to finish before looking at anything else. Oh and to commit to a single pair of socks for bus knitting - I've finished the first sock now and am onto the second one. So - OFF the needles now:

One worry bear for Madeline (named May Beth I am told) -

Pattern: one of the bears from Sandra Polley's Knitted Teddy bears (I owe the library last months mortgage payment I had this one out so long) and the dress I made up as I went along (flower from Nicky Epstein's Knitted flowers)

Needles: 4 mm straights

Yarn: Estelle Watercolours in white, sky blue and navy

One set of felted clogs (just in time for summer!!) I am very pleased with these - they are soft and cozy looking and felted up really quickly.

Pattern: FibreTrends felted clogs

Needles: 9 mm circs

Yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool

One My So-called Scarf (for the gift drawer - recipient to be determined)

Pattern: From Sheep in the City

Needles: 9 1/2 mm straights

Yarn: Berrocco Foliage in the Carnations colourway

Books

I also enhanced the bookshelf with Lace Style which I have been admiring for ages. I also bought One Skein Wonders. I looked at a bunch of one skein books and this one really had a lot of patterns I though I would knit I found there wasn't a preponderence of shrugs...which are cute if you are young but nearing forty...not so pretty!

Final prerequisite cuteness...

I took the kids to Parc Omega on Sunday - and I just want you to know that when I grow up I want an Arctic wolf cub for a pet. I have never seen anything so cute in my entire life. The cub was chasing butterflies around...I'd put up the picture but I don't have a telephoto lens and he or she is barely visible against the ground.

Here is some homegrown cuteness for you though --







Next week I have an order coming from KnitPicks...I can hardly wait!!

Blogiversary month!

Today is it! I've been blogging for a year and it seems like a good time to reflect on the whole experience. So given my penchant for point form synopses...here are my blog thoughts in no particular order... (by the way, if you want to skip the stream of consciousness and go straight to the good stuff...scroll past the list)

1. Blogging takes on a life of its own -- although it seemed like a diary to start with, the blog itself became its own "thing" very quickly. Like about the same time people started commenting and I realized that I had a small audience out there.

2. Blogging can be a drag -- as in "I haven't blogged recently and no one is going to visit me anymore" Which makes me wonder if I am blogging for me, blogging for others, blogging just because or all three at once.

3. Blogging can be depressing -- when no one posts a comment and I wonder if I a) pissed everyone off or b) am so boring it isn't worth reacting to or c) comeon...it's your blog! who cares!

4. Blogging can be enlightening -- those rambling posts that no one really wants to read through? Those are the ones that seem to feed my soul the best.

I guess that it comes down to the fact that blogging is an inherently social exercise - and like all situations where you put yourself out there for others to see, it contains the same anxieties and successes.

Okay...I've bored you all to tears...now the good stuff. I am going to celebrate my 1 year blogiversary with a cool stuff give-away - some stuff will appeal to knitters, some to spinners and some to everyone. Every week this month I'll post a nifty gift. Anyone who wants in on the draw for it will need to send me an email at ambergem @ hotmail dot com by the deadline. You'll be assigned a number based on the order I get the emails and then I'll use this nifty tool to draw randomly.

First up - for the spinners or felters...50 g of Fleece Artist Blue Faced Leicester roving and Knit Scarves!

Email by Wednesday, April 11th for your chance to win this fantastic prize pack worth...okay never mind ;-)

And we'll end this post with pure bliss...sometimes I wish I could be a cat...

100th POST! Randomness

1. Roving porn - absolutely gorgeous wool-silk blend from Fleece Artist.

2. I have a new obsession – teddy bears. Specifically, teddy bears from Sandra Polley’s The Knitted Teddy Bear. I’ve looked everywhere for this book – and then FINALLY checked my library (love you library!). I can’t recommend this book enough. The best part is that none of the patterns have gauge to stick to. You are knitting it all on the same needle in whatever weight wool you use (she uses DK or fingering throughout) and unless you really can’t keep a consistent gauge – the pieces all end up fitting together nicely. Since I have been struggling mightily to get gauge on a fingering weight fair isle, it is nice to throw caution to the wind and end up with something lovely and antique looking after only a few hours of knitting. Meet Nicolas:

Yarn: Briggs and Little Regal (its a bit heavier than a DK - its a rough wool with a bit of vegetable matter still thrown in) in Forest Brown
Needles: 4.0 mm bamboo

And Oliver:


(He needs some work)

3. I have another new obsession: Heroes. OMG. How addictive is that show? I had heard it was good but now…well, my on again, off again ex-bf is holding the downloads hostage so I can only watch at his place. They saved the cheerleader and I’m pretty sure I’m not on the list although I have seen an increase in my knitting speed (that would be my superpower – faster knitting and always getting gauge – I’m not sure how this would benefit humanity but we’d all be warm and cozy). I have an increasingly complicated relationship with my ex-bf now made more so by television. Evil evil television.

4. I’m pleased to announce that my very belated handspun arrived in Singapore. I think Chrissie is the all time swap champion!

5. I have also heard from my SP10 pals – both my spoiler and spoilee…I am plotting! I have a policy to send along as much Canadiana as possible (no, not Patons Canadiana although it does make nice mittens and such – it just isn’t good spoiling yarn) – Jeanne got Laura Secord chocolates and Smarties for the Spin Roving Swap. Chrissie got some Blue Faced Leicester roving to spin from Fleece Artist for the Spin to Knit swap.

6. The weather. I hate to whine (not true I love to whine but I pretend I don’t for the benefit of others), but this warm-cold-thaw-snowstorm thing is really hard on my psyche. I know, it happens every single year. I’m always ready for spring way before it is ready for me.

7. Daylight savings. Three weeks early. What’s up with that? Everyone around is dragging themselves into work because its so bloody dark in the morning. All for what – its not like we’re actually saving daylight or anything. Apparently I am not the only one having waking up problems:


Back to Oliver...he needs your good wishes...assembly can be tricky.

Christmas and beyond....

So Santa came and went and it was all good.

Xmas morning the sprogs were at their dads so I got up around 9:30 and went over to my neighbours for some coffee and conversation which was a very humane way to begin Christmas!

I picked up Madeline and Alex at 1:00 and came home and opened gifts. Because there weren't a lot of presents under the tree we took our time and enjoyed opening one each and getting to admire each other's presents. I gave Madeline a Real Meal Easy Bake Oven which she liked enough to try the macaroni and cheese (it is a stretch to call it that). Alex got a Robo-pet which is BEYOND COOL. Seriously. Even if you don't have kids this thing is fun! And if you or your significant adult is a bit of a tech geek - you'll be enthralled by the mechanical genius.

I think I've mentioned before that because I don't have a partner and we celebrate Xmas with my family separately, I normally buy myself some stocking stuffers and a few gifts to give myself from Santa to keep the belief in Santa Clause alive. I did this the first time last year and discovered it is a lot funner than I thought it would be. I think this is because I am an instant gratification type of person. So packing up the gifts and not playing with them is hard for me. So I am truly excited Christmas morning to finally get my hand on my presents! This year Santa gave me a lovely earring and necklace set - bronze with nice red stones in it (how did he know I needed some red jewellry!), Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers, the most recent Knit.1 magazine and the new Koigu book.

More books arrived from my parents: Odd-ball Knitting (which I'm not in love with) and Sally Melville's Knitting Experience Book 3: Colour which I have glanced through and seems to have some interesting ideas and techniques.

Right now I am knitting up a few washclothes to "adorn" my last gift to give to my good friend Sandra, a beginner knitter who made the mistake of saying to me, "I wish I knew how to knit dishclothes." Did you know that you can fit four "cakes" of wound Bernat Handicrafter cotton in one of those cylindrical wine gift boxes? Well, you can! I finished one ball-band cloth from Mason Dixon and am working on a modular one I really hope will work out based on the Koigu book instructions for diagonal squares - I am determined to make this without having to sew a seam!

Sorry for the lack o pictures but my camera batteries are recharging...and frankly? I'm at work (shhhhh!)