Difficult decisions

I mentioned a while back that I'm moving to a land far away.

Turns out that the move is now less than a week away. Holy crap, how did that happen?


Turns out I like blue, green, and purple. This wasn't a mystery to anyone.

In preparation, I've been going through my possessions and trying to minimize. This includes yarn. The above shows the final cut: this is the stash I'm bringing with me to the UK. If it fits. If it doesn't fit, I'll have to cull a bit more. Since I've been diligently trying NOT to stash for the last while, I don't have that much yarn, but I have enough that I'm leaving some behind. The fact that I can still store stuff in my childhood home is comforting in this situation, but it's also a bit of a crutch. It is stopping me from doing a total purge of my belongings. Really, I'm just putting it off. But for now, I'll settle for gradual simplification.

FO: Lavalette

Pattern: Lavalette, by Kirsten Kapur

Yarn: Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace

Mods:
Added one more repeat of the openwork section, and a few more rows of stockinette at the end. I very nearly ran out during the bind-off; in fact, I did run out binding off at least twice, and had to rip back a bit. The final bind-off finished with about 5 cm of yarn. That was a close one.



Notes:
Shawl measures 70 cm from point to top edge, and 150 cm along top edge.

I love this shawl. It was so much fun to knit, and never boring. The alternating sections of lace and stockinette kept me interested, I think. This one is for my grandma, but I'll definitely knit this again, maybe for me! This counts as my tenth knitted gift for my 101 in 1001 list, so technically I don't have to knit any more gifts. Haha, but I totally will. :)

Lavalette was my first project in laceweight yarn, and it hasn't scared me away. I count this as a good sign, or perhaps just a lucky mistake to prolong my naivete. Eh, in any case, I enjoyed knitting with the Silky Alpaca Lace, although it was difficult to manage the garter tab cast-on with such slippery, fiddly, tiny yarn. Next time I'll do better. I am a little concerned that this yarn will shed profusely. When I cam back inside from taking the photos, my tank top was covered in fuzz. I didn't notice any shedding when I was knitting, however.

Quake!

There was an earthquake of magnitude 5.0 this afternoon. The epicentre was about 60 km away, and it shook for a long time. The internet says 15-20 seconds, but it felt like longer.

I've felt tremors before, but this is by far the most dramatic and longest I've ever experienced. When things started falling off shelves, I ran outside and heard things cracking and crashing. After a while I couldn't really tell whether the vibrations I felt under my barefoot were still earthquake or just my adrenaline rushing. I don't think I could handle living in California where the earthquakes are serious business!


This soapstone sculpture had a lucky save and somehow didn't fall off the mantle.

Nothing big broke in my house, but some pottery slid off the shelves and shattered. Plenty of books, cds, and miscellaneous other clutter also ended up on the floor. Ah well, I needed to clean my room anyway. The mess in my room was pretty extreme afterwards, but to be honest, I had piles of things on the floor to start with: I'm in the middle of packing to move.

FO: Unicorn Barf Fraternal Twins (Skew)

Pattern: Skew by Lana Holden
Yarn:Elann Sock It To Me 4 ply, handdyed with Easter egg dyes.



When I handpainted this yarn, I laid two skeins side by side, attempted to paint them in the same way, and hoped for the best. As you can see above, the right sock is very different from the left sock. One sock ended up much more purple/gray than the other when the dyes blended. These would have been good candidates for alternating skeins, but I enjoy mismatched socks, so I like them. Ultimately, it was super fun watching the colours knit up. Next time I knit this pattern, and there will be a next time, I'll use a yarn with longer colour repeats to take advantage of the neat construction.

My gauge was tight, so these are pretty snug, but they still fit. I think they'll stretch. As noted by most ravelry users, they are a bit tough to put on because of their construction, but it's not so bad. I had to add about 10 more rounds in the foot to get the right length, which seems to have worked. Next time, if my gauge is similarly tight, I would add length in the ankle as well.



I could gush about the wild construction, but all that has been said. A super fun and surprisingly fast knit! Will knit again.

Anatomy of Fail

I've been sort of quiet about my noro knee socks these last few months, but it's time to come clean.


(some day I'll remember to clean the porch before I do a photoshoot)

I have very little yarn left, but only 1.5 socks. How did I let it come to this? Bad planning and a series of oversights. I should have known better. Don't be like me: here's what I did wrong.

1. Trusted others without thinking
Ravelry is brilliant, and I get a lot of useful information from other knitters' project notes. This time, however, I neglected to consider the differences between my circumstances and those of other ravelers who made the same socks using only one skein of Noro Kureyon Sock. Namely, I have average-to-large sized feet, and large calves. As such, I require bigger socks, and making bigger socks requires more yarn. There is a detailed yardage calculation section in the pattern, but because I assumed I would have enough yarn, I didn't even bother doing the calculations until it was too late. Dumb. Won't happen again.

2. Did not pay much attention to gauge.
When I started the first sock, I did take note of the fact that my gauge was much tighter than called for in the pattern, but since things were othewise working out, I didn't do anything with this knowledge. Tighter gauge = more stitches required. More stitches = more yarn.



3. Unfailing optimism / denial
So deep was my trust in those ravelers who have come before that I didn't even start thinking something was amiss until I was well into the second sock. At first, I thought I would only come up a little short, and so I could unravel the top of the first sock to make the two even. Alas, my optimism turned to despair when I finally realized I wouldn't have nearly enough.

4. Unwillingness to frog
I am not a committed frogger. Sometimes frogging is necessary, and I fear that is the case with this project, but I usually try to find a way around it. When I make mistakes in my knitting, I usually just live with the mistakes. I am not a perfectionist. In this case, I kept going, even when I started to have my doubts...

I guess I have a few options.
-rip back the first sock so it matches the second.
-buy more yarn and finish the socks
-frog the whole thing and make something else
-frog the whole thing, buy something to stripe the noro with, make striped knee socks

To be honest, I'm sick of looking at this project, so it's hibernating. I'm seriously considering buying more yarn since I like how the first sock turned out, but I don't know what I'd do with the leftovers. What do you think?

New acquisitions

A few weeks ago, the French school organized a trip to Montreal, and I took the opportunity to meet up with old friends and explore some yarn shops. I've been to Montreal many times, but I think I'll always enjoy going back and discovering new things.


Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering, from Mouliné, and Projeckt B Superwash Sock from Ariadne

First, I went to Ariadne Knits, and was immediately charmed. It was pouring out, so escaping the weather for a cozy, warm, dry, yarn-filled space was ideal. I tried not to drip all over the stock. I wandered round and round the small space, absorbing colours and squishing skeins, while chatting with the woman there, who was very friendly and helpful. Eventually I decided on the yellow/orange skein of sock yarn, pictured above. I didn't realize until later, when I looked it up on Ravelry, that Projekt B is the Ariadne Knits house brand, but I did notice that it was handdyed in Montreal. A fitting souvenir. I'm in love with the colour, and I hope it holds up well for socks. Finally, I'm going to make yellow socks!

Then, I wandered over to Mouliné, and I was surprised at how large the store was inside, since it doesn't look that big from the outside. Especially after the tiny coziness of Ariadne, the place seemed massive, although in reality it isn't huge. The selection was pretty broad and impressive, but I spent a lot of time gazing longingly at the Tanis Fiber Arts yarns. Mmmm more handdyed in Montreal. I picked up a skein of Blue Label, pictured above, in Mallard. It was a very difficult decision, especially since I gravitate towards blues, teals, and purples: Tanis' colour palette is biased heavily towards cool colours like those, and they are all gorgeous.



In the end, I also took home two skeins of Cascade 220 in aubergine to make a Top-Down Shoulder Warmer. I can't get enough aubergine, apparently. Also, it was the cheapest I've ever seen Cascade 220 in a brick-and-mortar shop. Wow. I suspect it was on sale.

All in all, a fruitful yarn exploration. Nevermind the fact that I'm moving to another continent in a few weeks, and I need to start purging rather than acquiring...

A Master at last

Bad blogger. Bad! In my defence, I've been busy. There are a few things I need to photograph before they can feature in posts of their own. But first:

I'm back from Quebec. I'm also back from London, ON - I finally graduated with my MLIS. I'm so glad to be finished this degree. It was really stressful, but hopefully worth it. Convocation was long and boring, as convocations tend to be, but it was also worth it. I had lots of fun catching up with my former classmates - officially qualified librarians, all!

Got hooded in a screechingly bright yellow colour, described in the programme as "lemon." Purple and yellow are fun, though.

(Hey, at least I didn't do an MBA. Their colour has the inspirational name of "drab.")

The procession at the end of the ceremony was totally the best bit, and I have some video to prove it. The university seems rather attached to traditional trappings - we even sang God Save the Queen in addition to O Canada - so I never expected this untraditional musical choice for the procession out.



Brilliant. Made my day.

Back soon with yarny goodness!

matchy matchy

Knitting away on Skew the other day, I noticed that my stitch markers match my unicorn-barf yarn. This is an accident: the only stitch markers I own in this particular style happen to be pastel orange and pastel green, two colours that feature prominently in my easter egg yarn. Win / Fail? It amuses me, in any case.

Skew is progressing really quickly! I've grafted the heel since taking these photos, and I'm starting to figure out how this is eventually going to be sock-shaped. Awesome! Possibly I need to get out more? Heh.


I think it looks kind of like a weird fish creature from this angle.

prédisposée aux accidents

So. I may or may not have broken the little toe on my left foot for the second time in nine months. I feel more than a little stupid about this, but mostly angry that I'm left hobbling around again. I have many sedentary hobbies, but just as the time comes to participate in one of my favourite non-sedentary hobbies, I trip and mess up my toe. Argh.

On Friday, the toe episode: I tripped over a yoga chair thing at an ashram. (Maybe a story for another time?) On Saturday, a trip to Parc National de la Mauricie for hiking, canoeing, swimming, etc. It's really not so bad, and if it's broken I now know what to expect, since it happened before, but I'm not too pleased about the inconvenience. I'm being very careful with my toe, and trying not to spend too much time on my feet just in case.

Nonetheless, it was a fun day full of beauty.



While I was very annoyed not to be able to do a lot of hiking or at least walking around, things worked out. I did about half of the "easy hike," and spent most of the rest of the day hanging out by some waterfalls taking in the scenery and feeding the population of blackflies.


(made with the bighugelabs mosaic maker)

And knitting. Observe my blurry, out of focus shots of my sock. I tried. Ah well, at least the waterfall looks good! This is the beginning of Skew, knit in my easter-egg dyed Elann sock yarn. I already suspect that the colour repeats are too short to really do this pattern justice, but I think I'll keep going and see how it turns out. In the ravelry group for koolaid dyeing, the term "clown barf" is used frequently to describe very colourful handpaint jobs, but as I knit this stuff up I keep thinking it's more like unicorn barf. (Vomi de licorne?). I love it anyway.

je m'occupe

I have been going places and seeing things, in addition to sitting in class and wracking my brains for French expressions. Last week I went to Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap, in Trois Rivieres.

The place is huge and slightly terrifying. In addition to a basilica and a small original church, there's a massive park with artificial rivers and symbolic bridges.

To take pictures of the stained glass windows, I played with my camera's manual settings and used the wall and pews as steadying devices in absence of a tripod. It worked pretty well!

Yesterday, I went to Quebec City, and ended up with a load of mediocre photos. Seriously, none of them turned out the way I'd hoped. Ah well, I'll share some anyway. I'd been before, several years ago, and I'd forgotten how beautiful Vieux Quebec is.



The whole city smelled like lilacs. (Des lilas, en français.) Okay, that's an exaggeration, but I love lilacs and to have the smell wash over me as I wandered along made me happy.


Samuel de Champlain, you swashbuckler you!

I spent far too much on food yesterday, but it was worth it. I ate crêpes, answered in French to the serveuses who spoke to me in English, learned some new quebecois expressions, and encountered some interesting people.

Tomorrow, we have a much needed break - it may be Victoria Day in the rest of Canada, but here in Quebec it's the Journée nationale des patriotes. Ah, Quebec!

Des mots de jeudi

J'essaie d'écrire en français un peu aujourd'hui. Si quelqu'un parle français et trouve des erreurs (qui sont inévitable), corrigez-moi!

Ne paniquez pas: je n'ecrirai pas en français toujours...

(I'm trying to write in French today. If anyone reading this speaks French and finds my inevitable mistakes, please correct me! Don't panic: I won't write in French all the time...)


un autre fleur qui s'ouvre sur le campus

éclore

1. (Oeuf) S'ouvrir
2. Se dit d'une fleur en bouton qui s'ouvre
3. [fig] naître, paraître

~Le Robert Micro


1. to open out, to blossom; to hatch ; [fig] to develop
2. [fig] to dawn

~Larousse

WIP on Wednesday

Thanks for all the supportive comments. I'm already learning so much, and I'm glad I came. Damn, speaking/thinking/listening in French all day and night is exhausting, though.

I don't have enough projects to warrant a WIP Wednesday feature like some blogs have. But today is Wednesday, and I do have a work in progress to share.

Lavalette, by Kirsten Kapur


lumpy pre-blocked lace

This is my first lace-weight project, and it was a struggle to start. I botched the garter tab cast-on several times because of the tiny, slippery yarn. It's still not totally right, but it looks fine if you don't look too closely.


Stretched out

Demain je vais essayer de faire mon post en Français car j'apprend beaucoup de mots nouveaux ici. :)

Bonjour, etc etc

I'm safely settled in Trois-Rivières... and last night, along with about 350 other participants, I swore to speak French all the time and everywhere for the next 5 weeks. Right-o. I suppose the internet counts, but I don't think anyone is watching. Nonetheless, I'm trying to be conscientious about it since I really am here to learn - and I won't improve if I don't constantly speak French. So there it is.



Turns out that I have access to the internet in my room. Wahey! Another surprise is that the residence apartment I live in is clean and new - not at all grimy, dirty, or sketchy. Bonus. Though as the photo above shows, the view from my window is... spectacular. Ha. It's all good, and so far not too noisy.


These lovely, cute blossoms grace my walk to class. I don't know what they are, but I like them a lot. Anyone recognize it? It's a bush.

Tomorrow, a WIP on Wednesday.

Always packing.

Tomorrow, I'm going to the wilds of la belle province to do a 5 week French course. I'm excited since this is a great opportunity that costs me almost nothing, but I'm also nervous. The main reason that I'm not fluent in French yet, despite years of exposure through school, university, living in the nation's capital, and most recently working for the government, is that I don't practice speaking because I'm too scared. Until now! Or so I keep telling myself. I'm hoping this course will provide me the kick in the ass I require to use and improve my French. (I'm also hoping it will be super fun. We'll see!)

I'm going to miss watching the garden change through summer.


Nothing to do with anything, but the other day I opened the door and was overpowered by the smell of lilacs. Mmmmm.

So I'm packing. Whenever I try to fit things into a suitcase, I'm reminded of how much unnecessary crap I have. I'm a failed minimalist, since I don't WANT to be a person that owns a lot of stuff, but somehow I collect it and I have a hard time letting go.

I'm trying to pack as for a 5 week vacation, but I keep thinking of this as a packing dress-rehearsal. I have a huge trip coming up a few weeks after I return from Quebec.

In July, I'm going to the UK for an extended period of time. I'm actually moving there, although saying that still sounds impossible. But an extended stay of 2 years + counts as moving, right?

Seriously, that's a logical trajectory. Learn French - Move to the UK. Haha. Whatever. I've been planning this for literally years -- ever since I went on exchange, fell in love with a local boy, and realized that this relationship is worth much more than two or three visits per year. Until now it has been a distant hazy future sort of planning. Now that all the paperwork is sorted, it's starting to feel real, and there are real details to line up. It's all very serious and life-changing, and whatnot. But mostly exciting and terrifying. This is the trip I'm really excited about. And this is the trip that is looming in my head, even though I have a significantly shorter trip coming up tomorrow.

There will be time to sort through my entire collection of worldly possessions when I get back from Quebec, so I don't really need to think about that now. And yet, whenever I look at my suitcase, I start dreading that process, instead of worrying about what I'll need for 5 weeks of university accommodation, cafeteria meals, and weekend excursions.

Not sure what the internet situation will be for my time in Quebec, but I'm bringing my laptop along and hoping for the best. I'll aim for some travel blogging, but not going to make any promises.


Violets are my birth-flower, and we have lots of them in the lawn now.

Sigh. Packing beckons. Enjoy your May/June, everyone!

An FO? Yes! An FO for reals!

It's been too long since I finished a knitting project. I've been knitting a lot, but man. I feel like I'm not getting anywhere on the Noro socks. So, I started these two at a time socks last month to break things up a bit.


Green / Camo Maple Socks

Pattern: Sugar Maple by Melissa Morgan-Oakes

Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy Socks

Mods: I knit the medium size, but didn't knit the full length for the ankles. I got bored and stopped at about 6 inches. I added length to the foot, to fit my 10 inch long feet.



This was my first try at knitting socks two at a time (henceforth abbreviated as 2AAT). It was... interesting. The 2AAT method described in Morgan-Oakes' book seemed intuitive up until the gussets; at that point, I messed something up and I didn't find the instructions helpful to get me out of the mess. Although I was able to sort it out to some degree, it never really recovered. The toe on one sock is a complete mess as a result - but I fudged the grafting a little so it looks okay. Anyway, it's good enough. Now that I know how it works, I think I'll be able to do it right the next time I try.... but I plan to try a different 2AAT method next time, anyway.

On the plus side, I like the mock cable pattern, and I love how the heels turned out.


Heel flaps are my friend. Short row heels, not so much. More on that later :P.

This is a difficult yarn to deal with, and I wasn't sure which pattern to use. This one looks okay, except the mock cables get lost in the black. The weird colours were the main thing that bothered me about it. From the ball, I had no idea there would be such extended runs of yellowish olive green. On my feet that's no problem, but it's not a colour I generally choose to wear. It's also rather splitty, which is too bad. Things aren't all negative, however: it's very soft and comfortable to wear, and the fit is great. The yarn was a gift, but now that I've tried it I don't think I would buy it for myself.

woolly words

I meant to post these words last week during Knit and Crochet Blog Week, but I totally forgot. So, a week late, my words are vaguely fibre related.

pannose
like felt
The Phrontistery

capric
having a goatlike smell; of, like or pertaining to goats
The Phrontistery

To avoid a pictureless post, here is some seasonal flora from around my home.

The crabapple trees are in full force.


The tulips were early and they may be all gone by the time the Tulip Festival gets going.


There is a forest of forget-me-nots on the lawn! My favourite :)

Too subtle?

I've run out of white sock yarn to dye at the moment, but I still had some Easter Egg dye mixed in the fridge, so I dyed some gray sock yarn.

The yarn, Fortissima Socka mit Bambou is 25% bamboo, which doesn't absorb food dyes. I knew this going in, and was interested in seeing how the yarn would absorb the dye. That said, I definitely didn't use enough dye, although I supplemented the green/blue Easter egg stuff with some Wiltons Royal Blue and Leaf Green.



The result is a light sage-greeny-blue. Very light. Possibly too light. I contemplated adding more dye or overdyeing it again, but it's growing on me. It's definitely more interesting than plain old gray, if you look at it closely. (Not that I have anything against gray; I just wanted to dye more yarn!)

I dumped the leaf green in when the dye bath was already hot, and I didn't stir, so it stuck in uneven places - this was kind of intentional. You may be able to see some light green traces.



I think the blue took unevenly as well, in some places.



I'm curious to see how this knits up. Next time, I'll probably use more dye and go for a brighter/deeper colour, but an experiment in subtlety isn't a bad thing.

What a Yarn: Knitting and crochet blog week, day 7

I am a yarn coveter. (coveteuse?) I gaze longingly at pictures of pretty yarn on the internet. In particular, I'm drawn to rich semi-solids.

Here's a short list pulled from my bookmarks that I go back to and ogle every so often:
SweetGeorgia
Madelinetosh
Sanguine Gryphon
Stricken Smitten
PrimaFiber
Tanis Fiber Arts

I'm also intensely curious about yarn made with Blue Faced Leicester fibre. It sounds like a miracle fibre! Long stapled wool resistant to pilling, yet super soft? sign me up. Unfortunately, yarn from this wool is elusive. While I can find examples on the internet, I haven't found much in actual yarn shops. I know, this is what the internet is for, and I'll get on that as soon as I have a disposable income :P. For now, I'll remain intensely curious.

Have you used yarns with BFL? Got any recommendations?



This blog week has been a really fun experience, and I'm happy I participated. Thanks to everyone else who participated - I enjoyed reading all the stories and looking at all the pictures. And thanks for commenting! :)

Liesl Revisited: knitcroblo6

Liesl then, September 2008

I finished Liesl in September 2008, and it turned out to be much more versatile than I had expected. I've worn it in every season. It works as a cover-up on chilly summer nights, and as an extra layer to make tank tops viable in spring or fall. Any layer is a good layer in the winter, and Liesl does nicely. Seriously, I think I wore this once a week at least this past winter.

The yarn I used is Zara Plus, a sproingy merino that has pilled a little, but not as much as expected. The sweater has gone from being slightly fancy, to worn-looking and comfortable, and back to presentable - pilling was worst at the middle stage. Miraculously (or, you know, this might be how yarn works), the pilling has pretty much stopped now. Hurray!


Liesl now, May 2010

It has definitely stretched, and it sags a little more in the back than it used to, but I don't really mind. I actually like how the neckline has stretched; when I knit the wide-neck version, I had expected it to turn out wider than it originally did. When it disintegrates, I know I'll be making this one again!


knitcroblo6

Location, Location, Location: knitting and crochet blog week, day 5

I'm getting to the point where I am comfortable knitting most places. I'm kind of shy, so knitting in public didn't really appeal to me at first - having to field questions from curious strangers! Ack! But I've mostly gotten over that now.

This past semester I used knitting as a relaxation tool more than I ever have before, and carried around my Noro knee sock project to get a few calming stitches in before classes and during breaks. Pretty soon, some of my classmates and even instructors were keeping tabs on my progress. Too bad I still haven't finished the socks! I also discovered a few more knitters among my library school classmates - there were at least 6 in my children's literature class.


I knit on the train, or on long car journeys.

Knitting often happens in front of my computer if I'm using youtube to figure out techniques, or if I haven't printed off the pattern I'm using. Also, I tend to knit when talking on Skype. Skype is an important communication tool for me since my boyfriend lives excessively far away. I'm not sure he's always impressed when I say, "See! I'm making a sock!" and wave it in front of the webcam, though.

Now that I'm back home and the weather has been usually warm for spring (other than the snowfall the other day pffft), I have been doing some knitting on the patio!


The project on the chair is Sugar Maple from 2-at-a-Time Socks, by Melissa Morgan-Oakes - my first socks done two at a time. (Disaster stories forthcoming.)


knitcroblo5