Blog is hibernating...

Unfortunately I have been so busy lately, that I don't have time for blogging/knitting/crafting. Therefore, I am putting the blog under hibernation until January or February, so that it is one less guilt-trip on my shoulders.

I will try to catch up with pictures etc over the holidays, but there will not be much new material to read.

Everyone have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm back!

Finally! We all seem to be on the mend, apart from a couple of lingering stuffy noses and aches and pains.

I have a few updates to make, and pictures will be added tomorrow. I got a second package from my secret pal, knitted up a baby sweater, did some fair isle mittens for Richard, and made my family's Christmukkah gifts. I also bought some stuff at a craft sale, but when I got home I realised that my own knitting and jewellery is nicer (to me) than a lot of the items at the sale, and I could make them for a fraction of the cost.

My secret pal is Lynette Jovanovski, visit her here. My husband loves the name!

I'll be back soon, I promise! I'll also be posting some Hannukah cookie recipes that I'll be making this week, I've been asked to provide a homemade cookie platter for lunch/early dinner next week, so that should be fun.

Bleugh...

Blog has not been abandoned... All at 'Chez Moi' are sick sick sick... be back eventually...

Eeep!

My second SP11 package came today - and it's awesome!!! Awesome!!!

The end of a busy week, and the start of a new one.

This weekend saw the 2nd birthday celebration of our wonderful little monster, Richard. Although his actual birthday is the 22nd, we celebrated on Saturday so that our friends would be able to celebrate with us.

We decided two 'parties' would be appropriate (last year he had 3 official parties plus extra!) so that we could have a party for kids at Gymboree, then one for the adults that wouldn't really be comfortable running around at crazy-kid central. We had the lunch first, very generously catered by Matt's dad, even though we got all our wires crossed about a cake and I saved the day by reserving the cupcakes i had in the car and making a cake out of those instead.

Richard got some amazing gifts that I HAVE to mention, and will take pictures of later. I remember in school having this toy (similar idea to legos, but it looked like the pieces had lots of 'villi' on them, and that's what they connected with). I'll try to find the name of it later, I can't find it via Google. I almost cried at this toy, I loved playing with these when I was little and I know Richard will love them too.
He also got his very own, working, toddler shaped digital camera. It holds 1000 pictures (I think they are 0.3megapixels) and connects via USB for uploading to the computer.
Richard has taken some amazing pictures with it (which I will also upload later) and I'm so pleased. The giver also thought ahead and purchased us some rechargeable AAA batteries and a charger, which we have already had to use twice.


More to come later. Right now, I have some groceries to go collect in the car.

Warning - this is going to be a VERY LONG post.

There are so many things I've forgotten to blog about lately. A while ago I got my first package from my first ever Secret Pal, and I feel awful that I haven't blogged about this yet. It's taken me a long time (and some camera card formatting to get space for more pictures) to get around to this.

Firstly, my secret pal has been great. She's been really prompt with packages and with getting in touch, and her e-cards always put a smile on my face. I received the first package weeks ago and she's been really patient waiting for her acknowledgement. She also has great taste in yarn - what she sent me is exactly the same yarn i had just purchased in a ton of colours a couple weeks before, so I'm really excited that I now have more of it.

My first package contained this:




I'm sure some of you will recognise KnitPicks Wool of the Andes (colourway: Black Cherry Heather) and some elann.com Peruvian Highland Wool in a deep, muted blue heathered colourway. I also received a Susan Bates 'KnitChek', which my little guy keeps trying to claim as his own (to add to the pile of notions he plays with). I really couldn't be happier with my package, and I think the wool is destined to become an entrelac scarf for myself or my mother-in-law. Thank you so much, SP!

Yes, I did say entrelac. I finally got it! I started with a tutorial found on 'The YarnPath' and it is explained really well there, so once I felt like I had the hang of it I closed the computer and tried it by myself, and lo and behold - I was doing it! I'm really happy, it felt like entrelac was going to be my hurdle, as I've been trying it for a long time and only now get it.

The yarn I was using is Lily Sugar n' Cream stripes, leftovers from a dishcloth I made. Word of warning: the red in this colourway runs awfully! Note the 'before' white in the above picture, and the 'after':

I am so glad I didn't chuck this in with my normal laundry like I usually do!

My computer is acting up and threatening to turn itself off again. I just had my 22nd birthday and my husband wanted to take me shopping for something nice to wear, but I managed to convince him that what I really needed was a ball winder. Off we went to Romni Wools, which, I was a little disappointed to learn, only has one kind of ball winder in stock. But I got it and have been winding balls for the past few days. It's a lot of fun, and I can now knit with yarn that I felt I would never get to use. Like the 1600yards of laceweight acrylic my Mother-in-law gave me. Winding up 880yds was painful, so I couldn't even imagine winding the larger ball.

The last major thing I wanted to blog about was that I won some more yarn! On Bezzie's blog
she has been giving away a monthly prize of yarn, and September's was 2 skeins of Mirasol Hacho in colour 306, "Deep Blue Ocean". I hijacked a picture:


and made it huge so you could see the wonderful colours. It's possibly the most beautiful yarns I have ever knit with, and I wasted no time doing this
so that I could knit with it this afternoon. I was thinking socks, but there are two skeins of green Koigu KPPPM in my stash and putting them together might make a nice Jaywalker-style scarf - I think.

I've been procrastinating...

I have been severely procrastinating on my chores lately. Even knitting has become a chore, since I tired my brain out by knitting for two full, 8am-5am the next day, days. I was knitting a small, scarf width clapotis. It was a gift for my husband's great-aunt, who was turning 90 years old. I had been knitting 'swatches' - getting about 4 inches into a scarf then stopping - for a couple of months, trying to find the right yarn for the right pattern, until I had a week left. I started knitting Clapotis on the Sunday evening, and by the time Wednesday evening had come around, I had only just gotten to about 85 stitches on the increase rows. I decided that would have to do and started on the straight rows. That night I stayed up until around 3am, although I did fall asleep for half an hour. In the morning I woke up at 8am and started all over again, literally knitting for 21 hours before going to bed. And Friday was the same, except I spent 9 hours of that day on the bus to Montreal. I got in at 11pm and was STILL knitting until just after 1am, when i finished that darned scarf!

Downside is, I was hoping to have made a matching hat too...

I'm also just super mentally tired a lot these days. I seem to have days where I have something on constantly (Gymboree to working at my aunt's, then over to a weekly appointment). The annoying part is that I only have about 15 minutes spare in between whatever i'm doing that day, because with travelling, I really have no time at all.

And monkey-boy is shouting for attention again. Gotta go.

ALERT! There's another contest!

Contest - with cute kid stories!!!

Angela is having a contest to help her friend Nikki win an illustration contest. Nikki's book is "What's Wrong with Mud?". Are you willing to vote for that book here? If you are, and post a link to spread the word, you can enter in Angela's contest! (Yummy sock yarn and an illustration for a prize!)

(Found on Noricum's blog.)

Stressful eventful.

Grrr... I am very annoyed with Canada Post. I sent out a package (for DishRagTag) a week ago, with their next day priority postage and it STILL hasn't arrived! When I went to try and track down someone, their website is down and is of ne help, and I couldn't get anyone on the phone who could give me a straight answer. All in all, I'm very disappointed. I expected to get good service for the cost, and that just hasn't happened. I will definitely be sending my SP11 package some other way if I can!

I am quite stressed right now. I've been trying to knit MS3 and I need it for the end of September, for my husband's great aunt (who is turning 90) and my knitting time is almost non-existent. It's not the kinf=d of project I can take to knitting meetings so it's a strictly at home when it's quiet and my husband is out project - yep. Non-existent.

My computer is going away today to have it's motherboard replaced. It's about time - it dies every 20 minutes because the fan doesn't work and it overheats. It just seems very scary that I will be without computer for a few days, but we do have two others here.

And we all have colds. Fairly bad ones, because usually they don't get to me this much, Matt and Richard are 'down and out' too.

Cross your fingers for me. It's going to be a trying few days.

A blog contest!

Click here

Hand-dyed yarn!

I apologise in advance, this post is quite picture-heavy!

I meant to post this a couple weeks ago but never quite got round to it. Just after the beginning of August I did some hand-dyeing with food colouring. I used Club House food colours in red, blue, yellow and green. I did mix some of the colours (yellow and green made a beautiful bright green, which looks like Granny Smith apple skin green). I did a couple small skeins (maybe about 15g) in blue, yellow and green, and then one bigger one with red added.

I'm really pleased with how the dyeing turned out. The first little skein I did was the size of a dinner plate, with one third yellow, one third blue, and one third bright green. I wet the dye in a bowl with some vinegar added to the water, then put it on the plate. I painted the yarn with a paintbrush and drizzled some of the water mixture over it (but just a little). Then I zapped the entire plate for 2 minutes in the microwave, left it for 2, then zapped it for another 2 minutes. Then I rinsed it in really hot water and left it to dry. I started to knit it up and I really like how it looks. I'm thinking of felting it because I like how the colours look.

Need a pic? I actually remembered to take one :)



I also did a full mini-skein of green in water and vinegar (zapped the bowl with water, dye, vinegar and yarn all in there together), and another one in a clear mug with dye, vinegar and water. The second one I just left overnight (I forgot to zap it) and in the morning the dyebath was exhausted and the water was clear.

Here's another pic:


This was the zapped green and the 'clear mug left overnight' green:


And my final effort, with a couple of pics of the process:


And the last one:

Take me out to the ball game...

Wednesday night was the Stitch N Pitch event at the SkyDome (Rogers Centre) in Toronto. A fun time was had by all, and I now almost kind of 'get' baseball. Kind of.

The free yarn was nice, too. My stash addition included a ball of Moda Dea 'Tweedle Dee', and Moda Dea 'Fashionista'. That came from Matt's bag. There was a ball of Bernat 'Disco', but I have issues with eyelash yarn and there was a lady in front of me using blue eyelash, so I passed it over. She got a couple more balls before the game was over.

My bag had a skein of Diamond Yarns 'Luxor', 100% egyptian cotton. There was also a ball of Naturally 'Colorworks', a thick-and-thin yarn in blue, purple and pink. I'll probably buy more of the Colorworks and make a scarf or hat for winter.

And my little guy got to cuddle the Yarn Harlot herself. It's not the most flattering picture of him

but I was pleased :)

To my pal of SP11

Dear Secret Pal,

I'm so looking forward to this, my first secret pal swap ever. Please let me know what you need from me to make this easy for you, and feel free to share your experience.

Thank you!!!

And now, the questionnaire... Happy reading!

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I love knitting with almost anything, but right now am loving anything with bamboo in it, or soy. I really don't like mohair, I'm an anti-fuzzy yarns person. Not that Rowan something Haze isn't nice, because it is, but I just don't knit with mohair.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?My needles that I use regularly are in a shoebox, in a drawer. The other needles are in a tall vintage cylindrical case, also in a drawer. My circulars are in a decorative round box.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I learned to knit when I was at school when I was 6 or 7, but i didn't realise I remembered until I bought yarn and needles. I asked someone at my LYS to cast on for me, and started knitting while standing at the bus stop. I would consider my skill to be intermediate, purely because I have tried most techniques at least once and have gotten pretty good at this knitting malarkey.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? I do not. I should have, but honestly, I'd never finish it. Sometimes I barely remember I have a blog!

5. What's your favorite scent? Not wet wool! Possibly vanilla, definitely food scents (baking cookies, etc).

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Oh boy, probably Lindt chocolates. I was spoiled on British chocolate growing up. I do like Skittles and M&Ms.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I've just started beading and bought myself a drop-spindle kit but don't know how to use it yet.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I generally like everything. I'm really enjoying podcasts at the moment, it's so nice to listen to people talk about knitting as I knit, or when I can't knit. Seems like the world gets a little smaller :) My computer plays CDs, we don't own a stereo and I don't have an MP3 player.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I've just finished playing with a ton of yarn in a yarn store and I love all the heathery and tweedy colours there are, deep reds, dusky pinks, periwinkle blues - lots of natural colours too - I've always loved sage green. I really don't like pink pinks, barbie-girl shades, but matched with the right contrast colour, who knows?

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I'm married and have a toddler, Richard. He's almost 2. We have no pets but Richard likes walking my yarn around like a dog (I tie a loop in one end and he "holds on tight".)

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Scarves and mittens yes, hats are new to me. I live in Canada so you kind of need them here.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Baby items, because they go so quickly.

13. What are you knitting right now? I just finished the back of a sweater for my little guy, and I'm currently knitting the back of a little vest for a newborn.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes, very much so. Now that I knit, it's so much more personal to receive a handmade gift and I can appreciate the time and thought that went into it.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Addi Turbos! In straights, I definitely prefer bamboo but I find the points are not very pointy. I've been using circulars a lot more but that's because they are Addis and I love them. I don't really like long needles, usually 10" is enough for me, another reason why circulars are heading to the top of my "I like..." list!

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Nope. I used to just knit from the skein, but one ridiculous incident put an end to that! I do plan to get one in September.

17. How old is your oldest UFO? Lol, one day old. Although I do have a couple of projects that got eaten by raccoons while camping a few months ago and I've written them off. They haven't come out of their Ziploc bags since. (I'm scared to look at them again, even though some of the yarn is salvageable.)

18. What is your favorite holiday? One without hubby and little guy, and with lots of fruity wines.

19. Is there anything that you collect? Beads and yarn. I guess maybe colourful needles? I tend to buy only coloured needles (like Boye) and I did buy a ton of pastel coloured circulars at a yard sale.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I generally like all of the baby knitting pattern books. And there's a sweater (or 6) that I'd really like to make in the Classic Elite book, Puddle Jumpers. I don't subscribe to magazines, not that I wouldn't like to, but they always come a few days later than they appear on newstands.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I'd love to try entrelac and intarsia. I would love to be able to wear some nice, hand knit by me, latvian mittens come December. And there's that "Lady Eleanor" stole...

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I have knit socks, and I'm approximately 9 inches from heel to toe. Just very slightly larger than a womens medium. I haven't yet knit socks on sock weight yarn, the smallest I've used is sport (Lorna's Laces to be exact). I'm working my way down, Richard and I bought some sock yarn together (he chose it) and I'm planning on making us some socks as soon as my #1 circular is free.

23. When is your birthday? September 29.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID? My ID is "Shelley".

If you've made it this far, you deserve a treat -

I won a yarn contest!

Many, many thanks to TurtleGirl76 for this wonderful yarn I won on her blog contest. The yarn is Interlacements Tiny Toes, in colourway #206, Las Vegas Brights.

I really enjoy reading this blog - please visit her! She has great yarn pics up today.

Letter name

My personalDNA Report

Screwed up projects...

Last night I somehow completely screwed up my clapotis. I was exactly half way through (I was about 2 rows before dropping stitch #7) and I forgot to do the end of the row properly. I thought I'd fixed it, it took me a while to unknit and re-knit, but when I got to row 8 (drop stitch row) I realised i didn't have enough stitches. No biggie, it happened before. So I added a stitch. Then, two rows later, I had THREE extra stitches. I had remembered to p2tog the row before, so I have no idea how I messed it up. And it's too hard to unravel and pick up because of the kfb's and the twisted stitches, so I think this clapotis is going bye-bye. Which is sad, and I'm quite disappointed about it, but there we go.

I have started swatching for MS3 and I'm looking forward to trying my first real lace project. I did get my laceweight yarn, but really - it's like thread. Honest to goodness sewing thread. i tried to knot with it but I can't tell where one stitch ends and the next begins, so I think I'm going to go up a weight or two. I tried some Patons Kroy Socks today and it's a good weight for me, but I think too thick for the stole (unless it's going to be a heavy winter stole). It seems more of a DK weight than a fingering or sock weight. I'm doing the gauge swatch from the chart, and I'm quite surprised at how well it's going. I know the actual pattern is more complicated, but I got through a whole repeat of the swatch pattern with no mistakes (we all know I'm going to post this and go to knit on it some more, only to make half a dozen mistakes).

It's kind of ridick that after frogging half a dozen UFOs so I could concentrate, to have screwed up everything i was working on is quite the downfall. I don't even have some plain stockinette to commiserate over. Maybe I need to go make more stitch markers (I had a little beading spree yesterday).

Next project: MS3, new clapotis, xmas gift scarf, Richard's sweater, new something for me? Ack, decisions...

New Addis

I just received 2 pairs of Addi Turbos in the mail. I wasn't expecting to get them for a few days yet, so I'm really pleased. I ordered from Headwater Wool, based in Orangeville, Ontario. The needles were $12/pair which is $10 cheaper than pretty much anywhere else in Toronto. I only placed the order on Tuesday, late morning and they arrived in the post today, regular mail. I think Larisa has a customer for life! I was super-impressed with the cheap and fast shipping.

In other news, I just bought me (from eBay) a drop spindle set with some nice brightly coloured roving. I hope it gets here soon, I'm so looking forward to trying drop spindling for the first time.

Here's a pic:




I did buy two of the sets, one for me and one for a friend, who already drop-spindles, so I have someone to help me out when I make a mess of it.

Mystery Stole 3
I'm re-contemplating doing this knitalong. I really don't need another project and I just found out last night that the needles I ordered aaren't going to be suitable. I'm considering buying another couple of sizes, just in case, but I'm in a bit of a flux. A couple other people from my knitting groups are doing it too, so I'd have people on hand if I have a problem, but - I don't do lace. I've never really done any lace, and the small bits I have are not real lace, more like... stockinette with holes in.

There is the opportunity to learn how to read charts, which would be great, but argh! Stupid thoughtless joining. We'll see how it turns out, if it turns out. For now, I'll leave you with a picture of how it's supposed to look so far, even though I haven't cast on yet.



(photo courtesy of Yahoo MS3 group)

Yay - It's WiP Wednesday! On Thursday...

Well, first things first - I got my invite to Ravelry last night! I haven't fully explored the site yet but I am very much enjoying what I've seen so far. My stash and WiPs have yet to be added, but I am seeing how some of the patterns on my 'I want to knit this' list are turning out for other people. I think it will b, e useful for me.

On to WiPs! It's actually fairly boring this week, because I'm still working on Clapotis (I now have 5 columns of dropped stitches!) and my only other project is some washcloths for my sister-in-law, she'll be going off to university in the fall and I'd like to give her a little something.

I am doing quite a bit of beading recently, I've made a couple of pairs of earrings (a green pair for my MIL and a pink pair which I gave as a gift to our cleaning lady, Adelia).I'm also working on a necklace for a sister's birthday at the end of the month, which will be black ribbon with a pink glass pendant. Simple, but I think it will look good with some similar coloured earrings.