Socks, socks, socks.

As promised, I have pictures of socks. For my trip to Montreal I packed two skeins of Koigu and a ball of Trekking XXL. I had intended to knit myself a pair of toe up socks using the "Ears of Grass" stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I swatched on the train ride from London to Toronto and discovered that the colours in the yarn hid the pattern too much, so while in Toronto for a couple of hours I picked up some Gems Opal from Lettuce Knit. I managed to knit a new swatch and most of one sock during the bus trip from Toronto to Montreal. A couple of days into my vacation and I had a pair of socks.



This left me with the Koigu which I knit up in a plain toe up sock so that I could use up as much of it as possible. A few days later and I had another pair of socks.



The last day in Montreal I started a pair of socks for Xman's birthday using the Trekking. Xman is my nephew and he really likes having Xs knit onto things; I've already knit him a hat with an X on the band and a pair of mittens with Xs on the back. I think he will like the socks and I really hope they fit him. I admit that I don't have a really clear idea of the size of a five year old's feet. I've used ribbing along the top of the foot and up the leg so they should fit a range of sizes. Worse comes to worse I will knit him another pair if these don't fit. I will probably have the pair done this evening, but since I was already taking sock pictures I snapped one of the completed sock.



It may look a bit odd because it is being modeled on my arm and my wrist falls short of being a proper heel.

Great to be home

The Montreal trip was a lot of fun but it is nice to be home. In Montreal I knit socks and visited yarn stores in between delicious meals. Montreal is a city I would gladly live in and always enjoy visiting. Alright, I'll admit that I've only visited the city three times and only for a week at a time, but still I enjoyed myself those three times.

I will post pictures of my socks tomorrow, once they have had a chance to finish drying. I will post pictures of the Tatami once the weather cools down enough that I can stand the idea of putting on a wool sweater for any length of time. In the meantime I will show you pictures of my newest toy.


It is a Turkish spindle that I ordered from The Bellwether before I left for my trip. I'm in love. I've spun the little pouf of fiber that came with it, some white Shetland wool I got at Romni when I was in Toronto for the Yarn Harlot signing, and some green Fleece Artist Wensleydale I picked up in Montreal at Effiloche.


The yarn on the left is my first try and the yarn on the right is what I was spinning by the end of the day. One of the fun things about learning new skills is how easy it is to see the progress. I've got a long way to go but I'm already better than I was when I started. Behold the before and after shot:



The new spindle is in anticipation of my mother coming to visit me the weekend after next. She taught me how to crochet, then knit (with some machine knitting and wading pool felting along the way) and now she will teach me to spin. It doesn't take much looking to find the source of my fiber habit.

Finished

... but not in time to take a picture. Sigh. And now I'm off to Montreal so there may or may not be more blogging. A plus tard.

Slow Progress

So I finally finished the sleeves. It took me a bit longer than I guessed, which is why the above picture was taken in poor indoor light instead of out where I can get it properly focused. I have now finished the sleeves, dropped those stitches, and I'm not heading down the front. I may still finish it before I take of for Montreal. We will see. I'll save taking pictures of the dropped stitches until tomorrow when I have better light.

Progress on Work

I've been plugging away at my sweater knitting and I've managed to finish 17 of the needed 20 inches that make up the sleeve. I may be able to drop my stitches tonight. Yay. The whole sweater may even get finished before we head of to Montreal at the end of the week. This means I will need a different travel project. Perhaps a shawl for my mother...

Works in Progress

My title refers to several things. First it refers to my Tatami sweater that I'm working away at. I'm really looking forward to getting to the end of the sleeves and letting some of the stitches drop. I want to make sure I have some pictures of what the sweater looks like before the dropped stitches actually get dropped. It will be a few days before the sleeves are finished. I've done 12 and a half inches of the required twenty inches. It is quite literally inching along.
Second it refers to a bruise that is slowly developing on my foot. I stepped on my foot sideways while I was distracted by the jokes I was making about an "Adidas foot-scan" I had just been offered. The amusement I get from knowing that I hurt my foot making fun of a foot scan pretty much makes up for the pain I'm suffering. Plus I think I will get a really cool looking bruise out of it, though at the moment the bruise is barely visible. Stay tuned.

And finally it refers to this blog. I keep thinking I should post and then not actually doing so because I'm not sure of what to say. Part of the problem is figuring out who my audience is. Knitters? Friends and family? Random strangers? I guess that is something that I will just need to figure out as I go along. I'm going to aim at a rate of at least two posts a week. We'll see how that turns out.

First Try

After going to the Yarn Harlot Toronto book launch and meeting so many great people, many of whom have blogs, I have decided to give this blog thing a try. The more I knit the more I want to show off what I knit to those who know the work that goes into this art. I just finished the lovely Peacock Feather Shawl (http://www.fiddlesticksknitting.com/PeacockLarge.html). This was so much fun to knit and I have to admit that I am addicted to knitting lace shawls even though I'm not sure exactly when I will wear them.