Monday, August 31, 2009

Here We Go Again!

Ok, I have been busy knitting alot of things...Oh Yea and getting ready for school to start and for me to go hunting with DH!. I am looking forward to my trip up north with him again. I have a few knitting project already picked out to bring with me.

DD is taking part, first semester in The Bronte Creek project. It is a leadership program that focuses on the environment. She will earn 4 high school credits and learn alot. She is really looking forward to it.

DS is going to go back for one more year of High school as he would like to take 2 more sciences and a math. He figures that if he takes those credits then he will have NO problem getting into Memorial university for Oceanography / Marine Biology. He is going to go to the school that he went to for grades 9 & 10. That school id about a 1/2 hour drive from where we are now but he wants to take music as well and they have a Wonderful music program and very inspiring teacher as well! So who am I to argue!

I have repaired - darned - sewn a pair of Highland Dance hose for a dancer, that had numerous holes and a few split seams. I couldn't match the colour of yarn so I had to spin a few yards in order to fix them.

I have also made a few more hammered copper shawl pins for our Etsy site, SKWD Creations.

My knitting group is in the process of doing a Shawl KAL. I decided to knit the Aestlight Shawl in a dark blue yarn that is really nice. The yarn is Curious Creek Fibers Wasonga in the colourway Old Kinsale. I received the yarn from the WoolGirl Sock Club. The pattern knit up VERY fast. The center triangle is straight knitting (garter stitch), It doesn't get any faster than that. We started the KAL on August 20th and the goal was to have 5 inches of our respective shawls done by our next gathering (2 weeks later), well I am done. I will definately knit another shawl for this KAL, as the Aestlight one was too quick in my mind. Lovely, but quick!

The one I want to do is La Cumparsita. One of the others in my knitting group is doing it and I absolutely love it. I want to wear it for my DH's Christmas party. I think it would look stunning with a black dress. The colour that I want to knit it in is Veronica, a black/purple/pink colourway by Dizzy Blonde Studios.

I also started a pair of socks. The pattern is written in Finnish. It is called Bombadil. One of the girls in the Sketchy knitters made them and translated the pattern. I like how they are turing out. They have trailing leaves on them.

I also started a plain sock for DS's friend. They are in a self striping yarn.

I finished the Clapotis. It turned out okay. I ran out of the original dyed yarn and had to use part of the make up skein but unless you are looking for the difference you will never notice. I did okay with regards to attempting to match the kool-aid dyed yarn. I am pretty impressed with myself! I made the clapotis a bit longer that the pattern called for. It is not as wide as I thought it was going to be when I blocked it. I may give it to someone for a christmas gift. I haven't decided yet. Either way I am happy with the way it turned out.

I will try to post a few picutres either today or tomorrow.
Keep on Knitting!

Monday, August 10, 2009

August Already!!!

Well here I go again! It has been too long since my last post. I have been busy again though...blah, blah...not what you want to hear...oh well sorry!

Here goes....

The socks that I was working on last post for DD's friends mom are done and gifted. She loves them. She was so shocked that I would consider giving her a pair of knitted socks....I love to knit them and then give them away. I feel good inside...so in reality I am selfish for doing it since I get something out of it too! I will post a picture of the completed socks tonight.... The pattern was Copper Penny socks from the book Knitting with HandPainted Yarn. I changed from the Blackrose pattern that I started with. I didn't like how it looked with the yarn. The yarn was Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 in a lovely red, pink and yellow colourway! The yarn was very soft and I enjoyed knitting with this yarn.

The next pair I knit was for DD's Friend, D. He made a comment to me one day that IF I wanted to knit him a pair of socks that he would love them forever.....I told him probably not for a while and when I found out that he had size 13.5 feet. I figured it would be a LONG while! LOL But the suck that I am I decided to knit his pair next...OMG do you know how long it takes to knit a 13.5 sock....TOO BLOODY LONG!!!! But since I gave him the pair on Friday, I don't think he has taken them off! He really likes them too. The pattern was Barcelona by Helen Waites. I only knit the pattern on the leg portion of the sock, not the top of the foot. The yarn was ONline SuperSock 100.

I have no trouble knitting for people who are appreciative. It really does make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

I also started a Clapotis. I do believe that I am the last person on the planet to knit one of these...

I am using KnitPicks Gloss yarn in the sock weight. It started out as being the colour Porcini, but I decided that I wanted it to be a purple colour...so I Koolaid dyed it. It is a heathery burgundy colour with some dark purple bits and brighter pink bits. I am happy with the colour that it turned but I was an idiot and only dyed 3 out of the 4 skeins (don't ask...). I tried to dye the lone skein and it came close but not quite, so I think once I have it all finished I will over dye the Clapotis a darker purple...since that was what I originally wanted in the first place. Neither picture is really the true colour. I am making great progress on it. I believe that I am 8 repeats into the main section. It is a very quick knit, with just enough interest to keep you awake.


I am trying to get this done before my next Sketchy get together as we are starting a Shawl KAL. We are all going to do a different shawl but we will have to be accountable to each other in order to get it done. I can hardly wait to see what everyone pick to knit, and the yarn that they are going to use. I am going to knit the Aestlight Shawl using Curious Creek Fibers Wasonga in the Old Kinsale colourway. It is a dark blue yarn that looks so rich and feel so soft.

Also, since my last post, my 2 kids have been on and returned from their 17 day canoe trip in the Temagami area with their Youth Group. There was 15 of them in the group this time and my 2 were amongst them. They had a blast. Unfortunately it rained a good portion of their trip but then being teenagers I don't think that hampered them in any way shape or form. They canoed about 250kms over the 17 days. They had rest days and paddling days, but mostly they had fun days. They were so tired and dirty when they got home...I couldn't tell where the tan ended and the dirtline began! *LOL*

While DD & DS were away, DH was on afternoon shift and that left me alone every evening. So I went visiting. I was at Della's house a few evenings, we worked on the knitting machine, trying to make the highland argyle socks for our dancers. Della came over to my house and we got a few things cleaned up and moved around. and I had a Sketchy Knitting night. The time passed quickly but was enjoyable and I got alot accomplished...

Well that is about it for now.
Happy Knitting...