Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Today I fell off a Segway


Seriously. I went out to do a field visit and one of my members has a segway and let me try it. They are uber cool and very amazing things, but wow, they have a lot of power if you are not used to them. I was trying to "park" it and I somehow got my hand stuck while it was going around in a circle and then I was on the floor! It was so funny, I have been laughing all day.

Other than that, I have no real knitting content for today. I am still working on the scarf that I have been making for mom's b-day and will be starting on the Calla tank as soon as it is done (as long as nothing else catches my eye first).

Terry has also said that it is ok if I get a spinning wheel, so I will be making my way out to Cochrane this weekend to buy and Ashford Traveller from Legacy Studios.

I am pretty excited since it comes with free lessons. I think that I will be spinning yarn in no time. As soon as I get it, I will post a picture.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

I wish I had 3 hands...

So, in keeping with my new committment to posting, I thought I would put up some of the new yarns that I can't wait to work with (and as of yet, have no project set for them).

I think my favorite yarns are sock yarns... hands down! I love the vibrant colorways and I love knitting socks because they always seem to be so easy and come out so nicely. And, above all, I love that the sizing seems to be more of a non issue. I don't know why, it just does. I think that I am going to make my daughter (she's 3) some socks out of this yarn:

It started out as regular cream colored Regia stretch yarn and I decided that was too boring, so after some experiments with the Koolaid dying process, here is the new and decidedly un-boring stretch in a color way I have decided to call "sugar kitten". I love the names that yarn designers give their yarns on eBay so I thought I would give my yarn something as equally flamboyant.





I also finally got my hands on some Lorna's Laces sock yarn since I have heard that it is the creme de la creme of sock yarns. I bought 2 skiens each of camoflauge and pinstripe. I do have to say that it is super-duper soft and snuggly. I am fairly sure that I will be making some toe-up, knee high socks with it. I just wish I had more time and more hands to work on these future projects...

Monday, April 17, 2006

And the beat goes on...

Well, I have been somewhat remiss in posting to my blog, but that is soon to change. I am going to try very very very hard to post at least once a project so that I have some record of what I am doing and so that I can leave some instructions to myself when I abandon yet another project for something more fun. I have a terrible tendency to do that and then when I want to come back to a project, I find that I can't remember where I was in the pattern and end up frogging the whole dang thing.

Well, since I have come back to Calgary, I have been working on:



This is a baby blanket that I am trying very hard to finish even though the stitch pattern is pretty boring. I couldn't find a nice pattern for the yarn that I was working with and I got frustrated with trying to find something I liked, so I cast on and started working a 4k, 4p stitch. It knits up quickly with 2 strands each of shimmer-y baby yarn and I think it will be a big hit with my co-worker. I have until September to finish so as long as I stick with it, I may just get it done on time.

I am also working on a scarf for my mom for her birthday in July. I know-- so odd to be making a scarf for July, but what the hell, she needs a new scarf and the way that the weather is around here, she may just need it then :) It has snowed here before. I am using the "good 'ol cabled scarf pattern" and Peruvian baby alpaca from elann.com. It knits up nice and so super soft


I can't wait to see the look on her face when I give it to her. I hope it flattens out more when I block it. The pattern called for worsted weight yarn and this is dk weight, but in the spirit of de-stashing a little (to make room for something new of course) I thought it might be fine since gauge isn't all that important when making a scarf... I will post some pics once it is blocked.

I am also working on Calla in super 10 cotton. I have just finished the ribbing at the bottom, but as soon as I have something done, I will post pictures of my progress. I actually cast this on two days ago, but had to frog some because I couldn't figure out what "work stitches as they lay" meant. It finally came to me and I am off and flying now...