Update Part I: Vacation at the Farm

The animals and I spent the first week of September up at my parents farm for my first paid vacation. It was nice and relaxing even if the TV was on more than it should have been. Here is a little summary with pictures:

Mom and Piper enjoying the "great outdoors".
TC enjoying being outside.
Dad and I went on an ATV trip with Peter from Top of the Mountain ATV Tours.
Which had great view from the top of hills; "mountain" is a bit of a stretch in this part of the country, especially when the girl you're trying to convince is from BC.
Dad and Piper hung out. Piper has a thing for men. She is much more picky about which women she will keep company with, just ask Tori.
Oh and some knitting did get done. TC was voluntold to model it.
The red cashmere sweater is alive again and on it's third incarnation. The first incarnation was to be a tunic with a high waist that was knit way too many sizes too big and was thus frogged. The second incarnation was as an arrowhead lace top, which became too big when I lost some weight. And now it is a cardigan with cables. However it is a on a wee bit of a hiatus. But only for a short while until the project on the needles is done (will be seen in part II).

Saturday Morning

A nice leisurely Saturday morning is always pleasant. Breakfast was delicious, as seen below:
It was a cold latte (the coffee which is espresso strength was made Toddy style, otherwise known as cold-brewed and gives it a sweet mellow taste without added sugar; the milk is organic), my homemade apricot preserves (nice and tart the way I like it; the apricots are from a friends backyard),
....some homemade yogurt with spices and vanilla,
... as well as the last scone from the freezer and some cherries. It was very delicious.

I no longer have to rush to get Dad's socks done and they can now be a Christmas present instead of a birthday present as his surgery has been pushed back and he can now join me on the ATV trip. These will probably go on a bit of a hiatus for now, but I'm sure they will show up in the blog again later this year.
And here is a little video to demonstrate what a hard life Piper has:

the count is in and you have voted for......

Well the voters have voted and since I agree with the chosen yarn, the socks have been started. Besides just the colour this is a really good choice for the yarn to become Dad's socks. The reason? Because (a) it is machine washable and (b) maybe the more important one, this is a merino and seacell yarn by Fleece Artist (seacell is a nice word for seaweed). This makes the yarn incredible strong. How strong you ask? So strong that I have to use scissors, I can't just break the yarn no matter how hard I pull. They should survive Dad's regular usage just fine. Oh yes and here is the picture:
I think the pattern is manly enough that the other guys won't pick on him too much. My friends husband said it looked fine, so we'll go with that.

I've also started a little something for me. Yes it is more lace. Cause you can never have enough on the needles in my opinion. It is a silk yarn that is so fine it might be cobweb weight. It is a black yarn with blue and green and this picture does not do it justice. Oh another thing, I might just be a wee bit obsessed with this one.
Oh and the fact that I am posting more often; well that might just have something to do with the new computer. It's just soooo much easier now!

more updates and manly sock vote

This has been the project on the needles for a while. It's been the portable project and is now the full length the pattern recommends but if you noticed I still have quite a bit of yarn left. I'm going to keep knitting til the yarn runs out or I'm sick of it and bind off! The pattern is on of Knitspot's (http://www.knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/). It has been very enjoyable mindless lace knitting. Not to mention it makes the laceweight Malibrigo look stunning!
If you look back through some of the older posts you will remember I had posted a picture of the start of these. The first one is finished and the second one had been started but then summer came and the need for socks diminished and so did the knitting of them. So here they are waiting for the cool weather to come.
I added a little lace detail at the top for some added entertainment.
This is a post of another thing that was shown in a previous post. It has gotten bigger as well, but hasn't been worked on much lately. The details don't show up to well in this picture but then it isn't stretched out the way lace needs to be to really appreciate it.
Dad needs a new birthday present since he is becoming an invalid and can't enjoy the one I was planning on getting him. So here is a selection of manlish sock yarns. Which one should be turned into a pair of socks for him (the one thing he can't have too much off)? The man likes handmade socks so much he is willing to wear them even if the look girly (trust me I asked). However we have no plans of testing that theory right now.

some finished objects

Since it has been a while since I have posted there are lots of things to be updated on. Far too many for this one post, so hopefully there will be a series of posts in this blogs future. One can hope, right?

The last time mom came to visit she brought down a little present for TC. It was suppose to be a mat for him to sit and sleep on, but he refused to do either. However he does love it in a toy capacity. Especially if it has been spiked with catnip.
The sweater for my sister has been finished and is in a box ready to send. I just need the packing tape to close it. Another feather and a note have been added since this picture was taken.
After that sweater was done this was started on the needles:
Which quickly became this three weeks later. I have worn it but I haven't had the chance to get anyone to take a picture. I did get several compliments when I wore it to work!
There are a few other things on the needles as well as something I finished a while ago and am just blocking now that was never posted about. Those will hopefully be the subject of future posts!

custom fit socks

Dearest Mommy, do remember back when I was in Ottawa and I was trying to find that sock book at they Yarn Forward in Kanata but the only had it in the downtown store? Well I managed to find a copy of it at Lettuce Knit. And do you remember that lovely sock yarn you introduced me to at Romni and I ended up buy 3 skeins (so much for being good)?

Well the book is New Pathways for Sock Knitters and it basically allows you to make any of their unusually constructed socks, customed exactly to your foot, based on measurements of your foot and the gauge of the yarn knitted up. I used the lovely blue colourway I bought and made these:
They are the Coriolis socks. They are knit toe up and the increases for the gusset area are increased along that little spiral on the socks you should be able to see. (Kitty paws)
The book even gives you the standard measurements of each foot size if you want to make a pair of socks for someone, but don't have the measurements particular to their foot. As it turns out almost all my measurement correlate for a shoe size 5 except for the length of my foot which is for a size 8. I finished these socks yesterday and then promptly wore them for the rest of the day. They happen to be the most comfortable and perfect socks I have ever worn, including out of all my handmade ones. Custom fit socks are wonderful things.

Shortly after I finished my socks and finshed dancing around in them I finished knitting the red blob. The ends just need to be weaved in, which is dependent on an email I was told I would receive, otherwise you can weave in the ends yourself my dearest sister. It isn't the easiest garment to get on. I recommend putting your head through the head hole and then put your arms in the sleeves; it makes the whole putting it on thing much easier. Can't wait for you to send me a picture of you in it.

After that was completed I promptly started another pair of socks with the green and peach colourway of that lovely sock yarn we bought (Mommy bought the exact same skein). This time I am trying the riverbed sock pattern. I can't wait to see how this colourway knits up. Will it spiral like the blue one or do something completely different?

And for anyone who might like a custom fit pair of socks one day in the unexpected future these are the measurements of your foot that I would need you to email me so I can keep record of them and use them as the mood strikes me. When taking the foot length measurement, make sure you are standing and putting weight on it and use something flat to make sure your heel is on the 0 inch marker and something flat again to measure where your toe ends.

That's all for now folks!

Bad Habs, bad bad Habs

Yesterday and today I had the same thing for breakfast. Some delicious cranberry scones and coffee. I was going to have banana bread today for brekkie, but it would take too long and I was hungry. So I'll have it for brekkie for tomorrow. The scones were good though. Somebody else enjoyed them as well, as you can see: I'm currently working on the sweater. See I have proof: However I had just enough yarn to finish the knitting part (I had to scavenge just to finish that) but not enough for the assembly so there will be an accent colour at the shoulders. I just have to assemble the other side and see if it works the way they said it shall. I'm closer to rescuing my ransomed presents. I haven't decided which of these two below to work on this morning.

Decisions, decisions. And we shall not discuss the disappointing game last night.

Yarn and Breakfast

Well to start I finally have a picture of the first sweater that I ever knit that has now been inherited by my mother since it no longer fits me. It is a merino/cashmere blend and a lovely sweater. I may have to make myself another, but in a size that will fit. It was slightly on the large side to begin with and then when I got smaller and it didn't; well at least it will be put to good use now! If I do make it again I think I will make it into a cardigan though. Hmmm something to think about.I have managed to get my hands on some lace weight malibrigo. Hehehe. Oh the yarn store where I found this also has normal malibrigo (in case someone was coming to visit in May and say wanted to pick up some). It is very lovely to work with and the subtle variations in the colour way I picked are quite pleasing. I had a scone, pineapple and some coffee for breakfast this morning. I made a batch of ginger scones and froze the dough, so I can take them out one at a time and bake them fresh when I'm in the mood. They are very delicious. I'm thinking of making another batch for the freezer so I can alternate between ginger and cranberry. Yum!

Dad's socks are finished, but I don't have a picture of them on his feet so you will just have to imagine them until the time I can get a picture. Apparently new fangled computers are to complicated to email pictures on. My sister's sweater is still ongoing. I'm much closer to finishing but haven't done so due to my freaking out over possibly not having enough wool to finish.

What should and should not be.....

Well now that I am all moved in I have started knitting again and have just been bad and have not been posting. I'm still working on two christmas presents. One of them being Dad's socks. I did run out of yarn and had to take out both socks to shorten the legs of both so that I could finish the second sock which is close to completion. I think they should last a long time since they are superwash and I am knitting this yarn on smallish needles for it's weight. Dad if you are reading this you better take good care of them and do exactly as your wife tells you when it comes to care and washing of them. They are one of a kind and designed just for you!
I am also still working on the red blob. I purposefully took this picture so you couldn't figure out what was going on with it (since it is going to remain a surprise for the receipent til the day she gets it). I just wanted to prove that progress is being made and as a matter of fact it's gotten slightly bigger since I was working on it while waiting for these photos to load. I am however slightly worried that I will run out of yarn. But we may just make it by the skin of our teeth!
I also have two projects that technically I really shouldn't be working on since I should be spending all my time and energy on the two above projects (at least in the eyes of the recipents). These lovely socks I started when I finished that red pair I started with yarn from Rita (picture to follow in a later post). I quite like this sock pattern, but I changed the heel from a flap heel to a short row heel since I find them so much easier to knit and slightly more comfortable on my feet.
The second of the two illicit projects is this pretty little thing. It's a scarf which in of itself is shocking but I'm finding the pattern quite pleasant and enjoy turning out the little leaves.

By the way I'm still waiting for a picture of a certain somebody in a sweater that was given to them that was made by me. Hint hint.

Houston I think we might have a problem

Can anyone tell what might be the problem here?I think we may have a problem with reaching the toe without running out of yarn. I'm just hoping that what I need to rip back from the first sock will cover what is needed for the second sock; otherwise it is creative knitting time.

And the quick one off-er is ready to start decreasing and be done with in a few hours, when I can find the time! Christmas is just to busy.

And that is it and all folks. Just a quick post 'cause I'm suppose to be busy knitting you know!