A Snowy last Day of the Year

It’s snowy and cold outside, and we’re cosied up indoors “getting stuff done”.  Yes, unfortunately I said too many “I’ll do that during my vacation” and now its time to actually come through.  Sending out Xmas packages, cleaning the house, visiting friends, getting outside (when it was warmer) organizing my stash, finishing Christmas presents.  But I’m slogging my way through the “to-do” list and feeling very good about it!  This last week has been a good one here in Calgary, and a good way to end the year.  Here we are on Christmas Day in Canmore taking Mr. J’s new skis out for a test run:

The weather was perfect, the views incredible, and the fresh mountain air really does amazing things for your outlook.  We’re hoping to get out once more before we go back to work. 

The first few days of the vacation were spent finishing up some presents that had a deadline.  I discovered that Noro can completely dry in front of the fireplace in 20 minutes, and that nieces don’t really mind slightly damp shrugs.  My favorite present however, the poncho, turned out well and was well received.

The presents for Mr. J’s Mum and grandmother turned out satisfactorily.  The green fuzzy slippers, which I thought were hilarious looking, were dubbed very warm, and another pair requested.  I think the neck scarf was well received, I hope she likes it!

This past year has been an extremely good one for me.  Taking charge of my health, learning new skills, making new friends, and enjoying good vacations.  I think of it as a year where I took a really good look at myself through the eyes of others, and did some good critical review.  I’m trying to be a better person every day, and improve into the ideal which I’d like to be.  It’s hard, some days are worse than others, and I can see myself needing some outside help perhaps through some educational courses on leadership, project management, or even management in order to achieve some of my professional goals.  Mr. J and I, after moving in together, did a really good job of simplifying our lives, and figuring out the balance between ourselves, its been a very positive experience.  Happiness in life comes from small things, and quite honestly while money helps, it can’t make you happy.  Friends, family, a sense of self-worth, warm toes, and fuzzy kitties are where happiness comes from. 

I hope you had a wonderful year, and the next one is filled with happiness, health, and warm toes.

FO: Bella Mittens

This weekend I finished up some Bella mittens for my SIL, from whom I borrowed the Twilight books to read. 

You will have to forgive me, but I don’t have the yarn band here to remember what yarn I used!  Originally I bought some grey, but then remembered my brother had said her coat was chocolate brown, so I went back and got this rather lovely blue.  The yarn is made in Germany, and is called Schlopinzeewool, or something similar.  It is very nice, and I’m loving how single ply yarns feel in mittens and hats recently, very elastic.  This yarn is a tad thin for this particular pattern, it may have been better if I held it doubled.  The mittens fit snugly, and well, but there are a lot of gaps for cold air to get in.  I would only rate this at a -10 oC, rather than what we all need which is -20 oC.  I may try and find some thin store bought mittens to go under these for her.  There is literally only enough room for an extremely thin mitten. 

For the past three years I’ve been making calendars of my Dad’s paintings to give to the family.  This year Dad picked out the paintings he wanted in the calendar, if you are interested you can look at it here: calendar.  If you would like to buy one, we will use the bit of money to buy Dad more paints.  Dad does not sell his paintings, only gives some away.

Toasty Fingers #2- But Not Mine

 Another pair of Thrummed Mittens using a Fleece Artist kit for my skating coach.  I think I finally got the hang of my thrumming technique, and these mitts have fairly regularly sized ones.  I still needed to use some of the extra roving I bought on the 2nd thumb, but I didn’t run out of yarn, mostly thanks to making the cuffs four rows smaller on each mitten.  My skating coach is very petite however, and they fit her pretty well.  She spends so much time standing around in cold skating rinks, these should be nice and warm for her.  Especially now that she is getting very pregnant, she can’t move around as much to keep warm.  Well, she can, she is just not really supposed to.  It’s very scary for the rest of us to see her take a tumble. 

On the Christmas present tally I’m now at 2 done, 1 almost there, and 5 more to go.  Two presents need to be finished by Christmas eve, and two others by Boxing Day.  I’m starting to get worried about whether or not I’m going to make it (plus the time it takes to block and dry those presents!!!)  but I’m hoping that some good dedicated work over the next three days should yield many dividends.  Or presents as the case may be.

FO: Snowflake Sweater (pics finally)

Well, not only photos finally, but also the zipper sewn in.  The first time I sewed it in I got it askew, which meant I had to rip it out and try again!  Right now its not perfect, and I need to finish a second line of sewing down, but it works.  This is good, as I’ve been wearing the sweater on many days.  The snug fit keeps the heat in, and the cables provide a nice thick insulating fabric.  The overall fit of the sweater is excellent in my mind, except it could be around 1/2 an inch longer so that it doesn’t hit at the top of my pants.  I love the zipper, when Piper gets on my lap and wants to knead on my stomach I can just zip it open until she feels I’m suitably softened up and she can begin her nap. 

(I’m attempting to grow out my bangs/fringe, they are in the awkward in between stage at the moment, hence the bad hair do.)

This pattern is from the Vogue Knitting Fall 1998.  My modifications were to cable everything, instead of doing one band of cables and one band stocking stitch (like totally on purpose, it wasn’t a mistake at all).  What my modification (screw-up) did was make the sweater smaller and fit more snugly, which turned out to be okay!  The size I made was supposed to have a 40 inch bust, and be rather boxy, but now its not!  There is no waist shaping in this sweater, the cables pull the body of it in.  The shoulders stretch out nicely to fit up there as well. 

We finally made it over to the best FO photoshoot location in Calgary in the winter: Bankers Hall!!  Have a good weekend everyone, I’ll be busy getting ready for next week, last minute knitting, shopping etc!!

Toasty Fingers

I finished up the thrummed mittens on Sunday, and took them for a test drive up to the grocery store in -25 oC weather.  Yup, all day it was that cold, and today as well for our 25 minute wait at the bus stop.  However, my hands were pretty toasty warm, which makes me very happy.

Mittens that are this big and bulky have one purpose, which I fully understand.  They are to keep my hands warm when I’m waiting at the bus stop, walking to the grocery store, and are best used under -15 oC.  They aren’t meant for driving, or anything requiring fine motor control.  Its more like wearing boxing gloves!  So the test drive yesterday.  For some reason Igot restless, and wanted to go for a walk, even though it was a really, really cold day.  As it also meant changing out of my pink reindeer pajamas, this is another reason why I could be called crazy, but maybe cabin fever is to blame.  But sometimes my die hard Canadian side rears its head, and I want fresh air, I want to go for a walk!  With my parka on, long johns, toque, scarf and winter boots I tend to stay pretty toasty.  There wasn’t much of a breeze which would have been a real test, but the mittens did well.  There is a portion of one mitten where I was worried I would run out of roving, but before I decided to just go and buy some more that the thrumming got a bit thin, and cold air leaked in here.  I think I may need to line this section with more roving.  I also ran out of yarn at the end of the last thumb, and used some black yarn!  It’s obvious, but not enough to be annoying, plus the thumbs could have been smaller, which would have eliminated this problem.  I had to stick my hands in my pockets after a little while, but overall these mittens were extremely, extremely good.  I believe they will get better over time as the roving mats up!  This is the Fleece Artist Thrummed Mitten Kit.  I’m working on another pair for my skating coach now.

A chinook is predicted for Wednesday, with temperatures over freezing!  I’m crossing my fingers that this happens, but you can’t see it because they are hidden in warm mittens!

Another Snowy Night, Now with Wind!

Last Friday was a “bit of an adventure” for those of us in Calgary trying to get home, and tonight looks like a repeat.  We had beautiful snow on Friday, which fell on the roads.  The cars driving over it melted the snow, which then refroze due to the cold temperature and formed slick sheets of ice.  Roads became skating rinks, uphills impassible.  Even slight inclines the buses couldn’t get up, but slid backwards, off roads, and across all lanes.  The LRT train got us to our regular stop, but the buses weren’t to be found.  Well, we found them later, at the bottom of a hill, unable to get out of our neighbourhood.  Cars were driving around them, up the grass to get up the hill.  Scratch that, only trucks with 4×4 could get up the grass area.  We ended up walking the hour home, and enjoyed the walk (which was better than continuing to stand around at the bustop).  Tonight may be more of the same as we look out the window at driving snow, with winds that are picking up and ripping the tarps off the construction site next to us.  We’re hoping the workers go home before they are blown off!  Unfortunately a family was killed recently in Calgary due to debris blown off of construction sites, and I’m crossing my fingers nothing bad happens tonight.  We’re more prepared today with good winter boots for walking, warm coats, hats, mitts, and scarves.  The temperature looks set to drop tomorrow, it may be time to get out the BIG purple parka again. 

This weekend was productive.  I finished up my charity hat and mittens project:

I couldn’t resist putting a little flower and pom-pom for interest.  I hope a little girl gets them and rubs the pom-poms on her cheeks.  That is what I would do all the time! 

My garter stitch yoke sweater is done and blocking at home.  The neckline is a bit loose, when it dries I’ll run a crochet line around it to hold it in.  I’ve started to look for buttons, but bright green ones aren’t to be had as of yet.  Only drab olive!  I’ll keep looking around I guess.  I tried to sew the zipper in my snowflake sweater, but got it off center, and have to rip it out and try again!  Oh well, c’est la vie!  I also bought all the yarn for Xmas projects, more on that later!

A New Hat and an Old One

This weekend we headed out to enjoy the nice weather with a stroll through the local coulee.  I took advantage of the nice light to try and get a better photo of the Stubborn Maiden hat:

If I do intend to give this away as a Christmas gift I had better stop wearing it!  The colours of the Manos are pretty, and it goes down to cover my ears and so far is super warm. 

I also whipped up a Wavy Feathers cap with (almost) the rest of the buffalo/silk blend:

Its a pretty pattern, and warm due to the fibre content of the yarn.  My poor little ears are sticking out however, which means this hat only gets a -5 oC rating.  I’m not so sure its going to cut it for the morning walk to the bus stop anymore!  Its getting a bit nippy in the morning before the sun comes up.  The texture shows up well in the yarn, and there is a bit of a fuzzy halo which I like. 

However, last weekend I did not knit any hats!  I know, how strange was that!  I’m diligently working on my ruinous blues projects, and have added a few new things like a charity project, and a new sweater to knit in November.  More on that later!

FO: Undulating Rib Socks

I guess all the time in airports has paid off recently as I finished my undulating rib socks.  As I wandered around Denver airport (four times, two trips) I kept a sharp eye out for the Yarn Harlot, hoping to see her knitting away in a corner, enjoying some coffee, but no such luck.  As Canadians fly a lot on Air Canada/Unit, and Denver is a big hub we tend to end up there quite often, but it is a good airport so I don’t mind.  The terminals are long enough that you can get some good exercise by walking around, good bookstores, some pretty healthy food, a selection of coffee places. 

I even found some time to go to the mall and buy some shiny new shoes!  I think the dark red goes well with brown, grey, and perhaps black slacks in addition to dresses and skirts.  The pattern is Undulating Rib Socks by Ann Budd from the Favorite Sock book, and is a nice easy pattern.  The BFL from Wooly Wonka gives a nice crisp edge to the raised rib, yet retains a softness.  The colour is Desert Rocks, and is achieved using a blend of red, pink, browns, and perhaps some other colours to give a true depiction of the beautiful rocks in Southern Utah.  This is a true knitters yarn, other knitters that have seen me working on the sock have picked it up and held it up close to look at the colours.  They are amazed at how it all blends, and that there is absolutely no pooling, the dye job is downright perfect! 

 

As this is my first full week back in town after 5 weeks of traveling, I feel like I’m getting to do all my favorite things for the first time.  Knitting with friends again at last, getting caught up, and this morning back to skating!  The skating feels like it is starting off slow, which isn’t so atypical after not skating all summer.  Plus getting to the rink at 6:30 am, and a cold one at that makes for stiff knees, cold ears, and lots of warm up time needed.  Towards the end I was getting colder and needed a break so I took some photos of my spinning position, I was curious to see what I really looked like.  The answer: my sit spin is more like a slightly leaning over spin which must be worked on, but the camel spin is looking okay except for some weird arm position.  And in other exciting news only to me, my back spin is much better this year, actual circles are being turned on the ice!  Woohoo! 

So that is us on Tuesday mornings, two skaters, one coach who is now 5 months pregnant, and almost unable to put her skates on.  I have a mental note to make up a February baby jacket in the boy colour so that I’ll have a back up for the girl colour!  She’s due to have her baby during the Olympics which is exciting!

A Weekend Hat Trick

Last weekend was cold (-10 oC) it snowed on and off, and was generally miserable.  Therefore we stayed in almost all weekend, caught up on tv shows, and I knit hats.  I was knitting hats as it is a good way to use up single skeins here and there, quick gratification, and my head was cold.  I ended up making three!  (The last one is missing the brim, but I was tired and had to go to bed, I can fix that in 15 minutes when I get home!).  Two are going into the Christmas box, one is gracing my head down here in South Dakota.  They were predicting a mix of rain/snow for tonight, which means I’m not looking forward to tomorrow morning. 

I started off making another Couvercle using Noro (Isharoo something, a lovely blend with angora) because I liked the last one I made so much, and had to give it away.

The pattern is from Knitty.com, originally in cotton (!), much better in a wool blend for our cold climate.  I realized I still had a bunch of yarn left over, and made another! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up was another pattern from the Fall Vogue Knitting, #12.  At first I didn’t really like this hat, and it looks a bit big and weird on the model.  However having made four pairs of the mittens from which the cable/bobble pattern originated, and a leftover skein of Manos Del Uruguay, I gave it a whirl. 

The photo isn’t that great, but this hat is a fun, fun knit.  I mean, did I mention it had a lot of bobbles?  Cables?  It was great!  AND my version looks pretty good on, it fits down over the entire ear, and is snug to the head, without the extra room on top.  No modeled shots due to hideously ugly sick me this weekend.  Perhaps when I get home and feel up to it.  Now this is for the Christmas box, but of course now I want one as well, and I happen to have some more chunkier yarn stashed away that might just fit the ticket.  This is a -20 oC hat!

 

 

And just so ya’ll know who really runs our household, its DEMON CAT!!!!!!

If you don’t pat her quick, she’ll get you!!!

FO: Feather and Fan Scarf

Here we are, in the middle of our Thanksgiving weekend, and I’m watching the snow fall outside, and watching the thermometer fall.  We didn’t leave the house yesterday, but had to make the trek out today for some supplies for our dinner.  Due to my cold, the weather, and how much time we’ve been away from home sweet home lately we aren’t doing any family related activity, just hermiting up and cooking at home.  On the menu is of course pumpkin pie, arabian squash casserole (Moosewood cookbook), regular and sweet scalloped potatoes, stove top stuffing, and turkey breast that I think we’ll bake.  So far this weekend I’ve knit two hats, and I think I have enough left over to make a second Couvercle, so I’m about to start that for the Christmas box.  We’re catching up on episodes of Dollhouse, Fringe, and Stargate Universe!

During the trip to Toronto I made another green feather and fan scarf with leftover yarn from the first one.  I ended up giving it to Mr. J’s grandmother, who was an avid knitter until lately (she’s 93).  I think she liked it, and hopefully it will keep her neck warm as winter approaches.  We looked at photos of her in Germany in the 1920’s cutting hay with a scythe, and raking it into piles for the horse drawn carts to take to the barn.  What a different world she lives in now.