It's complicated: the story of Damask

Our weekend away was just delightful. I got to visit with family that I hadn't seen in years, and meet some new-to-me cousins, as well as introduce my girls to that branch of the family. In addition, the travel time gave me a chance to work on Morgan's sweater... and to finish my lacy scarf, Damask.

This is the most complex, intricate piece of knitting I've tackled to date. Nine charts, ten pages of written instructions, and one ball of lace-weight (which took me an hour to wind from a hank into a centre-pull ball). The yarn made a great souvenir from our trip to DC, and a reasonably-priced one at that! Only 13$, and then another 5$ for the pattern.

My notes:

June 2nd: I’m a little nervous about running out of yarn, so I redid the 297-stitch cast-on 3 times. Even using bamboo needles, my fingers were very sore!

November 8th: After casting on and knitting the first four rows, I put this project down in favour of a lot of baby things, and now that my baby’s here, I’ve resumed work on the shawl. I’d really like to have it done by Christmas, especially since winter white will go perfectly with my red coat!

November 14th: It took me ages to figure out why I originally thought the total number of rows was 126, then 158, and actually 142. Different sizes. As it turns out, it’s wise to read the pattern all the way through. Anyway, since I picked the shawl up last week, I’ve done 22 rows. At this rate, it’ll take me another 40 days to finish. I can live with that. I do enjoy that the rows are ever decreasing, so it may not even take me that long, if I can just stick to doing a few rows a day.

January 13th: Only 28 rows to go- I’m tantalizingly close to the end!

January 16th: I finished knitting it on a road trip this weekend (on Saturday, to be precise), blocked it last night and wove in the ends today. I love it. And I still have a few meters of yarn to spare.

Handmade Holiday

There are not too many occasions when it is more frugal to knit something than it is to buy it. (This is probably one of the biggest misconceptions about knitting, at least it is in my experience. People say "You knit? You must save so much money!" False. I knit because I like to.) However, I have had two such occasions recently.

1. A birthday gift for a little boy whose mother appreciates handknit items. We had talked in the fall (prior to M's arrival) about the possibility of making him a sweater, but I had too many projects on the needles and didn't know how much knitting time I'd be afforded once I was a mom of two. Happily, I do still have some time to knit, although not a toddler sweater's worth. Instead, I made him a red, white and grey striped hat with thumbless mittens to match; the patterns were my own adaptations of something I found in a book, and something I found on Ravelry, so I didn't have to pay anything for them, and the yarn was already in my stash. Little Zac's parents were suitably delighted.

2. A gift exchange among my crafty (in the creative, not nefarious, sense) friends prompted me to peruse my yarn stash, and I found some beautiful variegated turquoise yarn that a fellow fibre friend had given me (she sews and quilts, but doesn't knit, so she passes on any yarn she receives). Another Ravelry session yielded a free pattern that I loved, and the yarn self-striped beautifully. Here's the proud recipient:


Here, also are the other handmade gifts:
Beautiful fridge magnets (clear glass with fabric modge-podged underneath and strong magnets affixed to the back). This mom was so happy to have pretty ones, as opposed to her son's bright cartoon ones.

Fabulous fabric baskets (one for each member of the recipient's family). Isn't that a great idea? And the pattern came from a sewing blog!


An amazing apron, which is prettier than most dresses I own, and even reversible. How I wish I could sew that well! The seamstress in question found the pattern in a library book.


Homemade lip balm, hand cream (just in time, too- my skin is horribly dry) and soap, and a classy circular needle case (I shamelessly requested this, as it was no secret who had which name).


The evening of the exchange, Wednesday, was lovely not only because of the gifts we gave and received, but also because of the wonderful food we had (appetizers and desserts were the theme, and one of many reasons I love these ladies is that they enjoy their food!) and the company. Between us, we have seven children, six of whom were being looked after by their respective dads. M was the only baby there, and she was pretty content, leaving us to chat and laugh way into the night. I didn't get home and in bed until 12:30, which is the latest I've stayed up since M was born, I think! A tremendously good time was had by all.


[Clockwise from top right: cream cheese-toffee dip with apples, devilled eggs, chocolate peanut butter squares, cranberry baked brie and crackers, and fig-goat cheese blooms. And I guess some healthy clementines sneaked in there.]

First snow of the season

Today, I'm reading: The Woefield Poultry Collective (not, as I initially misread, The Woeful Poetry Collection). This is a recommendation from my trusted friend Morgan. It's also the first time I've been able to snag a copy of a new release from the library without placing a hold. Perplexingly, although there are ten copies in circulation, two of them were at my local branch. One of them was titled Home To Woefield.

I'm knitting: The lovely Damask, and hoping to be done by Christmas for maximum seasonal wear. By the number of rows I've knit so far, I'm 25% done, but they are ever-decreasing, so it's probably more like 30%.

I'm making: beef stew and bread, using two of my favourite winter appliances (crock pot and breadmaker, respectively)

D is busy marvelling at the snow; she remembered what it was!

A pumpkin and a flower (girl)

I thought the pumpkin hat warranted its own picture.

And the flower girl sweater is all done! I may have cast on a little bluebell hat to match...

Countdown to Cashew

So much for nesting energy today! It's been a bit of a lazy one; we had one errand to run (picking up a ball of yarn to finish the flower girl sweater), which was done by mid-morning, and then I tried my hand at making granola bars. They are quite delish, actually. Here is what they are made of.

Then this afternoon, D only napped for an hour (we won't discuss what her disposition has been like since she woke up), which luckily was just long enough for me to finish the sleeves on her sweater and get them blocking. I can't wait for everything to dry so I can sew it up and knit the border! In the meantime, I have two other knits to keep me company. One is the wedding blanket for my sister and her husband-to-be, and the other is a sock-monkey-coloured Fair Isle sweater for my awesome friend Morgan! I'm casting it on today because I can. And also because she mailed us some adorable birthday gifts for that two-year-old monkey of mine, which we just received today! Did I mention that D's favourite pastime is opening presents? That and playing with water in the kitchen.


Oh, Cashew? Your big sister is eager to make your acquaintance. Show yourself soon, please!

Finished knits and banana muffins

It's been a very pleasing week for knitting; two nights ago, I finished Cashew's blanket. I've knit six of these in the past three years, four in this year alone. Previously, my average time to complete was about three weeks, or two if I neglected the housework and knitted like a fiend. This time, it took me 11 days, and I don't think I neglected anyone or anything... much. We did throw a birthday party and a bachelor party at our house in that same time span, and cleaned up following both events. Mostly, I just took advantage of any spare time I had, whether in the car, at the park, in church before the service, etc.


Cashew also now has two hats, one of which I had made for a dear friend's little boy (born in April), but I forgot to give it to him, and now it wouldn't fit. So Cashew gets it. It's a simple little cabled hat to match the blanket. The other hat is SO sweet, a little pumpkin complete with stem. Perfect for an October baby. D has requested one for herself and one for "tiny baby Adelaide", another dear friend's child. I have instead cast on D's flower girl bolero to match the bridesmaids' dresses.
(Because I can sometimes get excited about very mundane things, I'll explain why I'm posting a picture of the very beginning of her sweater: see the bag that the pattern, needles and yarn all fit into? That's the bag that Hubby's recently purchased undershirts came in, and it is the perfect size!)

Now that the rain (which, incidentally, they've been forecasting all week but just started today) is here, I think it's a good time to do some baking. I've long been searching for a great banana muffin recipe, and I'm beginning to suspect that my inability to find one is inextricably linked to my inability to follow a recipe. Observe:

The recipe calls for white flour, white sugar, and butter. I use half white, half whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and sunflower oil. I also add a fourth banana, some chocolate chips and a handful of walnuts. I must subconsciously think that ingredients matter less than the mixing and baking process, because I did pay attention to the directions to sift the dry ingredients, and fold them into the wet. The muffins have just come out of the oven, and I have high hopes that they'll be lovely and light. Even if they aren't, they'll be better than anything I could waste money buying.

An aran story

I kept detailed notes on Ravelry (aka Facebook for knitters) of the sweater's progress over the past year, and now I will share them here.

October 20th: This is another case of yarn being bought in 2008 and not getting used until now! I had cast on a couple of months after the purchase, but the sweater I had in mind wasn’t working out, and I didn’t want to have to make it up myself. Eventually the perfect pattern came around. My dad has purchased a few pure wool sweaters from the Maritimes (most recently Newfoundland), but I feel that when you have a knitter for a daughter, she should make you at least one. We picked out the yarn on a visit to PEI in 08, and I’m finally starting, the day before my dad’s birthday!

October 22nd: Finished both saddle shoulders and started the back, with a lot of stitch markers in use. I’m so grateful to the other knitters on Ravelry who have made this; the construction is confusing to me, never having knit a top-down saddle shoulder Aran before. I don’t think I’ll even try to predict when this will get finished.

October 24th: I am such a product knitter! My gauge is about 7 rows per inch, and the back is measured from the centre of the saddle, so I’ve got just over 2 inches done for the back now, out of 9 inches. I love seeing the pattern develop, the designer is a genius! Hopefully I’ll be able to keep all the charts straight. At least they’re all in multiples of 2: 2 rows for chart A, 24 rows for chart B, 4 rows for chart C, 8 rows for chart D.

November 14th: The various cables are not actually too hard to memorize. I only really need to look at the chart for B, and I’ve memorized the others, more or less. I thought that chart D would be the toughest, but it develops quite logically and predictably. There hasn’t been much progress lately; there was a missing cable needle incident, then a Christmas prezzie to cast one. Getting back on track now. It won’t be done anytime soon, though.

December 12th: Oddly enough, even though I’m on an overseas holiday at the moment, I’ve made a ton of progress in a very short time! I had put it aside while working on a tree skirt for my mom, and just picked it up again in the past few days. I finished the back to the point where the stitches are on a holder, and knitted the left and right fronts up until they join, plus about an inch past that. I did change needle sizes when I started the fronts (up to a 4.5 mm) because the back felt a bit tight. It’s loosened up nicely now, and I don’t think the gauge is terribly different. The only problem in the foreseeable future would be that I only brought two balls of yarn with me, so once I burn through those, I’ll have to let it sit again. Oh well!

Feb 15th: I’m on the first of the two sleeves, and aside from the “seam” slowly migrating to the left when I decrease every 4th round, things are going alright, albeit at a snail’s pace. I’m trying to knit 7 rounds a day, since that’s my row gauge per inch. I had my dad measure his arm length from the shoulder to cuff (with arm bent), and it’s 27 inches. My goodness. To think that once this sleeve is done, I have another to do just like it. But then it’ll just be the body left.

April 26th: I finished the first sleeve yesterday and am a couple of inches in on the second one. Luckily I checked the sleeve against my dad’s arm, otherwise I would have knitted too much and then had to rip back. How demoralizing that would have been!
I still have three full skeins of the yarn left, so I wonder if I’ll have to order any more at all. Maybe one or two, depending on how the body goes. It IS 286 sts around…

May 17th: My self-imposed goal for this month is to finish the second sleeve. Thanks to a wedding on Saturday (and a long break between the ceremony and reception) I’m almost done the decreases, and I only have about 3 repeats of chart B left. Also, I found an extra skein of the yarn in my stash, hurray!

May 27th: I finished the second sleeve, and I’m ripping back the cuff on the first sleeve to re-knit it with 4 mm needles, since it looks way better. I’ll do the collar next (maybe I’ll finish that by the end of May?) and then… on to the body.

June 1st: I bound off the collar today, and worked 2 rounds of the body. It’s not as bad so far as I had thought; sure, the rounds are long, but it’s not as hard to keep track of what you’re doing, compared with shorter rounds. By my estimate, the body will need about 120 rounds before the ribbing. If I can do only 2 rounds a day, I’ll be done in two months. That sounds terribly slow, but I’d be happy to finish this sweater in less than a year! I’ve been at it on and off for seven and a half months now.

July 19th: Still plugging away at the body; I’ve got just under 12 inches to go before I decrease and work 3 inches of ribbing. I’m also down to my last ball of yarn, and I’ll probably need to order one or two more, but I want to see how far this ball gets me first. When I started the body, I was working with a half-finished ball, and I want to get a better estimate of how much I’ll need. For my own reference, I’m joining in the new ball in the first half of round 3.

July 27th: Ordered 3 additional skeins of 3-ply medium yarn from MacAuslands today, as I’m almost finished the last ball!

August 3rd: Yarn arrived today! Thank goodness. I was getting ansty to finish.

August 5th: Last night, I finished off the baby blanket I had been working on the interim, so I’m back to knitting this sweater. In the 30 degree heat. 9 inches to go before the ribbing. Let’s see how long I can go before casting on something new.

August 9th: As it turns out, I lasted until yesterday without casting on something new; my circular needle broke, and I don’t have another one in that size. I started a baby sweater.

September 29th: I cast off the body today! My dad tried it on and, as we had suspected, the sleeves were too long, so I’m going to rip them back by about three inches. I find them unnecessarily voluminous at the top, but there’s no way I’m ripping back that far. This thing needs to be off the needles.

September 30th: And done. Blocking and washing to follow, but that’s nothing. And about three or four ends to sew in.

October 2nd: The sweater was washed and blocked last night, and is taking its sweet time to dry on my living room table. My dad is so excited to wear it!

What I've been up to this week

This last week of September has been a busy one over here! On Thursday, my young charge E had her last day at our house (aside from much-anticipated future play dates) for awhile. I had been hoping to take the girls to the big park, but unfortunately the weather was uncooperative. So the kids played in the living room while I vacuumed the main floor, which was one of many things to check off my preparing-for-Cashew list.

The poor weather meant that there was also a LOT of knitting that went on this week. (I have a lot on that list, too.) I finished up three things, each of which could easily merit a blog post of its own. First, the long-awaited end of the aran sweater I started knitting for my dad last October. I folded down the arms in a weird way to show the detail that continues from shoulder to cuff. The construction was really neat, even if the process took me forever. It felt really good to cast it off, although it needs a good wash and some blocking.


Second, a blanket for my friend Jasmine, who taught me how to knit five years ago, and who just had her first baby a few weeks ago. We held a shower for her last weekend, and prior to the shower, everyone who knew how to knit (and even some who didn't, and even some who couldn't be at the shower) sent me 4x4 inch squares, which I sewed together and to which I added an edging. One of the most precious squares (the green one with the ladybugs) came from Jasmine's mom, who doesn't knit but learned how to. She lives several hours away, and couldn't be there in person, but she mailed me her square a few weeks before the shower. She also called me to find out how many stitches to cast on and how many rows to knit. Jasmine couldn't believe it when I told her that her mom contributed to our group gift! It looks a little motley, as you might expect when ten people knit things at different times and different tensions, but I think it's a beautiful keepsake, and the perfect size for a stroller blanket. Plus it's all acrylic, so it can be machine washed and dried!

Finally, the monkey hat. Close observers will note that this is not the same yarn I started with, which was far too thin for the pattern. I don't know why I thought I could make it work, especially given that I've never crocheted anything before. D was supposed to get it on her birthday next week, but she found it the morning after I finished it and put it on right away! That was before I added the pom pom. Now I'll be a sneaky mom and hide it on her. Before anyone suggests that I could make and sell these, I should mention that I did not enjoy the process and will not likely be crocheting again anytime soon. The crochet monkey hats just happened to be cuter than the knit ones.

Aside from all that, there's been a lot of laundry, cleaning and cooking. I've made and frozen two soups now for after baby arrives: turkey barley leek, and butternut squash. We got a utility turkey for 8$ last week, and it was good to us. Not only did we enjoy a pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner, but I also made stock from the bones and had enough leftover meat for the aforementioned soup and an upcoming turkey pot pie (also to go in the freezer for later).

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day: my mom, sister and I are going to get D's flower girl dress, and run a bunch of other wedding errands while the menfolk (and D) work on finishing the basement. It's a project that's been in the works for some time, but just got off the ground this week. When it's done, there will be a bedroom, play room, bathroom, and laundry room, with a bit of storage space. I can't wait!

More wedding news!

I will likely be posting A LOT about my sister's wedding on here, since there's so much planning going on at the moment. For instance, today we went to look at wedding dresses, and she found her perfect gown, right on budget! No pictures for the moment, obviously. The shop was With Love, not too far from here, and not only do they allow you to take pictures, which was wonderful because we could show parents and grandparents almost right away, but they also have a consignment section with beautiful discounted designer gowns! And then afterwards, if you are so inclined, you can sell your dress on consignment with them and split the proceeds 50-50.

Before Sis arrived at my house to pick me up, I had a couple of errands to run, notably purchasing the yarn for the wedding blanket I'm making for her and the Fiancé. They had a look at colours online, picked one they liked, and gave me the go-ahead on a pattern they enjoyed. The colour they chose was a new one, so I figured Michael's would be most likely to carry it. In person, it was a little gawdy, but I picked it up anyway, along with a more subdued version. I can return the one I don't use, as long as it's within a certain time frame. Sis liked the subdued colour, so I cast on in the car on the way to her dress appointment. One of the great things about this yarn is that it's machine washable and dryable, and there's no dye lot, so I can buy one ball at a time using the 40% off coupons Michael's sends out every week in their flyer. I only need three, and I drive by there often enough that I can combine stopping in with other errands.

So now the cast-on's done, and the first few rows. Interestingly enough, I calculated how many rows there are (350) and then divided that by the number of rows I did today (4), and if I knit that many rows every day, I would finish... on their wedding day! Probably not feasible, seeing as I have a baby to knit for as well, not to mention my dad's Aran sweater to finish up, preferably before his birthday in October, plus D's monkey hat (currently stalled). But it was neat the way the math worked out!

What a beautiful morning!

I love cool mornings in August, the ones where you really need to throw on a cardigan, and you can sense fall just around the corner. I don't mind summer wrapping up, as it means Cashew will be here soon! I felt the same way when I was pregnant with D, and I actually went back to teach the first week of school before peacing out.

Mornings like these go wonderfully with pumpkin waffles that I made on the weekend and promptly froze, and a hot cup of tea. Hubby and I just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday, hence the fancy breakfast, although it was actually lunch on Sunday. My parents looked after D, and Hubby and I had a lovely staycation! We mostly ran errands, but we did so together, with no worries about D needing food or a nap or time out of the car. We took a load of basement demo biz to the dump, did the grocery shopping, cleaned out the fridge, tidied the house, you know, all fun stuff. I also started a sweater for Cashew, finally, and by Sunday night I had the body and half a sleeve knit. More enjoyable activities included a brief stop at a family get-together before dinner out at the Cheshire Cat (which was fantastic, and merits another outing), and watching the King's Speech, which we rented for a dollar from a Zip kiosk. Interestingly, last time we saw that movie was in theatres over Christmas, and Hubby's parents looked after D!

Another reason I'm feeling very content this morning is that we got some great news last night about an upcoming family wedding: Dietitian sister is getting married! I'm so excited for her and her fiancé; they are so well-suited and fun together. Now we have all kinds of wedding plans to get into, the first of which involves dress shopping. And D has the tremendous honour of being in the wedding party, for the first time in her little life! (I'm in it, too!) She looks a lot like the bride-to-be, so this promises to be very cute. The wedding will likely be a few weeks after Cashew is born, which means I need to kick into high gear with my knitting. I have a few baby things to finish (Cashew's sweater, a blanket, and a hat for a friend's baby), as well as the never-ending aran sweater for my dad, and then I can move on to a wedding blanket for the happy couple! This is the best kind of busy to be, and the best season for it all to happen.

One awesome weekend

This past weekend was the first time in D's life that all three of us went our separate ways: Hubby was playing worship on Sunday and had some course work to do, so he stayed home; I had my annual cottage weekend with my ladies from university residence, and D went to my grandma's cottage with my parents. Oh, and there was a super-date and a yarn sale in there, too.

First, the super-date: Hubby took me to Baton Rouge to start out. We figured arriving at 6 would get us out in time for our mystery activity in time. Also, what restaurant in the world allows reservations on a Friday? Apparently the Red Stick does, and because we didn't call ahead, it was almost an hour's wait. Hubby was getting antsy, but had his heart set on steak and fries. We got our table on the patio at 7, and as soon as we were seated, he pulled out a pair of tickets to our mystery activity: the Josh Groban concert at Scotia Bank Place! I, of course, started crying. He planned this back in February (Hubby, not JG), first getting the tickets, and then arranging babysitting with my parents. And he never let it slip! Amazing. Our waiter came to the table after that and, when we asked if we could order right away, said "Sure thing- are you going to the concert?" Yes, yes we were!

I knew from reading in the local paper that there was an opening act (crazy jazz pianist Elew), so we had a good amount of time to eat, drive over, park, and find our seats. We were in the 100-level, and I think it's the closest I've ever been in an arena show! Hubby and I had seen JG once before, in London on my 21st birthday, and while it was a great show (and his last before going home for Christmas, so he was super excited), this one was leaps and bounds ahead! Here are some of the reasons why:
-He had a 13-piece mini-orchestra with him, including 2 incredible percussionists. There was a three-person drum-off at one point between the two percussionists and JG himself, who was really good!
-There was a feature where people could text in questions for him to answer during the show, and one girl asked if he would ever have someone from the audience come up and sing with him, and he actually let her! AND she was great!
-He invited a couple celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary up on stage, along with a 9-year-old fan named Emma, and a 20-year-old single girl, brought out inflatable couches from backstage, poured them all drinks, and announced he was going to sing them a beautiful song about cheating. I thought he was joking, but he actually sang Broken Vow! (He followed it up with Per Te, a love song.)
-He sang my favourite song from his new album, Bells of New York City, which I did not expect at all, given the Christmassy feel of the ballad.

All in all, it was probably the very best date that Hubby and I have been on! We got home just before midnight, so I didn't wake up especially early the next morning to get ready and drive to the cottage. I stopped by Tim Horton's on the way out, and dropped off some library books that were due back that day. I also had made plans to go to a big yarn sale in Perth, and it was amazing. I bought purposefully: maroon and gold for a sweater for Cashew, and heathered turquoise for a friend's upcoming baby. I took a wrong turn coming out of Perth, though, which delayed my arrival at the cottage until lunchtime.

I was so happy to finally get there! This is the fourth year we've had the cottage weekend, and we always have a good time, regardless of the weather. It happened to be very hot, and this year the cottage got a dock, so we spent a lot of time there. As usual, we also ventured into town for ice cream, talked and laughed well into the night, created memories, took pictures (including the now-traditional porch steps shot), and ate a lot of really good food. I think my favourite thing is at dinner on Saturday night, we go around the table and talk about the best thing that happened to us that week and that year, respectively. We used to do that at dinner when we lived in rez together, not all the time, but now and then. (And it would be the best thing about our day.) It's a variation on the classic what-I'm-thankful-for, which incidentally we also do when we celebrate American Thanksgiving together. I love these girls and am so glad to still be in contact with them!

"So how many things have you knit for D?"

Someone asked me that the other day (for the life of me, I can't remember who), and I couldn't answer right away. I thought it was maybe a few sweaters, a hat and a blanket. I had to dig through a couple of her bins of outgrown clothing (not a good idea when one is pregnant and prone to weepiness) and dress-up things. Here's what it actually amounts to:

I deliberately made a few of the items in unisex colours and designs (garter stitch, stripes, cables), but you can see a definite trend towards girliness in the later ones (pink, purple, flowers, lace). Here's the run-down, in chronological order:

1. Daphne's Baby Cape (purple): made in summer 2007, cast on during my youngest sister's high school graduation, finished before I started my teaching career that September. I had intended it as a gift, but it took so long that I decided to keep it. D is almost big enough to wear it now. And yes, that's where her name comes from.

2. Denim Blanket (yellow): made in summer 2009, just before I had D. We often tucked it around her on walks or in her car seat that fall and winter.

3. Duffle Coat (green): made in fall 2009, still doesn't quite fit. Maybe this year!

4. Classic Cardigan (blue, white and yellow): also made in fall 2009, and was worn only a couple of times before D outgrew it. Definitely suitable for Cashew.

5. February Baby Sweater (lavender): made in winter 2010. D was able to wear it from about 6 months to just over a year.

6. Chicken Hat (pink): made in fall 2010, adorned D's head all winter long. Sadly, she's outgrown it and will require a new hat for the 2011-2012 winter season.

7. Whirligig Shrug (gray): made in fall 2010, D only wore it a couple of times. It's still in her drawer awaiting cooler weather, and will probably still fit her this fall.

8. Anouk Pinafore (yellow, green, purple and red): made in winter 2011, so far only worn twice. It's a generous size and will fit for quite a while, maybe the next two years. We'll need to find her some purple stretch pants and a red or white t-shirt to wear under it.

9. Bolero (white): made in spring 2011, just in time for Easter. She's worn it a few times already, and it's still pretty big on her.

10. Pull sans manches (orange): made summer 2011, matches the one I made for my mom last summer. I had enough of the yarn left over to make something for D, so I sized down the pattern for her. There's still more, so I might make something for Cashew, a little cabled sweater or something. It's a nice light cotton that looks great at a fine gauge, and D can wear it as a sweater vest when fall arrives.

I'm not going to try and knit the same number of things for each child I have; for one thing, my free time will be significantly limited compared to what I had with D, and for another, that's what hand-me-downs are for! That being said, there are only two sweaters that I can really pass on to Cashew, and I'm a big believer in babies getting their own knitted blankets from Mom. I'm thinking red this time, in the same pattern.

A parade for my blogiversary

It's an ordinary Friday here; we've had an easygoing morning of breakfast, list-writing, snacks, and knitting. We'll venture to the grocery store later on, and probably tidy the house (though I'll be on my own for that, Baby D assures me). What is unusual about today is that it bookends the week with finished knitting. Thus, I celebrate my one-year anniversary of blogging with a parade of finished objects.


On Monday, my sister came by for a visit, just in time to pick up some finished socks that she had requested and to play with her favourite niece, who happens to have matching leg warmers knit a year and a half ago. Because the socks were made with DK weight yarn, they took only about a month to knit, and during that same time frame, I was working on this:


The adorable Anouk pinafore, which I had wanted to knit from the moment I saw it! The yarn was the first purchase following the Year of No Yarn, and it was from Australia (hence the main colours of gold and green). Owing again to DK yarn and a daughter who can occasionally amuse herself, it knit up in a trice. In fact, it took me much longer to get a decent shot of baby D in it. When she's not running around, she likes to make a squinty face at the camera. Anyway, she did a beautiful job modelling for me, when it suited her.

A note about the shoes: after a friend tipped me off to Value Village's 50% off sale, I high-tailed it over there and spent as much time shopping as D would allow. Among our purchases were these black t-strap Mary Janes for 2$! I also found her some simple white Mary Janes (in great condition) for 1.50$. I daresay the child is fond of her new footwear; she's been clomping around the house in alternate pairs (or sometimes one shoe from each pair) all week.

The year of no new yarn: a post with many pictures

In 2010, I decided not to buy any new yarn, but to work with what I already had. This was a real challenge for me, in my fourth year as a knitter. I guess that would make me a senior. However, I had amassed enough yarn to make for some neat, fun and interesting projects, many of which ended up being gifts.

1. Diamond Lace Shrug: yarn purchased in 2008 in Australia, took from December 25th 2009-February 13th 2010 to complete. I love it and wear it often, but only in the winter because it's so cozy!

2. February Baby Sweater: yarn sent from New Zealand (c/o in-laws), took less than two weeks to complete, earned me a gold medal in the Knitting Olympics (I started it during the opening ceremonies and finished it before the closing ceremonies). And Baby D looked great in it while it fit. Now it looks like a bolero with 3/4 sleeves.


3. Denim Blanket: yarn gifted to me in 2009 by my best friend's grandma, took a few weeks to complete, finished product given to gorgeous miracle baby Micah on July 1st.


4. Pretty Thing: yarn gifted to me in 2008 by knitter friend, took a few weeks in the spring to knit, finished product given to family friend suffering from cancer. No photo available.

5. Bergère de France top: yarn purchased in 2008 from a garage sale, took from April 16-July 10th to complete, Mom loves it! (I don't have a picture of her in it, though.)

6. Star-Crossed Beret: yarn purchased at the tail end of 2009, took a couple of weeks to knit, finished product given to baby sis' best friend, who is lovely and generous.


7. Chicken Hat: yarn gifted to me in 2008 by Mom, took a couple of weeks to knit, was a birthday present and now adorns our sweet little chicken's head during these cold winter months. It has buttons for eyes, and embellishments of a comb and beak.


8. Sniffy's Shrug: yarn gifted to me by same knitter friend this very year, took a few weeks to make it into a shrug voted on by you as an option for baby D's wedding wear.


9. Tree of Life blanket: sole yarn purchased in 2010, took four months to knit, well worth it for the special recipients, my brother and his beautiful bride.


10. Tree skirt: yarn purchased in 2006, started last year, didn't quite fit around the tree, knitted on it just before Christmas season began. It lives with my parents. I'd like to add something to it each year.

11. Endpaper mitts: yarn partially gifted from an acquaintance, partially bought in... 2007? Hard to say. Either way, it had been there for awhile. They turned into a project for a crafty gift exhange I had with a few friends at Christmas. I include them because most of the knitting on them was done in 2010, although I finished them in 2011. They were my first successful stranded colourwork pieces, and my friend who received them LOVES them! I'll show you another day what I got in that gift exchange.


One year, one challenge, eleven finished projects from a list of twenty-plus.

How we saved in 2010, part 2

The arrival of 2011 means at least one thing: the year of no new yarn has drawn to a close! The fact that I have not purchased any yarn yet has nothing to do with the fact that yarn stores are closed. This brings me to my next source of saving in 2010.

7. Going on a ban. The yarn ban is by no means the first one I’ve been on. When I was in university, I worked in the lingerie department at Sears, and I bought so many unmentionables that I went on an underwear ban for six months (as in no purchasing, not no wearing). I’ve also gone on clothing bans for months at a time, and the occasional restaurant ban, whereby we don’t eat out at all for a month, except with family (when Dad generously pays). So while this isn’t the first ban I’ve done, it’s certainly the longest. It’s not a bad idea to do once in awhile, when you know you’ve had enough of something. I’ve also heard people call them “fasts”, like you’re fasting from watching movies, or whatever else. It helps you practice self-control, and plan for what you really want.

When I got the idea of a yarn ban into my head, we were driving back from a holiday in Southern Ontario, and I was thinking of something my favourite knit blogger has said on a few occasions: that she has more yarn than she could knit in a lifetime. And not only is she a super fast knitter, she’s also a generous one, giving away stash to knitting friends and family. Having established that I’m not particularly fast, and that much of my stash is dedicated to particular projects, I began to draw up a list of what I wanted to knit with the yarn I had. The list ran to twenty-plus items, and realistically, that could carry me through several years without yarn buying. Since I do want to have some flexibility to try out other projects, and ones for baby girls especially, I decided to start with one year of no new yarn. I worked through the list pretty much in the order I wrote it, prioritizing projects that had languished for two years or so. A fair bit of it got finished, and I hope to post all the finished products soon. I also kept track of projects I really wanted to knit, and which would require the purchase of yarn. This coming year will be a mishmash of finishing other things on that list (seeing as I only got through the first 6 or 7 items), and starting new ones with new yarn.

Important note: knitting, like most artsy hobbies, is NOT a money-saver. It’s actually often cheaper to buy a sweater than it is to knit one, for instance. And it’s always cheaper to buy socks, especially once you factor in the time it takes. I don’t knit to save money. I knit because I enjoy clothing my loved ones with things I’ve made specifically for them.

6. Deciding how much you’re prepared to spend. Since we’re on the topic of planning, I thought this one was appropriate. I already talked about Hubby’s birthday present planning, so here’s a more recent example. On vacation awhile ago, I needed a new one-piece bathing suit, and I was prepared to pay up to 50$ including tax. I looked around various department stores where they had beautiful long leg maillot styles, but they were all between 130$ and 160$. Maybe when I’m independently wealthy, but not on a single salary! Hubby was a little frustrated that I wouldn’t even try them on, and told me it was unlikely I would find what I was looking for, let alone for the price I wanted to pay.

Then I went to Target (please, please come to Canada!), and behold, all ladies’ swimwear was 40% off. I tried on several suits, and the very last one I tried on, of course, was the one I loved the most, and it looked decent on me. I didn’t glance at the price until I was heading to pay, and when I saw it was 45$ before the sale, I picked up a matching pair of board shorts. Altogether, it was 50$.

What D wore to the wedding, and phone considerations

Well, after tallying the votes, and taking into account the advice from a couple of wise moms that D would probably make use of both sweaters, we ended up bringing both! Initially, I had her in the gray one, as shown below. Later on, though, she mostly wore the purple one, because we had a bunch of family photos to shoot outdoors, and it being November, the possum-merino blend turned out to be warmer than acrylic. Yes, I said possum. It's from New Zealand, which makes it awesome. (The dark girl you see with us recently returned from NZ. You wouldn't know it to look at us, but we are in fact of the same parentage.) I have a whole ball of possum yarn left, and I'm resisting the urge to knit a matching hat and mittens for the baby, seeing as she's almost outgrown the sweater. Those sleeves aren't meant to be 3/4 length.


The night before the wedding, we had a lovely time at the rehearsal. I gave the bride and groom their gift, and it went over tremendously well. I foolishly neglected to photograph their jubilant faces, but here's the final product sans recipients:


The fact that the blanket took me about three and a half months to knit up, with a couple of interruptions, makes me want to create one for our little fam. We love blankets here, and although we have a bunch, we don't have one made by me. I probably wouldn't knit the exact same one, but I have another one in mind. We'll see how I feel once the year of no new yarn is over.

In other news, our grocery bills have been getting up there lately, and since my income is quite reduced now that I'm no longer on EI, we're looking for other ways to cut our expenses. Since I do child care two days a week, some of those groceries can get written off, but still. This week's bill was 150$! That's not good. Granted, it was a week where we needed to buy meat, and cheese was on sale for 4.44$/500g, so that kicked it up a bit. Also we got our turkey for Friends Thanksgiving, which is a one-off.

Where to cut back? A few friends of mine now have gotten rid of land lines altogether and gone with a cell phone. I am somewhat averse to this for three reasons: 1) I do not tend to answer my phone. 2) I do not tend to keep my phone charged. 3) I do not tend to have my phone readily accessible. So to get a hold of me via cell phone, you need an unlikely trifecta of ideal circumstances. Also not many people have the number. Also I'm on a 10$ pay-as-you-go type of deal, and am comfortable paying only that much.

But then Hubby told me we pay 40$ a month for our land line, and if I switched to a plan that was, say 20$ or 25$ a month, it would be a net savings of 25$-30$ a month. And if I stay with the same company, I wouldn't have to change my phone. I think a lot of cell phone companies are scams anyway, with the way they try to make you covet the newest and coolest phone. Sign a three-year contract and you get the phone for "free"! You'll pay much more than it's worth in minutes and text messages anyway! I especially love when people describe their plans as having a certain number of free texts or free calls. Not so much free... that's what you're paying for.

I have an almost-two-year-old flip phone that I bought outright for maybe 50$ (including a 20$ phone credit), and I'm quite content with it. I recently learned how to scroll to a different word in t9word or whatever. Instead of typing the word out letter by letter. I am a techno wizard. So maybe by the end of the month we'll have it worked out. I'd like to make sure I give out our cell numbers to everyone who needs them, and not forget, say, our mortgage company, or my school board. Or my good friends, or my tutoring student.

Almost ready for the wedding

The gift is wrapped and ready, I have my dress and D's dress, and now I have a little sweater for D to wear! The key was that it was a quick knit, done in 9 days. My friend Jasmine kindly donated the yarn in the exact weight (DK) and colour (soft gray) I had in mind, so the year of no yarn continues unabated.

I was photographing the sweater and the dress on baby D when I noticed another sweater on the floor. In a shade of purple that I thought didn't go with the dress. There are now two sweaters contending for display on Saturday.


The one I just made, endearingly titled the Whirligig Shrug:

And one I made back in February, aptly named the February Baby Sweater:

Baby D is too busy playing peek-a-boo with her dress to offer an opinion, so I am leaving it up to you. Vote for your fave!

Sweater clinic

Hopefully, if all goes well, I will be headed out to knit night at my friend Jasmine's, for the first time in ages! I always get this desire to knit really warm things like sweaters, mittens and scarves in the fall, but this is the time to be wearing them, not knitting them. The thing is, who wants to settle in with a pile of wool in the sweltering heat of summer to have a new sweater come autumn? Not usually me. So before I cast on a new sweater (although I will probably do that, too), I examined the sweaters I have already knitted for myself. This took no time at all, being that there are only four of them:

The death jacket (actually a bed jacket, but it was nicknamed thusly by a friend after I explained that bed jackets were something an invalid or dying person would wear)

The off-shoulder sweater

The Vintage Cardigan:

The one I actually wear


My plan, during this year of no new yarn, even though I have enough yarn to make myself a couple of tops, is to figure out what exactly it is about the former three pieces that precludes me from wearing them, and fix that up. For instance, the off-shoulder sweater has too tight a cast-off at the neck, so it looks weird. And the collar isn't long enough to be worn as a cowl. Hence, I have an extra ball of the same yarn to add length to the collar so it can just be a cowl-neck sweater. I plan on seeking advice from a few fellow knitters (in person, but maybe on Ravelry later).

And now, to enjoy the day with family and friends, including a one-year-old chicken who loved her birthday cake!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Road trips and knitting

Our little family just returned (well, on Saturday night) from a last-minute whirlwind trip to Southern Ontario. Hubby had a job interview and I got the chance to reconnect with some old friends and introduce baby D. We also stayed with dear friends who are downsizing and moving to a new place (in the same city), and I was so happy to spend time with them! Their old house is very special to us, as we lived there for a month (between apartment rentals), attended weekly Bible studies there for two years, and have stayed as guests every time we visit in the years since. Of course, the family is much more special, and they'll make the new house equally so.

One of my favourite places to shop in Southern Ontario is a small chain of stores called Len's Mill. It is beyond shanty, and nearly everything there looks like it fell off the back of a truck. They sell almost every kind of household item, but their specialty (as far as I'm concerned) is their crafts department. They have all kinds of yarn, needles, and other notions (as well as fabric, but I'm going on a day trip to the States soon for that), and their prices are the cheapest around, even more so than Walmart. And really, I'd much rather support local industry over Walmart. So, even though this is the year of no yarn, I made an exception. I could not have foreseen, back in December, that my brother would be engaged and married to the love of his life within a year, and their upcoming wedding needs to be celebrated with an heirloom gift, which is now on the needles. I'm very excited to see it coming together, but it'll need the next four months' worth of my knitting attention... which is going to be a bit problematic. Here's why.

The Yarn Harlot often finds herself afflicted with "startitis", in which she wants to cast on huge numbers of projects, usually when she gets bored with her current one. I find this tends to happen to me when I've just finished a long project. Hubby says I should refer to myself as The Yarn Serial Monogamist when I comment on Yarn Harlot's blog. As I have just finished the Bergere de France top, I have all kinds of ideas for tiny, quick projects: a matching BDF top for baby D, a gift for a precious preemie born recently to friends of ours, a bolero for baby D to wear to her uncle's wedding. In order to get the heirloom gift done on time, I'll really have to limit myself to just one or two of those little projects, and I'm pretty sure the first two will win out. Particularly since I'm already halfway done the back of the BDF baby top, and I've found a pattern for a preemie kimono.

Cuteness overload: Baby D went swimming in a pool for the first time. She had previously been in a hot tub (with the temperature turned down) and to the beach. She was cautiously amused...

Wedding wear challenge, take 2

This time around, I opted for something I had worn to a wedding once before, but it was two years ago. Fashionista friend J here was a bridesmaid and looked lovely, as always!

The wedding was on the most perfect day of the year, weather-wise; it was warm and sunny with a bit of a breeze, which was ideal since the ceremony was outdoors at a beautiful pavilion tucked in behind Rideau Hall. Fortunately, the Queen's visit did not interfere, although navigating downtown traffic the day after Canada Day was rather beastly.

Between the ceremony and reception, we found a pub on Elgin Street offering half price appetizers, so we sat down and watched Ghana's disappointing loss to Uruguay. Best nachos I've had in awhile, though.

The reception was at a restaurant in the Dow's Lake pavilion, just minutes from where the bride's mom has lived for the past few years. Such an elegant place, right on the water where we caught a beautiful sunset! The food was amazing, the kissing games entirely suited to the couple (spelling bee/golf putting), the speeches touching and the slide show masterful- no technical glitches at all! The entire day was a gorgeous testament to the love that our dear friends Mark and Val have for each other.

My own hubby was a trooper: when we called to check in on baby D who was being looked after by my sister, she was crying and wouldn't stop, so he headed home to take care of her. He let me stay to have dessert, hear the speeches, and do a little dancing. Some wonderful friends who live near us gave me a lift home. And one more thing that made this day special (albeit really just for me): I finished knitting the back of the orange tank top! It's blocking as we speak, waiting to be sewn up.