Slog

There are a few reasons why I haven't written a blog post in a good long while.  First (and I know this is going to come as a complete shock to those of you who still frequent this space (*Cough* Dad *Cough*): I'm not exactly the bestest blogger in the whole wide world.  Second, well, I've been kept busy by other projects.

Like the garden...

I guess one could say I've dabbled in vegetable gardening since the kids were born, but this is my third year of "serious" gardening. The garlic is up, carrots are sprouting away, and the tomatoes (that I started from seed!!!!) seem to be managing fairly well despite the cool Spring we've been having up here.  I even spotted a few baby tomatoes out there this morning!

As I mentioned last time, I've also gotten pretty obsessed with cross stitching over the past few weeks.  Cross stitch is a bit of a vixen though.  It beguiles you with it's seemingly manageable size and all-round cuteness, so that you don't immediately realize what a MASSIVE time-suck it can be.  Stitching all those little x's takes TIME, my friends!

But if you really want to know what's been keeping me from posting to this knitting blog, I'll tell you: it's that I am absolutely bored to tears by the project I've been working on since, oh, forever.  Friends, I give you the coma-inducing red blob of despair:

Also known as a Citron Grand, which I'm knitting out of 1300 yards of laceweight.  It's going to make a great Christmas gift, and goodness knows I knew what I was getting myself into when I pulled those 3 balls of Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace out of the stash, but MAN.  I've been relying heavily on my runner training, trying to suck it up and keep slogging along, telling myself that each row is one row closer to the finish line, and you know what? 

Not unlike 'round about the 15th kilometer in a half-marathon, my pep talks are starting to feel like total and complete bullsh*t.  I'm never going to be done.  This mind-numbing, soul-crushing torture is just going to go on (and on)  (and ON) forever. 


Happy pointless knitting that won't make the slightest dent in your WIP everyone! *Sigh*

Pushed over the edge

I'm trying to knit from stash as much as possible this year.  I wouldn't call it Cold Sheeping exactly.  Maybe Tepid Sheeping?  Anyway, as anyone who has developed a, um... healthy interest in knitting can attest, refraining from buying yarn can be... challenging.  The colours, the fibers, the sales... it can be hard to resist. 

Enter the yarn club.  Pay your money up front at the beginning of the year, then receive shiny new yarn at regular intervals throughout the year.  I'm not saying it CURES a knitter of her itch to buy yarn, but knowing you've got a shipment coming in a few weeks definitely takes the edge off, which can be pretty handy in a pinch.

Way back in February (you know... 'round about the last time I wrote a blog post?  Ahem), I received the first shipment of the Cookie A Sock Club.  It was a lovely skein of Indigodragonfly MCN sock, in the colourway E Pluribus Nom Nom Nom.

Lovely, isn't it? What a pretty thing.  And as soft and squooshy as frolicking kittens on a Spring morning.  Just perfect.

Only, well... there was a snag.  Turns out I had remarkably similar yarn in the stash already.  A few skeins of it.  And here's the kicker: I was embarrassed that I had "So Much Yarn" in this colour in my stash. Really.  I've been squirreling yarn away for YEARS, it's invaded practically every nook and cranny in my home, but THIS skein was pushing me out of my comfort zone.

There was only one thing to do, of course.  I had to get that yarn out of the stash ASAP!  Denial  balance had to be restored at all costs!

The club yarn has been knit up into one of the 2 patterns for that shipment, the Ernie Socks, and they're now safely tucked away into the Gift Box.

The green Hazel Knits (top right) is being knit up into a lovely shawl by Corrina Ferguson, Evadine.  And the Springtree Road yarn (bottom left) will most likely be cast on with next.

Me?  Too much yarn?  Pshaw.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

But is it TOO perfect?

Well, it finally happened.  I hopped on Ye Olde Bandwagon and cast on for a Color Affection shawl of my very own.  (Truth be told, I bought my ticket for that fun train months ago when my friend Marie-Michele and I spent about an hour debating colour combinations of Grinning Gargoyle Seda Sock at Rhinebeck, but I only jumped on 10 days ago.)

Anyway, it's charming.  Utterly charming.  Cushy and comforting.  Like oatmeal on a cold winter morning.  The soothing garter stitch is predictable, familiar, yet kept from being monotonous by the novelty of the colour changes.  And it's flying off the needles!  A friend remarked that it's a good thing I'm knitting with aluminum needles, because I'd be fixin' to set my knitting on FIRE I'm rubbing these here pointy sticks together so fast.  All in all, I'd say it's perfect, perfect knitting.

Then last night, as I rolled my knitting into a ball and left it on the couch lovingly tucked my knitting away for the evening, I wondered at how swimmingly everything was going, and that's when it happened.  A shadow of doubt.  A wrinkle.  A question... maybe this was going too well?  Maybe it was too perfect?  Maybe I'd done something wrong?

The instructions had seemed fairly straightforward, but what if I had made a mistake?  The third section of the shawl has you knitting 3 stitches past a previously wrapped stitch.  Had I been picking up too many stitches all along? Had I been over-thinking the directions and taken the instructions too literally?  Had I inadvertently turned my perfect, winter comfort knitting into a pile of absolute drivel that I would need to rip back in quiet shame?

All night, it bothered me.   I barely slept a wink.  This morning, once I was caffeinated and the kids were safely off to school, I knew what I had to do.

Math.

Good news: it's going to be fine.  My bad!

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Leftovers

Thanks for the kudos on my knitting goals, friends!  I tell ya, there's nothing like hearing back from your peers to make you realize that you might maybe be serving yourself a nice big slice of crazy-pie, heh.  15,000 yards!  15 pairs of socks!!  12 shawls!!!  Ooh, boy, this is going to be good!

One thing having a yardage goal has made me aware of is my leftovers.  This is the first time I've kept track of the amount of yarn that actually gets knit up chez Dear.  Before this, I tended to think of my output in terms of FOs rather than quantity of stash yarn actually USED. 

Up until now, when a project was done, well... as far as I was concerned, so was the yarn.  I didn't throw it out, of course, because it was still yarn after all.  I don't think you can develop the kind of relationship we as Knitters have with yarn and just THROW IT OUT (unless we're talking about acrylic.  But that's a debate for another day).  No, I just put it in a bag and sort of, just... forgot about it.  The project was finished, the yarn was done.  Out of sight, out of mind, and definitely out of the stash.

Here's the thing though.  That bag?  Where yarn leftovers go to die?  Turns out there's, um... a lot of yarn in there.  Like, A LOT, a lot.

Does this count as stash?!?  I'm already finding it challenging to find projects for the yarn in the stash, should I be trying to find projects for the leftovers as well? 

What do you do with your leftovers?

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Resolutions

A couple of years ago I started this "Running for Rhinebeck" thing to save money for my annual pilgrimage trip to the New York Sheep and Wool festival.  The idea was that, for every kilometer I ran, I would put a dollar into my Rhinebeck Fund.  So I created a little "Running for Rhinebeck" widget thingamabob and smacked it on the sidebar of the blog to keep track of my progress.  Whenever I run, I boot up the blog, click on the widget to log onto Ticker Factory, and enter in my distance (and cash).  Simple!  I figured it would a) encourage me to keep up with my training, and b) give me a fair whack of guilt-free yarn money by the end of the year.  Bingo, double-whammy.

Yeah... for the past month and a bit, logging the progress has been... shall we say... difficult?  Embarrassing?  Not because I haven't been running (I have.  Not as much as I probably should, but I have).  No, the problem is that I have to face The Blog to do it.  The Blog.  This space that I haven't contributed to for months.  MONTHS. The SHAME.  Ugh.

Here's the thing.  My evenings are short and my ME time is precious.  When faced with the choice between knitting and writing about knitting, I'm going to go with knitting, you know?  Hence, no blogging.

But every now and again, I catch myself thinking about a project or a pattern, or hatching some crazy scheme, and I think "this would make a good blog post".  So I guess I haven't really gotten this whole blogging thing out of my system after all. 

I'll try to fit it in.  Somehow.  

So what have I been up to lately, you may ask?  Well, I've been knitting.  And thinking about knitting.  And thinking about what I want to DO with my knitting this year. 

I love setting myself up to fail goals for myself.  They give me a real sense of momentum, of moving forward.  Work is hectic (stupid money... grumble grumble), kids (God love 'em) are demanding, and time is in short supply.  But making lists makes me feel like I'm doing the things I want to be doing, even if I never ultimately get around to it all.

So!  Here are my goals for 2013:

• Knit up (drum roll please) 15,000 yards in total.  Yup.  Just over 13km worth of yarn.  I can totally do it.  Right?
• Knit 12 shawls.  To this effect, I've joined the 12 Shawls Forever group on Ravelry.  'Cause, you know... Peers are good :)

Shawl the First: Wendell Holmes, by Corrina Ferguson.

• Try to use some of the vintage stash.  Also in the "Peers are Good" category, I'm participating in Stash and Burn's Use It or Lose It project.  

 Neon Ski Bonnet, by Lacey Volk.  Knit with some Shelridge Farm W4 Soft Touch I purchased at Rhinebeck. In 2008!

• Knit all the shipments from the Cookie A Sock Club (oh yeah.. I signed up for the Cookie A sock club!)
• Knit an additional 9 pairs of socks, for a total of 15 pairs in the year. 

I also have a few stash enhancement goals, but they're more "guidelines" than strict rules.  Basically, I want to make sure that more yarn makes its way OUT of the stash than in, heh.  'Cause, yeah... I've got a lot of yarn.  Ahem.

What are YOUR goals?  How are you doing so far?

Happy Knitting, my friends!

It's coming

I don't mean to alarm you, but... have you noticed anything particular in the past few weeks?  Something's in the air, something is AFOOT, people.  Something BIG.

At first it was subtle and - come to think of it - rather charming.  Quaint, even.  Something in the light, a welcome change of colours after an entire season of cheap fabrics and bright neons.

Then it was more... insistent.  Whatever it was, it wasn't going away, and I had to actually, you know... DO stuff.  Like, for instance, get next year's garlic planted.

And THEN.  Then, well... even at the grocery store, the truth was staring me in the face, and I couldn't deny it any longer.  There was no espace.

Christmas is coming, my fellow knitters.  It's only 50 days away.  For realz.


Luckily, I've been a good knitter and have been squirreling away gifts all year long.  Victory will be MINE!  Booyah!

Happy Knitting, Everyone.

Journey

I just got back from Rhinebeck, and I want to tell you about how awesome it was.  I mean, of course it was awesome because - duh - it's the freakin' New York Sheep and Wool Festival, but I think that the fact that it has inspired me to decloak and actually write something really says something about what a fabulous time I had this year, don't you think?

I mean... first of all, there was the weather.  The sun was shining, the trees were decked out in their finest colours... What can I say?  It was absolutely magnificent. 

Then there was the excellent company.  Sadly, my fabulous peep Kate the Enabler wasn't able to attend this year, but my good friend Marie-Michele graciously stepped in and - it has to be said - as a Rhibeneck newbie she did amazingly well.  It probably had something to do with my finely tuned mentoring skills (hah!).  The fact that she got stopped approximately every 11 minutes by someone who wanted to ogle her Color Affection probably didn't hurt either.  Sheesh.

Of course, it is the SHEEP and wool festival, so one musn't forget the animals.

 (I don't think this gent was enjoying his haircut too much!)

Especially when they make such yummy fiber.

This was the first time I went to the fleece sale.  Not to buy a fleece of course, since I'm pretty sure turning fiber into yarn is easier when one knows how to spin.  But just to have a look at the different breeds and see/feel what different fibers they produce was pretty cool.

The rarest breed of all, of course, is the elusive knitwear designer.  They're a famously shy breed, but with the right mix of patience and audacity, one can usually manage a sighting. 

(Yours truly and the fabulously stylish, friendly and gracious Stephen West.)

And then, well... I can't quite explain this one.  Let's just say it involved a scarf, a Robert Frost Poem, and a pretty kickass blogger.  Um... you had to be there?

Of course there was yarn, lots and lots of yarn.  Some of it even came home with me.  But ultimately, Rhibeneck wasn't really about the yarn for me at all.  This year, it was all about the journey.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Put a lid on it

Let me begin by saying that this isn't the post I meant to write tonight.  I had planned to show you the new sock in progress, and possibly to come clean share some recent stash enhancement, but well... this feels more relevant for now.

We are right in the thick of canning season chez Dear.  As you may know if you've been reading for a while, over the past year, I've tried to put more thought into what our family eats, pay attention to where it comes from, and figure out what our relationship to food actually is.  Eating local, enjoying the best of what's produced in our own backyards (literally or figuratively) is something I feel very strongly about.  So in the spirit of "getting it while the getting is good", come August, I spend most of my weekends trying to freeze, can or otherwise process some of the local goodness that is in such abundant supply this time of year.

The "Eat Local" movement is by no means new, and most people in my area either do a bit of canning themselves or know someone who does.  Even so, every so often, when the "what did you do this weekend?" topic comes up and I proudly answer that I processed 50 pounds of tomatoes and canned 12 quarts of dill pickles, I'll get a pause, a smirk and a "Oh, well, I certainly don't have time to do anything like that" remark.

And tonight I asked myself: how many times have knitters heard that kind of comment, right on the heels of a "My grandmother used to knit" remark, from Muggles?  How many times has someone looked at what we're doing and passed a tiny wee perhaps-not-meant-to-be-condescending-even-though-it-kind-of-is judgment on how we spend our time?

Hey, this just in - everything we do takes time.  Every time we choose to do one thing, that's time we're not spending doing any of a million other things. That's just the way it is.

Is canning (or knitting) time consuming?  Absolutely.  Are you allowed to feel like knitting or canning aren't your cup of tea and you'd prefer to spend your time doing something else?  You're darn tootin'.  But where I get off is when that assessment is followed by a judgment on the value of how I choose to spend my time.  When it translates into "I wouldn't do what you're doing, because I have far more important things to do".

Yes, it takes time.  But I know that for every hour on my feet, every neck spasm, and every dramatic complaint from the kids about how "it stinks in here!!!", there will be excitement and authoritative pronouncements that Mum's sauce is the Best Sauce Ever this Winter.  And - to me - that makes the hours I spend canning well spent indeed.

Next time I get that kind of remark, I think I'm going to take a feather from my dear Grandma's cap and tell whomever that they can put a lid on it.  I've got more important things to do.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

The Only Solution

This may come as a shock to many of you, but, well…. I can be a bit of a smart ass (I swear, I can actually HEAR my father laughing out loud right now).  Yes, it's true.  I have been known, at times, to display a fair bit of the smug.  Really.  You’d be surprised at how often I suppress the urge to let out a loud and heartfelt  “Well, DUH!”.

HAVING SAID THAT.

As you may or may not recall (see how I did that?  Just completely glossed over the fact that I haven’t blogged in just shy of a month.  Ahem.), a few weeks ago, I joined Stephen West’s Mystery KAL.  I have plenty of sock yarn, and I do so love his designs, I figured this would be great fun.  I didn’t bother  to knit a gauge swatch thought because, duh.  It’s a shawl, people.  I’m pretty sure it’s going to fit your basic human shaped person, right?  Nor did I concern myself too much with the fact that the yarn I had selected fell slightly short of the recommended yarns in the pattern because, duh-huuuuh.  Everyone knows projects rarely require ALL the yardage that’s stated in the pattern.  That’s just the designers’ way of messing with you covering their bases.

[The astute reader will at this point have noticed that, despite FULL knowledge of established Knitter Wisdom, this knitter flew RIGHT IN THE FACE of tested and true traditions and cast on without a care in the world.]

Everything was going swimmingly.  I was enjoying myself, and for ONCE, was actually up to date with the clues as they were coming out.  The first 3 clues were charming, and I was really looking forward to the final clue coming out and having a completed project to share with my awesome and loyal blog readers (see what I did again?)

The final clue has you knitting the edges of the shawl, decreasing from 83 stitches down to 9 at a rate of 2 stitches every 8 rows.  Yeah, I know it's a bit technical.  Anyway, the point is that there I was, happily knitting away, when it occurred to me that this last clue was somewhat knit heavy, and that my 2 balls of yarn were feeling, shall we say.... a little less than full?  I started to think that I might maybe perhaps run out of yarn.

Total and utter shock, people.  No idea how it could have happened.

This is hand dyed yarn, there's no way I can get any more.  What to do?  At first, I did what we all tend to do when we suspect we're going to run out of yarn: I knit faster.  When that proved ineffective (as it often does), I decided there was nothing for it but to rip back to the beginning of the final clue and increase the rate of the decreases (from 2 stitches per repeat to 4.  That would definitely work, but after about 5 pattern repeats, I started to feel like the edges of my shawl were looking a little too stumpy, and that maybe I should go back to the original decrease rate of 2 stitches every 8 rows.

Now I'm about to finish the first edge, and the balls of yarn that were disappearing faster than a teenager asked to empty the dishwasher appear to have as much yardage in them as they did when I first cast on.  I think they may even have MORE yarn in them than when I ripped back.  Which is making me wonder if I would have had enough yarn after all, and maybe I should rip back AGAIN and knit it the way Stephen West intended.

You know what this means, right?  I mean... there's really only one option at this point.

I'm going to have to cast on a pair of socks.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Snag

Most of the projects I've taken on lately, be they big or small, have hit one kind of wall or another and been somewhat frustrated by failure.  It's as though my creativity and my Make-It drive keep getting snagged on something (Life?  The Universe?  Everything?), and whatever I do, I wind up with the same result: a FAIL.

To wit:

Pedicure? FAIL

Yellow looks fabulous! In the bottle, not on my toes

Putting the started plants for this year's vegetable garden outside so they can "soak up the sunshine and get stronger"?  FAIL. 

Yeeeeaaah.... If it's 9 degrees Celcius out? Sun-schmun. The plants are DEAD.  Sob!!!!

I really hope I have more luck with my current project!  An Angry Bird piñata for Maxime's 5th birthday party on Sunday. (The irony that this project will ultimately end up being destroyed is not lost on me, my friends.)

Happy Making, Everyone!

The Sitch

Here's what's going on chez Dear this week:

Watching... Cabin in the Woods.  Twice.  Saw it with some girlfriends last Friday, then saw it again on Saturday with Phil.  Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, people!  The fact that Chris Hemsworth is in doesn't jurt either.  Just sayin'

Reading... Wow.  Totally forgot about this one when I sat down to write this post.  *Squirms uncomfortably*  Ahem, so, um... I'm reading... um... Fifty Shades of Grey.  Right!  What?  *Blush*

Knitting... Émilie's cardigan.  Still.  Forever.  Does it make me a bad mum if I say I'm bored out of my f***ing mind and just want it to END ALREADY???  Probably, huh?

Listening to... the ice pellets raining down outside.  Yes, it was 27 degrees here a few weeks ago, and now it's practically hailing.  Let us not dwell, shall we?

Thinking about... what I'm going to cast on in a wild fit of glee once the never-ending mind-dulling time-suck of doom cardigan is done.

Dreading... getting on the treadmill at 5:30 tomorrow morning.

Planning... on finishing the blocks for our bedroom quilt (aka the quilt top I've been working on for over a year) this week.

Wondering... what the heck I'm going to do then???

Excited about... Émilie and my wee seedlings turning into actual plants.  It never ceases to amaze me that something from which we will get so much bounty comes from a tiny little seed.

Humming... Édith Piaf's Polichinelle.  Yeah, I don't know where I get this stuff either.

Drinking... the elixir of life, otherwise known as Matcha Green Tea.

Itching to... buy yarn.  Not because I need any, just because I want to.  *Sigh*  I miss buying yarn.

Needing to... buy Maxime's birthday presents instead.  Little dude is going to be FIVE in 3 weeks!  Unreal.

Organizing... my coupons by type (food, personal hygiene, laundry, paper products, etc.).  Because, why yes, I would be a dork.

Delighted by... the friendship bracelet I started a few weekends ago.  Circa 1990, baby!

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

The Sitch

Idea stolen from Vicki, who pilfered it from Kym. Well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that... I like it.

The Sitch this week:

Watching… Star Trek: The Next Generation in its entirety with Phil. Can I just say? I love this show. Love it. But, seriously? Looking back at those first few episodes, it’s hard to believe it became such a successful show. I mean… Justice? Angel One? *Cringe*

Reading… La reine dans le palais des courants d’air, aka The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, third volume of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium series. Swedish crime novels are best read in French, short of reading them in their original language. I feel very strongly about this.

Knitting… a new cardigan for Émilie, Lavanda. Pics to come soon. Ish.

Listening to… Phil’s new crush, Melody Gardot. Like, all the time. Constantly. During dinner. While giving the kids’ their bath. First thing in the morning (he’s set up the alarm clock to wake us up with her music). No word on how Stacey Kent, who had been enjoying pretty constant air time chez Dear since Christmas, feels about him abandoning her for this 27 year-old floozy. (OK fine, she’s not a floozy. Tell that to Diana Krall).

Thinking about… what we’re going to do for summer vacation. It’s looking as though Phil and I might not be able to get concurrent time off this year. Which totally sucketh the big one.

Dreading… finishing up our income tax returns. They’re all done, all I need to do is copy them out and mail them, but it’ll take all evening and that’s rare and valuable knitting time right there and I don’t wanna do it. Blah.

Planning… on putting the tomato, broccoli and cucumber seeds that I’ve had germinating (I’m trying the baggie method this year) in their individual pots this weekend.

Excited about… this year’s vegetable garden. If all goes according to plan, there will be LOTS going on back there this summer!

Humming… Sweet Memory (by, you guessed it, Melody Gardot). Probably something to do with Phil playing that song, oh… about TWELVE TIMES IN A ROW last night.

Drinking… water. Lots and lots of water. Trying to get back up to at least 3 litres a day. If you hear a sloshy sound, it’s probably me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to run to the bathroom for the ninth time today.

Itching to… buy a needlepoint kit. Preferably something large and colourful and über-tacky that my grandmother would have LOVED.

Needing to… nip that urge in the bud. What the heck am I going to do with needlepoint, anyway?

Organizing… my receipts from now on! Because, with wool as my witness, Next Year Will Be Different! ^TM

Inspired by… my daughter Émilie. She had (minor) surgery last week, basically decided it was no big deal and is wondering why everyone’s making such a fuss over a dinky little operation anyway. Kid’s a trooper.

Delighted by… my sprouting garlic. Dudes! There’s GARLIC growing in my garden!

Recording… every penny spent.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

It went well

When I first started blogging, I promised myself that I would be a "good" blogger. My posts would be funny/witty/quirky/charming/thought-provoking, feature beautiful photography, and - this totally goes without saying - be published on a regular basis. Chalk it up to the crazy idealism of a newbie, but I didn't want to be one of those bloggers who's posts could be summarized by: I knit a sock. It went well.

That being said... it's been almost 3 weeks since my last post, and as merino is my witness, I can't seem to come up with something witty, charming, quirky, funny or thought provoking to save my LIFE. So... um... yeah.


I knit a sock.

Two of them, in fact. As one does, you know. With socks.

It went fairly well.

{Head Desk}

pattern: It's Tea Time, by Stephanie van der Linden
Source: Around the World in Knitted Socks: 26 Inspired Designs
Yarn: Sincere Sheep Keen, in the Milpa colourway
Needles: 2.25 mm
Modifications: none

According to my Ravelry projects, this is the 35th pair I've knit. Fascinating, non?

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Perspective

About a month ago, I came down with a case of Startitis. Thankfully, it wasn't the the severe kind that has the knitter casting on 17 projects in 3 days in wild, careless abandon. No, no, nothing like that.

I just really, really, REALLY wanted to cast on for a shawl. Even though I already had an active project on the needles. Even though I had a *cough*few*cough* lingering WIPs. I didn't care about any of that. Suddenly, what I was working on had about as much appeal as a colonoscopy, and I wanted something shiny and new, and darnit, it was going to be a shawl. Something with lace, but not too "lacey". Something awesome.

Now... I know what you're thinking. "Big whup, Tara. So you wanted to cast on for a shawl. How is that Startitis?!?"

Because of the fevered blindness with which I cast on, my friends. Brooklyn Tweed's Loft Collection had just come out and pushed me over the edge, so it didn't take me long to settle on Stonecrop for a pattern. As for the yarn, I quickly settled on the Foxhill Farm Cormo Cross I bought at Rhinebeck last year because a) it was still relatively shiny and new and b) it's brown, like the one the gorgeous strawberry-blond nymph modelling the pattern is wearing.

Was it the right gauge? Did I swatch? Did I even give a sh*t?? Um... no. I threw caution to the WIND, my friends. I told the Knitting Fates they could shove it up their skeins, and recklessly cast on. Total Startitis.

After about 10 rows I started getting that feeling, though... that feeling that this wasn't looking quite right, that maybe it wasn't going to work out. And I went through all Denial's usual suspects: "Maybe it'll block out", "Maybe it's the lighting", "It'll look better once it's off the needles". And for a while, that was enough to keep me going. I kept knitting, trying to outrun the sense of knitterly doom.

After a few weeks, as often happens in these situations, the Foxhill Stonecrop got set aside in favour of other, more interesting pressing projects. And there it sat, in suspended animation, on the living room end table (a.k.a. where WIPs go to die).

Last night I had Kate-the-Enabler over for a Knit Night, and as she was dutifully Oooh-ing and Aaah-ing over my current projects, she came upon the forgotten shawl.

"Is that your Cormo!??", she asked excitedly (she was there when I bought it. So was Stephen West. It was a Moment).

"Yeah" I answered. "I'm not entirely convinced it's working with this pattern, though...".

And Kate, yes woman extraordinaire, she who can see the positive in ANYTHING, spread the shawl out and gave it a good hard look. "You know..." she said, pursing her lips "I think you might be right."

Buh-bye, Stonecrop. Anyone have any pattern suggestions for 820 yards of Foxhill Cormo Cross?


Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Gadgets

Up until now, I wouldn't have called myself a gadget person. As a rule, the new gizmos, doodads and thingamabobs didn't really interest me. I was usually pretty happy with whatever tech I had. It's perfectly serviceable, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", yadayada...

The thing is, my job sort of requires me to be a bit tech savvy. Now, I realize some of you (or maybe even quite a few of you!) are going to have your entire world view completely skewed at the idea that a librarian could need to be tech anything, but they do. Information is available on many different platforms, and a good librarian (to say nothing of a good medical librarian!) needs to be hip to what's happening on the tech scene. (And yes, I realize that by using the term "hip to" anything, I have labeled myself as a total dork. Moving on.)

Anyway, since starting the new job, I've really noticed the, um... gaps in my techno-hipness. Clients would come in with really specific questions about their iPhones, their Androids, their tablets or their MacBooks, and it was all I could do not to answer them with "uummmmmmm... Gosh, I.... Look! Something shiny!".

Those days are behind me now though, for Santa (aka Phil) put a brand spanking new iPad under my tree :). It's fabulous! I've had a blast loading it up with various knitterly apps and assorted accoutrements. I've also started posting pictures on Instagram (I'm dearknits. Duh). So much fun! I love the filters you can apply to the images as well. It even inspired me to sign up for this photo a day challenge!

Here are a few pictures I took in the past week:

So while I remain may still be a techno-weenie (because DUDES, it just took me an HOUR to figure out how to post those pictures to Blogger, and I didn't really succeed because I wound up emailing them to myself and finishing up this post on my trusty old PC), I'm a weenie with a cool doohickey, and that's good enough for me!

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Frozen

A couple of things have got me thinking that it must be getting mighty cold in the underworld this week, and I'm not talking about the snow that finally got here today*. Nope, I'm talking about strange, heretofore unheard of goings-on chez Dear that, had you asked me about them even a week ago, I would have scoffed at.

Thing the first? Well, brace yourselves but... I knit a toy.


I realize that might not seem like a big deal to most of you, but trust me when I say that anyone who knows me will be absolutely GOBSMACKED.

Long story short: I don't do toys. Garment knitter all the way, 100%. I've had discussions about knitted toys with people, and while I've occasionally conceded that there might MAYBE be a few toys out there that score fairly high on the cute-o-meter, I just... don't get them. To me knitting a toy would be like crocheting a cozy for my toilet paper dispenser. Um... no.

Enter DangerCrafts' Three Christmas Hooligan pattern. Pretty gosh darn adorable, wouldn't you say? Yup. Only I wasn't going to knit it, because, as I said, I don't do toys. Not me. No siree. Knit a toy? Surely you jest. Pshaw... Like, duh.

However, when Émilie told me that they were having a "bring a stuffie to school" day this week, that was all the excuse I needed I decided to put aside my aversion to knitting toys and made her one, because that's the kind of mature, wonderful mother I am.

But wait, that's not all. I said there were a couple of things...

Thing the second? I finally fixed and finished The Mittens. Yeah... I know.


Happy Knitting, Everyone!

* yeah, I know. I'm complaining about the lack of snow, even though I know perfectly well that I'll be having nightmares because of it in April. What can I say? I'm Canadian. My relationship with snow is complex.

Community

It's a busy morning chez Dear. I've sent the kids off to school, the husband off to work, and I'm running around the house like a crazy person, trying to prepare for this, the most anticipated weekend of the year. That's right friends, I'm going to Rhinebeck.

Obviously, I'm looking forward to the yarn. But more than that, Rhinebeck is - for me, anyway - about the people. It's about being part of the gathering en masse of thousands of fiber enthusiasts. It's about getting to spend some special time with some of my most favourite people in the world. It's about community.

The past few weeks have been hectic around here. In a good way, of course. My new job is demanding and challenging and so, so rewarding. Being a part of something, feeling like my work, my skills, are appreciated and valued has been like a tall glass of cool water on a hot day, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've been given.

Of course, all change has it's difficulties. I feel as though all I've had time for the past 2 weeks is work and (immediate) family. Friends, commitments, and yes, blogging, have all fallen along the wayside. My commute is (much) longer, I'm home less often, and Phil has had to take on more of the "holding down the fort" workload. We're still trying to adjust to the new routine, trying to figure out what works best. It's an adjustment, but I know we'll get there.

Which is why this morning, as I'm getting ready to participate in one of the biggest assemblies of the knitting community, I'm taking a few minutes to write up this post. Because this blog, this space is also about community, about my community. I haven't forgotten that.

Happy Knitting, Everyone.

Just the scarf

Last night, as I sat down for my pitifully small daily alloted knitting time, Phil asked me what I was knitting for Rhinebeck.

I'm starting a new job next week, the schedule is crazy, and it's taken me a week to manage to knit a freakin' size 3-month stockinette baby cardigan, and dude's asking me - 17 days before the event - what I'm knitting for Rhinebeck.

I just stared up at him in astonishment, my eyes conveying a subtle "Are you sh**tting me???" message.

"Just the scarf then, eh?", he stammered.

Yup.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

Good mail

A few weeks ago, I received a letter in the mail. I'm not talking about a bill or a card or a note... I mean an actual, honest-to-goodness letter.


A friend of mine had decided it was time to step back from all this "convenience" and decided to take the time to physically set pen to paper and write me a letter.

I couldn't believe it. As I read her letter I had vivid flashbacks of a dozen childhood pen pals, of blue inked letters hurriedly written on ripped note paper... It was a simple, howdeedo? kind of letter, but the fact that my friend took the time to write it out by hand and send it to me by post - because she could have sent the very same message by email - infused it with an additional level of thoughtfulness and sincerity of feeling that moved me.

I can tell you that that feeling has led to some pretty deep, introspecty stuff at Casa de Dear. I've been pondering all this "convenience" which we've come to expect in our daily lives, and wondering what we've given up in the name of instant gratification... Honestly though? It's Sunday night. I'm beat. I think I'd rather sleep and live to rant another day, you know? :)

In the meantime, I'd invite you to pull out the old stationary and write someone a letter. It'll make their day, trust me.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!

p.s. : snail mail isn't the only thing my mail carrier has been bringing to my door this week!

Mantra

It's been an interesting week here. Not that I haven't busy with the usual errand-running/appointment-making/meal-preparing/personal-growth-in-the-form-of-exercise-and-drum-practice-ing that is my life, but I've felt... quiet. Big changes are afoot in my life, and it's like I'm trying to cultivate as much calm as possible now in anticipation of the coming storm.

I'm changing jobs. Again. In a few weeks I'll be starting a new position as the medical librarian in a prominent, well-respected hospital in the Montreal area, and I'm very excited. And scared. And worried about how this will affect all our lives. And nervous. And psyched about what an incredible professional opportunity this is. And grateful. And...

Well. You get the idea.

My thoughts are going every which way, and until recently, I was finding it incredibly difficult to stay focused. Luckily, my beloved Interwebz delivered a mantra which I've found most soothing over the past few days...


It totally works, too. Heh.

Happy Knitting, Everyone!