Greetings from the Other Side

Of Niagara Falls, that is...

Yup, to my shock and dismay (OK, not really dismay, but I was definitely startled), the Kite Festival is in Niagara Falls New York. (By the way, it really is true what they say. The Canadian site is totally the better side! :)

We left early this morning after dropping off the cherubs at daycare, where they'll be picked up by my parents this afternoon. Got some great knitting time on the ride down, but I had to put the needles down when for some reason Phil objected to driving the entire 7 hours. Grumble grumble.

As soon as we checked into the hotel, Phil wanted to check out the kite flying area of the day, which was on Goat Island, a short drive from where we're staying. Unfortunately it turned out that most of the flyers were already packing up for the day, but that didn't deter Phil one little bit!

When we arrived in the area, we kept on commenting how strange it was that we couldn't see any kites in the air. We quickly discovered why!

The wind was really erratic, and the mist being thrown into the air by the falls made it really difficult to fly anything. And as for knitting? Fuhget aboud it...

We were a bit bummed, but decided to make the best of it by seeing the sights! On top of the list of attractions is the Cave of the Winds, which takes you right up to the American Falls (as opposed to the Horseshoe Falls, which we Canucks are accustomed to seeing from the Maid of the Mist). Before you embark on the tour, you're given these garbage bags/raincoats and flip-flops, and are warned that your clothes "may get damp". Uh, yeah, UNDERSTATEMENT!

I think there's a perpetual rainbow at the foot of the Falls

Rock on, Phil!

It's called the Hurricane Deck for a reason!

Totally awesome. Now we're back at the hotel, and we're having dinner with a bunch of kite bigwigs tonight. I have no idea who these people are, but Phil tells me that it'd be like meeting up with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Cat Bordhi, Anne Hanson and Norah Gaughan at Rhinebeck. He's pretty stoked.

After dinner there will be fireworks at the Falls. Should be a good time.

(I'm wearing your scarf Cynthia! I love it!)

Happy Knitting Everyone! (I'm hard at work on a hat for Emilie, and it's - wait for it! - a crochet pattern! Gasp!!!)

Upwards and Onwards

Many thanks for the gushing comments regarding my new flooring. As I was saying to the lovely and talented Cynthia yesterday, I love them so much I want to cover myself in oil and slither across them naked. :)

Last weekend being what it was, I'm pleased to announce that Phil and I will be taking a well-deserved trip à deux this weekend, when we head to the Niagara International Kite Festival in Niagara Falls. Yessir, ladies and gents, Phil has become such a kite-making bigwig that, not only was he invited to participate in this year's festival, but he's actually being comped for it. How cool is that?

Of course, while I'm looking forward to seeing the kites (and the Falls, I haven't been since I was a wee knitter), I'm absolutely ecstatic about all the primo knitting time I'll have this weekend ('cause, really, once the kites are in the air, there's not much else to do). Plus the 7 hour drive to and from? Oh yeah, baby, I'm gonna get my knit on!

Naturally, I've given considerable thought to what knitting I'm going to bring (natch'). I think this will be the perfect opportunity to crank out a few small Christmas gift projects. If strictly sticking to projects using stash yarn only, here's what I've come up with so far:

• A pair of Fetching fingerless gloves in yummy Malabrigo for the daycare lady (to match the hat I made her last year)
• A pair of Fuzzy feet for someone who shall remain nameless because he/she might be a reader. I'm thinking Cascade 220 for this project.
• A pair of Newfoundland Mitts using some leftover Cascade 220 and leftover Noro Kureyon.

This would also be a great opportunity to finish some languishing UFO's, like the Argosy scarf I cast on for when Christ was a cowboy, or the Good Ole Cabled Scarf I started in, um, November 2007.

And of course, let's not forget my 2 "current" WIPs, the Celtic Tote and my Miscellaneous-Man Socks.

Right, so that's, what? 7 projects for a 3 day weekend? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Obsess much?

I was thinking about handknits as gifts recently, and wondering how I felt about them. As a knitter, I'll admit that I like to give handknit gifts because a) they're a way to save money (the money's already spent, y'all) and b) I often have to rack my brain to come up with a gift (because we HAVE to buy "something", right?), but you can never have too many socks or hats or scarves. Right?

The question still remains, though. Are handknits considered "real" gifts by their recipients? Do they appreciate them for the time and skill they represent, or do they feel like they got the shaft? Should gifted handknits always be accompanied by store-bought gifts? In which case, why bother with handknits at all??? Should we limit ourselves to one handknit gift per person per year?

Quite the connundrum, dear readers... Maybe I should tackle the Egg vs. Chicken debate instead.

I'll wrap up today's post with a picture of the heel of my Miscellaneous-Man socks.

I finally get it! I've been reading forever how you're supposed to do a short-row heel when using self-striping yarn so as not to disrupt the stripe sequence, but I just didn't get it. I tend to prefer a heel flap and gusset myself, but this time I thought "What the heck". And look! See the yellow stripe? See how it folds in on itself? (Or rather, how it WOULD fold in on itself if I had started it a smidge earlier in the sequence?). THAT's what everybody was talking about! I finally get it! Yay!

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Fire Bad, Tree Pretty

To say it's been a brutal weekend would be a colossal understatement. It was the mother of all DORMA weekends, and I wasn't even any of the work! (But, between you and me? A weekend with 2 kids and my mother-in-law ain't exactly a picnic either) ;)

So, in lieu of words, a photo-essay.

The old carpet. Eeeeeeeeewwwwww

Rippin' it out! Buh-Bye, carpet!

Oy Vey

A few nails...

Phil's Dad, hard at work

Mmmmm, shiny....

The living room!

My new dining room

The hallway

As you can see, things aren't quite back to normal. But we're getting there! We're not 100% done, but still, it's close enough...

Oh, and I turned the heel on my Miscellaneous-Man socks ;)

Happy Knitting Everyone!

More Garment Fantasies

As I mentioned last post, I'm having major garment fantasies, and in keeping with my tendency towards mental masturbation, I've given considerable thought to what I could cast on next (I'm down to a mere 2 "active" projects right now), as well as potential purchases during the New York Sheep and Wool Festival (aka Rhinebeck).

One of the garments I mentioned last time was Jamesey. I really like this pattern, I like that it's got some gansey action going on, it's definitely speaking to me. Upon re-examining the stash last night, I realized that I've got some lovely Shelridge Farms Soft Touch W4 that I could work beautifully with this pattern.

Interesting... However, further consideration has led me to identify 2 potential problems with this project.

1. The original pattern is knit in a cotton yarn, and is designed to be shrunk after washing. Can I substitute a superwash merino for cotton? Will it work?
2. (this is a biggie): by taking on a potentially huge project like this one, and considering the limited amount of knitting time I have at my disposal, am I setting myself up for a total Christmas-Eve meltdown? Maybe I should just stick to socks and hats? (but seriously, where's the fun in that?)

I don't know... I'll keep mulling it over (don't worry!) and keep you posted.

I'm also putting a great deal of thought into what I want to purchase at Rhinebeck this year. I'm heading out with Kate-the-Enabler for a girls' weekend, and frankly just getting a weekend away will be it's own reward at this point, regardless of the fact that it's for a fiber festival. STILL, there WILL be yarn there... As you've probably guessed, I'm hoping to buy sweater quantities of yarn this year. Looking at the vendor list, I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that the afore-mentioned Shelridge Farm, Knitting Notions, Morehouse Farm and Briar Rose booths will ALL be visited by yours truly in a mere 23 days. Squeeee!!!

I cast on my Miscellaneous-Man Socks earlier this week.

Basic no-brainer sock, knit with Twisted Fiber Art Playful in the Xavier colourway. I also got re-acquainted with the Celtic Tote last night. Oh Celtic Tote, how I missed thee! Progress will go quickly with this on I'm hoping (you know, because of the whole "cabling without a cable needle" thing).

In the "Fitness and Health" department, I signed up for a year-long membership to Curves earlier this week. No, it's not necessarily the workout of the century. Yes, it can become monotonous and repetitive, but honestly? The same can be said about EVERY workout program I've ever attempted. Bottom line? This works with my lifestyle, and it's better than what I was doing before, which was, um, nothing.

Kate-the-Enabler and I also started the hundred push-up challenge this week. Have you heard about this? Basically, it's a training program that claims you'll be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups in 6 weeks. I was reading about it on the Enchanting Juno's blog last week, and thought it would be a kick for the two of us to do together, sort of a way to stay motivated. I was depressed to find that I couldn't even manage ONE stinkin' "good-form" push-up, but after consulting with my sister-in-law (aka "She-of-the-great-ass-and-killer-arms"), I was able to manage about 3 with a wider stance, putting me in the lowest bracket (something about re-distributing my weight). Anyhoo! I started the Day 1 of Week 1 last night. Go go go!!!

I've also been paying better attention to what I'm eating. I was inspired by Maggie's post about this Smokey Miso Tofu sandwich, and decided it would be fun to try out. I had a little trouble finding some of the ingredients at first (I actually called my mostly-vegetarian cousin Jessica from the Vegan-Health-Macrobiotic-Organic store and asked her "What the heck is nutritional yeast, anyway?"), but eventually I had everything I needed (including some Quinoa and Kamut flour bread - that's gotta score me double points, right?). I made it on Sunday, and although I think I ultimately ended up slicing my tofu a bit too thin, it was really good, and I've had it for lunch 3 times this week. Proud of me?

Don't worry, I'm not going all "health-nut" on you. I've been baking practically every night this week, trying to make good use of all the apples we picked last weekend. Here's what Émilie and I made tonight. Apple honey muffins. Mmmmm...

Finally, the mail carrier left a lovely package from the Needle Arts Book Shop in my mailbox today! Some Belated Birthday Books from my lovely cousin (and lucky knitwear recipient) Jessica. Thanks, Jessie!

I'm particularly excited to have received Selbuvotter. I sense mittens in my future!

Happy Knitting Everyone! If all goes as planned, I'll have many (many many!) pictures of my new hardwood floors to share with you next post!

Progress

So! Do you want to see pictures of my progress so far on Mystery Stole 4?

Yeah, I decided to rip it out. I was starting to feel pressured by the fact that I was so far behind on the clues (clue 4 should be released this coming Friday), setting myself nightly knitting objectives to get caught up, and it was beginning to feel like a chore. I've got enough chores, obligations and deadlines in my life, I don't need my knitting bossing me around as well.

Bottom line, it just wasn't "doing it" for me, and rather than have another UFO plant roots in my knitting basket, I made an executive decision and cut it loose. I didn't even bother tinking back to recuperate the beads. Asta la vista, baby!

I also finished the second Nutkin sock on the metro to work this morning. These are a belated birthday gift for my cousin Jessica.

I'm telling you, casting off and finishing a project in the metro is about as mystical to your fellow commuters as casting on. I could FEEL people staring at me, and it was all I could do to suppress a smile of smug satisfaction.

So I've polished off a couple of projects in the past week, either by finishing or frogging, and now of course, I'm fantasizing about what to do next. I want to cast on another pair of socks for my train knitting, and I think I'm going to use some of my Twisted Fiber Art for that. I've got a mean hankering for some self-striping action, and I want to get a few Christmas gifts knit up as well. Two birds, one stone? These will be good Miscellaneous Man-Socks.

I'm also looking forward to picking up my sadly neglected Celtic Tote. I'd really like to be able to take it to Rhinebeck, and up until this weekend I was under the impression that there was "plenty of time left". Well, no, there isn't really. It's T-minus 24 days and counting. Gotta get a move on.

So that's what's coming up in the immediate future. Also possibly a hat (Foliage? Odessa?), maybe Waves of Grain (think I can do THAT by Rhinebeck too?).

What I really want to knit is something delicious, something drapey, something lovely and comforting and... I don't know what. I'd really like to cast on a cardigan (I'm having garment knitting fantasies), maybe Véronik Avery's Dollar and a Half Cardigan, or this cute Phildar gilet(which I don't have the pattern for, so maybe not), or even a man-sweater, like Jamesey or the Urban Aran Cardigan. Plus there are about 7 projects from the Norah Gaughan Berroco book I just bought. Or, you know, anything with Sea Silk.

Trouble is, I don't really have anything appropriate in the stash. I'm sadly lacking in the DK/Worsted department, something I'll be sure to remedy in 24 days. :)

I had more I wanted to talk about today, but I'm about out of time for today. I'll end today's post by wishing a great big Happy Birthday to my husband, pinball wizard and über-kite-maker-extraordinaire, Philippe. He's 36 today, and still as handsome as he was the day I met him (more so, actually). Wish the same could be said about me...

Happy Birthday, sweetie! I love you.

And Happy Knitting to all of you!

Things you May Not Know About Lace

OK, I cast finally cast on for Mystery Stole 4 on Friday night, and I've discovered a few key facts about lace that I thought I'd share with my readers. Let's begin.

1. Knitting Lace is hard: it takes attention and focus to detail, and it's not something you can mindlessly do while watching television after spending an exhausting day working and/or running around with 2 kids under 5.
2. Lace weight is tiny: My last 2 lace projects (Cluaranach and the Lace ribbon scarf) weren't knit with your traditional lace weight. Even though I've knit with lace weight before, I think I had forgotten how frickin' tiny it actually is, and what a pain in the arse it can be to work the stitches.
3. Knitting with beads is really persnickety: Man! getting the stupid beads on the tiny crochet needle is a pain, getting them on the stitches is difficult... Seriously! The second row of Clue 1 has 1 bead on every alternate stitch (you cast on 113 stitches, I don't think that's giving too much away)? It must have taken me a bleepin' HOUR to get one row done!
   

So apologies to all if there are no progress pictures. I've only worked up to row 3 on clue 1, so progress is non-existent at this point. I wasn't able to work on it last night because we had Phil's brother and his girlfriend over for dinner, and when I came back downstairs from putting Maxime to bed (Émilie was spending the night with Phil's parents on their boat), they were all sprawled out with the lights out in the living room, watching season 1 of Heroes, and I felt bad asking them to turn on the lights. So I worked on a sock instead (that I can pretty much do blindfolded). On the upside, I think we've brought them over to the dark side of the force. It wouldn't surprise me if they had camped outside Best Buy all night to be able to buy the DVD as soon as they opened their doors this morning. :)

I do have some pictures of today's excursion to a local apple orchard to pick apples with, apparently, everyone else in Laval.

Even though apple picking is quite the traditional Fall activity in this neck of the woods, I hadn't been since I was a little girl, and this was the first time we went with the kids. It was a beautiful day, and we had loads of fun.

Of course, now I've got more apples than I know what to do with. Anyone got some good apple recipes to share? Apple pies, bread, muffins, cobbler? You name it, I've got the apples for it.

Lastly, Robyn nominated me for an I love your Blog award!


The rules are:
1- Post the award on your blog.

2- Add a link to the person who gave you the award.

3- Nominate at least 4 other bloggers and add their links:

Obviously, I love Robyn's blog, and I love my co-nominees as well, so I won't name them. I nominate Maggie, Alison, Sinéad, and for my "famous" blogger, I'll nominate Anne Hanson (I don't think I'll tell her though, I mean come on...).

Happy Knitting Everyone!

What's Next

First things first, I finished the Baby Pinwheel Blanket last night while watching Bones! Good thing too, my girlfriend had her daughter Sunday night (technically Monday morning). I don't know when I'll be able to actually give it to her, but at least it's done.


OK, so clearly I went overboard with this thing. Seriously, as you can see, it would make a very suitable lap afghan. When I finished binding it off, I held it up and the sheer size of it sort of threw me. I don't think I realized what 600 stitches actually meant in terms of size.


Oh well, it's soft and the colours are fun and it's done. Time to move on!

I finally received my beads from the Bead Wrangler yesterday (it didn't take that long really, I'm just impatient), and I was somewhat disappointed with what I got. The colours I selected just don't seem to "go" with the lace I wanted to pair them with. What do you think? (the second photo is closer to the actual colour)


I really thought I had made the best selection based on what was on the computer screen, but apparently not. Now, for those of you about to comment that none of this would have happened had I bothered to go to an actual bead store, may I remind you that I DID start out by going to a bead store (Chaton Beads, their new Laval store), and while the colours of the beads I ended up choosing were perfect, they weren't the right size. Nor were the sales people particularly helpful. When I asked for size 8/0 or 5 mm beads, all I got were blank stares.

Actually, as you can see from this photo, the beads I bought to go with Maggie's laceweight (the Sunset colourway) actually work well, and I think that's what I'll use when I cast on for Waves of Grain (you know, in August, 2013). And upon checking the pictures of other people's Mystery Stole, I'm going to try the garnet beads with my Classic Elite Silky Alpaca before I really decide. Even though my first instinct when knitting with beads is to go for something more subtle, many people are using vibrant (if not downright clashing) beads with their stoles, and it seems to work. So we'll see.

As for the blue beads, I have no idea what the heck I was thinking when I ordered these. They aren't even remotely in the same vicinity as the colour family of their intended lace (again, Maggie's lace weight, this time in the Havasy Falls colourway). No worries though, I've found the perfect pattern for that yarn. One of these days I'm even going to get around to buying it. These beads WOULD be perfect with some Dream in Color Baby Lace (perhaps the Lunar Zazzle colourway?), but sadly, I don't have any of that in the stash. Sigh. Someday!

All these projects will have to wait though. I've got something a bit more pressing on my mind lately.
Phil picked up our hardwood flooring yesterday, and we're either going to install it this weekend or next weekend. Woo-Hoo!!!!! I can't wait, our carpet is SOOOOOO friggin' gross. I'll be sure to post before and after pictures (as well as some in-progress pictures. Possibly a video montage.).

I'll end today's post by saying a big Happy Birthday to both my Mom and my Dad (yup! they're both born on September 18th! Exactly 4 years apart). I don't know if my mother reads this blog on a regular basis, but I know Dad's always out there.

Happy Birthday to both of you! I love you!

And Happy Knitting to the rest of you.