Saartje's Booties and World Wide Knit In Public Day

The booties have begun. I've finished the first bootie, and have the second bootie underway. They do knit up fairly quickly, and as others have noted, there are a lot of ends to darn in at the end. I thought about doing the Fleegle method, but I have only four dpns in the appropriate size, having lost one of my set of 5. Sigh. I did find a helpful tutorial on making button loops over at My Fashionable Life which made doing the button loops managable. I've made the requisite trip to the local button store appropriately named Button Button, and now I just need to finish bootie number 2 and attach the buttons. In the meantime, here is the first bootie:

Yesterday I went to one of our local World Wide Knit in Public Day events, held at Kits Beach, one of our local urban beaches. By the time I left there were 18 knitters and crocheters in attendance. A number were Ravelers, and it's always nice to meet people from Ravelry in real life. I'll try and hunt up everyone's blogs for a future post connecting to local knitters. Raveler Chrissythegreat has a podcast available on itunes. Kim Werker, editor of Interweave Crochet was there as well, working on a lovely scarf of Malabrigo laceweight in bright pinks. Seeing a number of cool crochet projects that were on the go further strengthened my resolve to learn to crochet this summer. There were a number of lovely people attending, some of whom I will have to try to identify later, as I didn't get their names. A big thank you to Rachel for organizing the event. 

The sun even made an appearance from time to time, which made sitting on the lawn a lot more pleasant! It was a real treat to meet new fiber people, and see what everyone was making. Only one of my close friends knits, so most of the time I don't talk about knitting. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. Due to my crazy schedule I haven't been to a stitch and bitch in ages, so this get together was really welcome. 

Seattle, and Yarn, Luscious Yarn....

Sweetie and I are back from Seattle. It was my first time in the city, and I really enjoyed it. We visited the famous (justifiably!) Pike Place Market, and had delicious chowder and a crab roll. What a delicious lunch! We wandered the market, ogling fresh seafood and the work of local artisans of all kinds.



We followed this up with some wonderful mini doughnuts.



Both of us love exploring new cities on foot, and we traversed downtown Seattle in every direction. Some of the highlights for me were the Elliot Bay Book Company. The truly great independent bookstore is a disappearing breed; this only makes me appreciate places like the Elliot Bay Book Co. even more. It is spacious, with high ceilings and cedar shelves reaching high overhead. The selection of books is incredible, and both Sweetie and I found a few novels. They also had a great selection of craft books, including knitting books. It was a struggle not to have a financial hemorrhage, but I managed it.

It was a pleasure to visit So Much Yarn as well, but I learned something I should probably have figured out in advance: don't bring your sweetie to the yarn store with you. I didn't really have enough time to do justice to the store, but it was a lovely place and the people working there seemed very friendly. It's definitely worth a visit.

We both really enjoyed the Capital Hill neighbourhood, and wound up there a few times during our trip. You can walk there from downtown in about 20-25 minutes, but be warned that there is a large hill involved! Alternatively, you could catch the bus (the 10 runs from First Avenue up to Capital Hill). The buses in the downtown core are free until 7 pm, which is pretty great. Capital Hill is outside the free zone, but only barely. You could easily walk from the last free stop if you wanted.

We had a fantastic lunch at Pho Cyclo (406 Broadway East), which we'd scoped out the previous night and which was the most delicious Vietnamese food I've ever eaten. Everything was incredibly fresh. I had pineapple-marinated shrimp on vermicelli and it was amazing. A lot of Vietnamese food I've eaten in Vancouver tends to be on the greasy side, with lackluster sprouts acting as filler. Both Sweetie and I agreed the food at Pho Cyclo was head and shoulders above any Vietnamese food we'd eaten at home. The one complaint we had was that the service, while prompt, was totally unsmiling. The food more than makes up for it though.

There is great service at Edie's Shoes though. The very pleasant salesperson put up with me admirably while I debated over two pairs of sneakers. One was a British Racing Green pair of Campers, which made me imagine myself as a gal in the 1950's riding my bicycle in a skirt and cardigan, and the other was a pair of Asics Tigers in olive green with orange accents, which had more of a 1970's track star feel. Here is the pair I chose:



Apparently I would prefer to adopt the persona of a 1950's college girl. Well, I did just reread Franny and Zooey...

Velouria is a great little store in Ballard which features the work of local designers, and which boasts a charming proprietress. One of my friends recommended Ballard to me, and Sweetie and I stopped there this morning on our way out of town. There are a number of cute shops and cafes only a few blocks away from a stretch of industrial waterfront. I wish I'd had a bit more time to explore the area, and would definitely return on another visit.

The one big downside to our trip was the weather. Both Vancouver and Seattle have been experiencing unseasonably cold weather this month. It rained almost all day Monday, and then became extremely windy in the evening. On Tuesday, it rained and was grey. Today was.... grey. And cold. I really hope that summer decides to arrive sometime soon, preferably this week while I'm still on holiday!

I've decided to start the Saartje's Booties. I'm using this yarn, which is Dream in Color Smooshy in a colourway called Beach Fog. It's a lovely mix of aquas and greens, which should be perfect for a baby of either gender. I do know that one of the fall arrivals is a boy, so this is a good thing.



Also, now that she's received her package, I can share the picture of the yarn I bought from local dyer Yummy Yarns and sent to my swap partner as part of our Neil Gaiman swap on Ravelry. That wasn't my original plan for this yarn, but I was late getting my package out, and decided my swap recipient's patience should be rewarded with some lovely yarn. The colourway is called Ravage Me. Wowza! However, like an idiot I forgot to take a picture of the Emerald Green Handwarmers I knit her using Berrocco Ultra Alpaca in a burgandy. This pattern is a a lovely one, and only had to be modified slightly to accommodate the thickness of the Ultra Alpaca. I love knitting with Ultra Alpaca. It combines the softness of alpaca with the pricepoint of wool.



Next post: Saartje's Booties!

Wow, that took longer than I thought!

Hello friends, if you're still out there after another long hiatus. I've finished my Neil Gaiman swap knitting and mailed it off. I have pictures of some lovely wool content but I have had to include it in my swap package in an attempt to make up for my knitting tardiness. Until my poor recipient has the package in her hot little hands, I have to refrain from posting anything that will ruin the surprise.

At around every time this year, I have to battle my instincts to abandon knitting in favour of a more summery craft like embroidery. This has resulted in a number of summery knitting UFOs. There is the partially completed Sizzle, which is a currently half a front in chocolate brown Butterfly cotton. There is the Clementine stole, which might be one-tenth complete. I also have a ball of Cherry Hill sock yarn waiting to be made into Monkeys or something equally wonderful. There are other UFOs of the fall variety as well, but I'm not ready for full disclosure yet.

This year the impetus to knit through the summer is even stronger though, as there are some small humans coming this fall. My cousin is expecting a little boy in September, and my friend is expecting a tiny person in November. This means I need to keep the needles clicking over the summer. I have Saartje's Booties in my queue, as well as the Baby Surprise jacket. I have purchased some lovely Dream in Colour Smooshy in an aqua colour for the booties.

In addition to the baby stuff, there is also the lure of crochet, which I've wanted to explore for a while now. Will this be the year?

ARRGH! This all sounds very scattered. If anyone reading this can offer me some advice on how to proceed, I would welcome it! Do I try and get something done on a UFO? Start a new pair of socks? Knit some booties? Pick up a hook? Blog readers, I need some help over here.

Operation Resurrection

Well, it's been a hectic month all around. I started working full time teaching on Mar. 31, and had to also finish my papers for the end of the academic term. April was a blur, and even with an extension on one of my papers, it was a herculean effort. I had to put aside my other job, working for a professor, and am now consequently in the position of having to make up time for her now.

However, that said, at least my own studies are done until September! Now I have only my two jobs to focus on, and a social life to reconstruct. I've been trying to catch up with my lovely friends, and have had some success, but there are still days that I don't even have time to send an email.

As you can imagine, the opportunities for knitting have been severely constrained. However, I have some swap knitting to complete this weekend, along with another project for the swap. That said, I can't post pictures lest I ruin someone's surprise. It's my first foray into designing anything myself, and although it's not tricky my first attempt needs modifications. Here's hoping that the knitting fates smile upon me and my woolly endeavour. I'll post pictures once my swap recipient has received the parcel.

Speaking of knitting, I've barely looked at Ravelry for the last month, which is a crying shame. Now I have to go back and get caught up as much as I reasonably can on my favorite groups. I miss the Ravelry desperately. I was so sad to see that I missed the Ravelraiser deadline. Boo to me. However, I suppose there's nothing stopping me from donating in the absence of any cool campaigns.


I have been taking advantage of the marginally warmer weather, and my marginally larger amount of free time to walk to work. I'm going to sprinkle this post with some images I've taken of my neighbourhood, and walk to work, in full spring glory. The trees in my neighbourhood are all either totally lush with an abundance of pink or white blossoms, or are unfurling leaves that are, for me, the epitome of spring. I love the yellow green of the tender leaflets.

I look forward to bringing some knitting content back to the blog in the next week or so. I've got a Sizzle on the needles from last summer to finish, a Clementine Stole (also a UFO), and my cousin's baby due in September to knit for. Time to get those needles clicking!

March is crazy!

Well, Easter weekend brought the end of the first pair of socks. They're finished, and they fit Sweetie. As he has perpetually cold feet, I think they'll get a lot of wear. I also think I'll try and make it a practice to have a pair of socks on the go at all times, as they're a great project for bus riding and waiting in line. I may even invest in one of those cute little drawstring sock project bags.



We spent Easter weekend with our families. One of the highlights was watching my 3 1/2 year old nephew hunting for Easter eggs. He was so delighted! My mom had placed a basket at the front door, and the Easter Bunny left a trail of eggs up the stairs to the living room.

The weather in the last week has been very crazy. We've had snow (twice!!), which is very atypical for Vancouver at this time of the year. I mean, c'mon, our daffodils are already blooming, as are the cherry trees! It has also hailed several times, and today the sun is out. I tried to take pictures of the snow on Easter Sunday, but they came out very poorly. Fortunately the snow has not stuck around at all, and melted when it hit the ground.

This may be my last post for the next two weeks. I'm finishing my semester, and have 3 papers and a presentation due in the next week and a half. Also, tomorrow I begin teaching full time, which means a pile of lesson planning. The timing is a bit hair-raising, but at least the stress is finite. By April 14, come hell or high water I'll be done.

On the knitting frontier, I'm going to be swatching for some fingerless gloves for the Neil Gaiman swap on Ravelry. I've been charting some patterns. I don't want to risk ruining the surprise on the off chance my swap recipient stops by the site, but I'll post some pics once I've sent the package off.

I'm also considering dipping into the UFO tickle trunk and resurrecting my Sizzle. The weather's almost nice enough to make knitting a cotton tank top an appealing thought. April 14, I can't wait for you to get here!!!

Bloom shalaka!

Spring has arrived. The crocuses and daffodils are here, and the blossoms are appearing on the later blooming trees. The spring showers are here too, in spite of a recent spate of sunshine, or even merely overcast weather.


In the knitting world, I've finished the gusset shaping on the second sock, and will hopefully finish it this week. I'm nearing the end of the semester, which means a lot less knitting time. I've also been teaching a fair bit recently, and as such a lot of my free time has been eaten up by lesson planning. Yikes.

However, I have to get this sock done so I can get cracking on some fingerless gloves for a Neil Gaiman swap I'm part of on Ravelry. Here are some chart sketches. This will be my first time doing major mods to a pattern, and I'm nervous and excited. I'll post a few more details once I've begun in earnest.



Also in the realm of knitting, let me share this adorable critter knit by my friend. Knocknees is pictured here astride her trusty steed, and sitting in a slightly intoxicated sidesaddle pose. My friend makes a variety of different, adorable woodland creatures and also mutant creatures. Most amazingly, she knits them freehand. I really admire her creativity. She says she admires my ability to follow a pattern, but I'd take her skills anytime. I'll post a link here if she ever opens an Etsy store to sell these guys, but so far she's been reluctant to, not wanting to ruin the magic of making them with enforced production.




Anyhow, hopefully my next post will be full of FO sock pictures, and WIP swap pictures! Fingers crossed.

First sock- done!

Notice that I can't yet report my first pair of socks complete yet, but I did just finish my first sock. Even better, it fits Sweetie's foot just fine. Here, have a look:


The socks are actually more grey than blue, but I wanted to get some pictures taken and thus I'm stuck with the fluorescent light in the kitchen. Once the other sock is done I'll make sure I take the pics in daylight.

The time in the semester has arrived when I really have to get down to business. Additionally, I've been working a lot, and that too is only going to get busier in the next month. I love the work I'm doing though, and as I left my previous life as a corporate cog to pursue my studies and this new career path, that can only be a good thing.

I've also made some decisions about my studies that have been plaguing me for the last few months. I don't know what it was mentally that shook loose, and allowed me to finally come to some decisions I'm happy about.

On a less serious note, there's some doggy drama in the house. We're pug-sitting for a friend of ours who's spending a week in sunny Cancun. Merry and Ripley have some issues, in that both of them are poorly socialized in dealing with other dogs. It's pretty funny watching them not interact all day. I'm hoping that by the end of the week they'll be snuggling, but for now that seems a lofty goal.

This post is turning out to be a bit of a hodge podge, but here's another little thing. I think I'm going to play around with the look of this blog a bit, as it is un petit peu dull. I'm debating a seasonal colour scheme change. Orange and green are my fall favorites, but pink and a green the colour of new leaves speak to me of spring- cherry blossoms and buds. After all, there's no rule saying it has to look exactly the same all the time. If I hit on something I really love, I do reserve the right to keep it! Any thoughts? Is this the kiss of death? Is it annoying, or ok?

Anyhow, time for me to head to bed. I've got homework to do and lots of prep to take care of for work on Tuesday. The days are just packed lately.