stranger things...

I’m gearing up for New Years and that means getting my ducks in a row for the resolutions. You know that procrastination thing I mentioned the other day – well, that’s top of the list. It’s probably not as serious as I’m making out but I was finishing up Janet’s church pullover – it’s been hanging on the LK since forever and, I thought, I think I mentioned to you, yes, I did:   http://knitwords.blogspot.ca/2017/10/multiple-choice.html - sheesh, that was back in October when I confessed that I was having to use 3 row counters with my LK150 because none were working properly and I said I was going to order a couple new ones. Didn’t do that.

So, before getting into knitting the last two pieces, the side panels, I went on-line to Peter Smith Trading in Toronto www.sewknit.ca – he has a pretty good website for ordering Silver Reed/Studio/Singer parts. He has all the parts catalogues for the individual machines, so you can look up the part, find the number you want and then go back to the parts order page, locate that number and put it in your cart. I did that for the row counters and the curl cord that I wanted,  ;-) , but I knew there was something else that should have been on my list - I couldn’t think of it so I abandoned that and went back to knitting – you won’t believe this but that freaking row counter that was adding 19 rows instead of moving only one number? suddenly, it’s working perfectly! Like I said, ‘stranger things!’ I’m Netflixing that show! Usually, anything remotely sci-fi is definitely not for me but the nostalgia value for the 80s, the music, ugly cars, hairdos! I’m loving it! and those kids are so cute!

Happy New Year!

photoshoot...

There I was on Christmas Eve day, seaming up the ‘cold/bold shoulder’ top that I made for Rhiana, which she requested a few weeks back – I still hadn’t gotten around to making her that cardi for back-to-school – OMG! I have never been this disorganized or am I turning into a procrastinator?
In my defense, although the actual knitting of this top is quite quick, I have been pattern-writing every step of the way. I’ve had so many requests at seminars for this design that I figured if I were making one for her, I may as well write it up for everyone at the same time and this would be my test garment.
If you want to see the backstory, check out this link:

http://knitwords.blogspot.ca/2016/05/it-really-wasnt-secret.html which has a link to the back, backstory!

On Boxing Day, while I was giving it a final steam so I could get her photo in it before she went home, Rhiana was looking through a copy of Knitwords #53 – Her beautiful mom, Agnieszka was the cover girl and Rhiana and her brother Nathan were also there – he remembers but she doesn’t as she was only 4 years old back in 2010I!




Anyway, my girl was happy with it. She put it on, threw a few poses and said we could do a photoshoot, just like in the magazine days! After admiring herself in the mirror, she declared 'I really like this!' She always was a great, little model!

Happy Holidays, all the best to you and yours for 2018, and may all your knitting projects turn out this nice!

sox talk...

I can’t believe I haven’t talked about knitting socks all year, not since last Christmas! To be honest, I did sort of think I probably have worn out the topic, but you never know. Here I am feeling I have something more to say on the subject.
The other morning, we had a snow storm and the power went out. I was already in my workroom, preparing to knit and thought, oh, I don’t want to waste the impulse – it was bright enough in the room that I didn’t need power for the lights but to make something that didn’t require the electric for patterning? I grabbed an already-coned-up skein of sock yarn in an aqua and pinks colourway and began to knit. It just happened to be a new-to-me one, Lana Grossa Meilenweit – I placed a mail order last February when there were some things on sale at loveknitting.com – I had spotted this one called ‘stretch Malibu’, thinking it was a great deal at $10.89 for a 100g ball, never got round to it till now. It looked a little finer than my usual Regia sock yarn. Ignoring that thought, I threaded up and began knitting (using my regular double bed sock pattern – see ‘freebies’ at www.knitwords.com – last December I updated that with all my little extra tips along with men’s and ladies sizes and offered it as a pdf – still available, email me at knitwords@shaw.ca).
The power came back on and I never even noticed, just finished off the pair, going for a ladies 8.5 size. I was on a roll and took the next most appealing one, Regia 4 fadig color in reds with a bit of white, orange and yellow call ‘Rio’. Used the same exact size and when I compared the two, the Malibu stretch turned out a full size smaller that the Regia pair. Hum-m-m, interesting. I read the label and the Malibu is 45% wool, 35% cotton, 13% polymid, 7% Elite (PBT) – who knows what that might be? It says, ‘machine washable, non-felting, hard wearing’ (I like that!). And the yardage (sounds better than meterage) is 460 m to 100g! The other sock yarns, merino or superwash wool/nylon are 420 m to 100g.   

I got this great pair of Fluevog boots that I love – they have great grips on the bottom and I wanted them to be my winter boots this year but they are a bit snug with my regular merino wool socks and skinny jeans leave my ankles kind of bare and cold – not to mention matching the colour! using the blue/grey colourway, knit up one size smaller than my regular 7.5, went back to a longer 60-row ribbed cuff to take care of the ankle issue – they are just that bit thinner and perfect! ;-)
P.S. if you think it's hard to take a selfie, try photo-ing your own feet!