A Productive Weekend

A weekend away at a cottage produced a couple of things. I finished the scarf that I half heartedly started last week... I find the yarn a bit rough and hope it will soften when I wash it.



And a pair of socks for Elliotte from leftover yarn. I have so much pretty yarn left I suspect there will be a couple of more pairs before Christmas.




I have to take a break from knitting and do a little housekeeping before things go to hell in a handbasket here. Unpacking the rest of the suitcases from our trip to Greece would be a good start it guess. Oh well, there's always tomorrow...

It's About Time

I've been back in Canada for a week now but getting over jet lag has been harder than in previous years. I think the older you get the harder it is.

Anyway, I do have some stuff to post. I did a lot of knitting in Greece since a; my husband was otherwise occupied and b; the weather wasn't the greatest. I knit five pairs of socks. I only have photos of four since one pair I gave away to our wonderful neighbour Sophia (see my post on my other blog) before I got a chance to photograph them. They were nice though and I'm certain they were appreciated.

I've started another pair of socks since returning home but his pair will not show up here until they are finished. They will be very colorful since I've decided to stripe them using every leftover sock yarn I have. I hate waste...

I've also started the Noro Scarf. I'm late to this project since just about everyone in Ravelry has done this one. Better late than never I figure and it is going to be nice. I will gift this to someone special since it's pretty pricey. The yarn alone was over forty bucks.

Closing Up For A While

Every year at this time I put this blog on hiatus for a couple of months. It's because we travel to Greece and getting dependable Internet is always a bit of a struggle. I find keeping one blog going is just about enough. Anyone interested can follow my comings and goings on my other blog while I'm away. I'm closing up a bit earlier this year and that's mainly because I have many things to do before we actually leave at the end of the month. Having my foot out of commission has put me behind the eight ball and we have also been travelling around southern Ontario for the last 18 days and that didn't help. It was fun though and there was knitting...

Wool socks for my brother-in-law Stavros. Now I had no idea that he would have liked wool socks and never made him any. After all, he lives in Greece. Who needs wool socks in Greece? When my mother-in-law passed away in the spring I had just sent over a new pair of socks for her that she never got to wear. Stavros immediately claimed them as his own. Seems it gets a bit cool on that boat of his in the fall. I decided to gift him another pair.


These socks are knit with Noro sock yarn. I loved the colors and hated knitting with this yarn for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is difficult to knit on bamboo needles and slides off steel needles and secondly because it is a single ply yarn and has a lot of thin spots which required what I call cut and paste. Lots of ends to sew in.


This pair is for me as well and it's done with Classic Elite Yarns, Summer Sox. It's a blend of cotton, merino and nylon. I decided to change up the basic vanilla sock pattern by doing a frilly cast on.

And while we were bumming around I couldn't resist buying yarn in the little city of North Bay, Ontario. Great yarn shop and I had to stop myself. I had planned on buying more in the town of Parry Sound but never did make it to the yarn shop, sadly.

So that's it then until November. I will knit in Greece and will post pictures of both my travels and my knitting on The View From Here.

Taking My Knittin On The Road

My sweetie has decided that he doesn't feel like working a whole lot this month so we're off on a bit of a road trip. We're starting with a couple of days at the cottage and then heading both north/west and then further north to visit other friends cottages. Should be fun. I have lots of stuff to take with me including that darn log cabin blanket that doesn't want to get any bigger no matter how much I knit. I seem to be stuck on the square that is 132 stitches for 132 rows. I think I'm half way through that block but it's tough slogging. Meanwhile a finished project...

Forest Canopy Shawl


I liked this pattern so much I'm doing one more but in a lace weight yarn. What I like so much is that the instructions are both written and charted. Those who know me know that I'm a total dummy when it comes to charts. I think that part of my brain just simply doesn't work. The pattern is for a shoulder shawl and I did about 6 extra repeats because I wanted it larger. I also ran out of yarn and had to dye some more. I didn't get it quite right but it doesn't look too odd. I can't decide whether to keep it for myself or take it to Germany for my elderly aunt.

These socks in progress are knit with Noro sock yarn. I love the colors hate the way it's spun. It's a single ply yarn an has very thin and thick areas. I've had to cut some of the very thin stuff out because I don't think it will wear well. In spite of the lovely color it's not a yarn I will buy again.
The pattern is from Knitty.com called Broadripple and is easy to memorize.



And last but not least, I found a lovely sock yarn in pretty colors that I'm anxious to start. I haven't decided on a pattern yet but they may end up just plain vanilla.


So that's it for now. There will be no Internet access where we are going so for the next ten or twelve days or so I'm out of the loop...ciao for now

24 Hours

Just 24 hours from now the cast and wires on my foot will disappear, I hope. It's not guaranteed though really, first there will be an x-ray to make sure everything is healed. If it's not then the cast goes back on. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

If the cast does stay off then some of these knitting projects will stop for a while so I can concentrate on doing other stuff.

Out of boredom I have started too many things one of which is the Forest Canopy Shawl. I used some yarn I had dyed myself and unfortunately I don't have enough. The pattern says 100 grams, 350 yards and that would be good for a little shoulder covering but it's not what I want. So I'm going to have to dye up some more and hope I get it right. It's a pretty easy pattern and it has both written instructions and charts. I'm not very good at reading charts so this suits me. I don't really know what it is about charts that freaks me out but they do and I don't bother fighting it. I may do this pattern again using lace weight yarn.

Yesterday my options needles arrived from KnitPicks and I was able to transfer the log cabin blanket to a longer cable which makes it easier to handle. It has grown quite a bit.


The blanket...

There are still socks happening as always but they are not ready for pictures yet.

Somewhere In That Pile

You'd think that somewhere in that pile of circular needles I'd have the right size and the right length for the log cabin blanket wouldn't you? You'd be wrong though...I went through that pile three times to reassure myself that my wonky eye (yes it's still not good) didn't miss anything.

Alas, I did not and I'm frustrated. There's a ton of money invested in those needles and not one was the right size and length combination, including two new very expensive Addi turbo's, sigh...

The blanket is now at the stage where 132 stitches on a 24 inch needle is crowded and makes it hard for me to handle. After hinting for the last two years to all and sundry about the options needles from KnitPicks, that I wanted to be gifted to no avail, I finally ordered them for myself. Now I just have to wait patiently for them to arrive.


Meanwhile, the blanket grows slowly. It is pretty mindless knitting, just a plain old garter stitch. But it is a good stash buster.

There are as always socks on needles but I'll save those for another post. Oh yes, I think I saw a moth this morning and we all know what that means.

I've Been Led Astray - Again

First the finished stuff. Another pair of socks of course, they are so easy to knit while waiting for medical appointments and trust me, I've done a lot of waiting recently. This yarn was gifted to me for my birthday and my photography doesn't do the pattern justice.

The little Henley Tank from the Interweave Knits Summer 09 issue. That's now two things from the same magazine I've knit which is amazing. I don't usually find more than one thing in a magazine that I like. The Spidery Tank also comes from this magazine.

As for being led astray, well below is the beginning of the Log Cabin Blanket as per the Yarn Harlot. I have tons of Patons Classic Wool hanging about from previous projects and decided to put it to good use. It's also pretty mindless stuff, just plain old knitting so it's ideal for the car, at least until it gets too big.


Only 16 days to go before the cast and wires are removed from my foot...