Knitting Up North

Hats on.

2009-04-19T10:55:00.003-06:00

A couple of months ago I participated in a charity knitting event at my local yarn shop. We were taught how to knit in the round using 2 circular needles in "exchange" for making newborn and preemie baby hats for a local hospital. The pattern was a free one off the Garnstudio website adapted for 2 circulars instead of the dpns and the yarn was Sublime organic cotton DK, a very lovely soft yarn. Such a cute project for such a good cause.....4 babies left the hospital wearing my very cute little hats! Actually I'm sure a lot more babies than just 4 had cute hats as quite a few people participated in the event.

Spring time!

2009-04-12T13:21:00.002-06:00

Today is a multitude of holidays. First, of course, it is Easter. Second, it's the 1st anniversary of the church wedding of my brother and his lovely wife (Knitting Underway). Congrats! Third, it is my birthday today. I have a beautiful four day weekend off work to relax and enjoy so I took a little day trip to New Bern, NC.....the birth place of Pepsi cola:

Legend has it that it's now called "Pepsi cola" because an Episcopal church is located across the street and it's an anagram of "episcopal". Whatever the reason, you can get a pepsi from the fountain for 50 cents! The town has a lot of other history going for it as well and of course the beautiful spring flowers (and unfortunately for me, the pollen) were everywhere:

And what's a day trip without stopping at the local yarn shop and browsing all the yarn? I managed to get out of there with only getting three skeins of misti alpaca, quite the triumph for me cause they had some gorgeous stuff. Happy Easter to all!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T17:03:00.005-06:00

Happy St. Patty's Day to the Irish and non-Irish alike! Ironically, I forgot to wear green to work and, without exception, the "greenest" wearing people were all my Danish colleagues. Go figure. Pretty much everyone who is less likely to be Irish than me (which is actually possible if you saw my coloring and hair color) was wearing green of all shades. In "honor" of the day dedicated to all things Irish, I present my cabled scarf WIP. It's the "Aran Scarf" pattern by Veronica Manno found some time ago on the "knitsimple.com" website. It calls for a lovely cashmere, but I'm frugal (or cheap, however you want to look at it) and am making it in Paton's classic merino in gray. It's been just the right amount of challenge, with both the cabling AND reading only a chart, no written directions other than CO and BO, but definitely not my "go-to" project when I'm tired or it's late. It might be done by next St. Patrick's day.

Confessions

2009-02-12T19:27:00.004-07:00

I confess, somehow time has gotten away from me and the blog has been ignored. I can't believe my last entry was on Jan. 22 and it's already Feb. 12. Time flies when you're having fun, or busy at work. So, time to get back on the resolution wagon of blogging more frequently. Since we're on the subject of confessions......I have another confession to make.

This pair of brown socks with the oh-so-complicated pattern of K3xP1 ribbing (the ENTIRE LEG AND FOOT, not just a cuff and then on to something much more complicated requiring oodles of time, oh no, it was this simple the whole way) took me entirely too long to make. My Ravelry notebook states that I cast these on in June of 2008. Personally I seem to remember it being more like August, but I suppose Ravelry doesn't lie. Either way, it's embarrassing when I confess that they weren't finished until Dec. 24. Yes, you read that correctly. It took me 6 LONG months to make these socks. Quite embarrassing. In my pathetic defense, I didn't work on them for a lot of those 6 months. I had other things on the needles that I cast on, knit and finished in that time frame. I also got a new job and moved across the continent. Still, a bit sad, especially in light of my next blog post where I talk about two pairs of socks that I knitted in January alone. Oh well, an FO is an FO no matter how long it took, right?

Final Christmas knitting

2009-01-22T18:14:00.005-07:00

One more post on the Christmas 2008 knitting. This was the afghan I made for my Arizona sister-in-law.

She'd requested a knitted blanket in June (when it was seriously 120 degrees outside) for her Christmas gift. Now the smart thing would have been to find a pattern and start work on it right then. The luxury of having 6 months to complete it boggles the mind. I did not do the smart thing. I found a pattern and got the yarn in plenty of time, but did not start knitting....until about two weeks before Christmas! I made this whole thing in the span of approximately 1 week. (Making for a slightly stressful week.) Good thing it was on US 15 needles and with three strands of yarn knit together.....passes quickly then. I have also heard that it was a much appreciated gift by both the sister-in-law AND one of my nephews. This gift was probably a large reason behind my knitting resolution of deciding on Christmas 2009 gifts by the end of January and then starting to work on them now! No more "crunch time, stress filled knitting" for me. I hope.

A Theme

2009-01-12T18:09:00.005-07:00

Have you ever noticed that Christmas presents sometimes take on a theme? Whether you planned it or not? This year, my unintended theme was hats (with and without pompoms). I gave a grey/black striped one to my father (he's the hardest person to knit for as he doesn't wear scarves and I don't make sweaters, yet.....not much left after those options are removed):

I gave a blue cabled hat (no pompom) to my best friend (author of www.ameliasmommyformerlyjoanne.blogspot.com and mother of very cute toddler):

And I gave a blue cabled hat (with pompom) to my mother (ironically, about the easiest person to knit for as she'll wear anything you make - like any good mother does with their kids' creations, even when their kids are now adults):

All of these were made using the "Striped hat" pattern designed by Monica Jines in the "Cables: Mittens, Hats and Scarves" book. Don't you love it when one pattern can be used to make a variety of different items? So, counting the two hats sent to Iraq in a post-Christmas box, I ended up making 5 hats for Christmas presents. Wonder what the theme for Christmas 2009 will end up being. Suggestions?

Cable-y cuteness

2009-01-07T17:18:00.003-07:00

Now that Christmas is past, it is safe to show off some of the knitted things I made without worrying about spoiling a surprise. First up, a very warm, cuddly, cute pink cabled blanket:

(Sorry, I'm still working on figuring out how to take halfway decent pictures of my knitting - it's not as easy as one would think).

Pattern: Aran Blanket designed by Linda Daniels and found in "Knit Baby Blankets"
Yarn: Bernat's Softee yarn in some sort of pink (sorry, ball bands seem to have taken a hike and I can't remember the exact details). I use only acrylic yarn for this kid cause I know her mom and I know she doesn't have time to deal with handwashing anything.
Needles: US8 circular
Best Part: Seeing it in action!! Go to www.ameliasmommyformerlyjoanne.blogspot.com and scroll part way down the "Christmas vacation" entry to see said blanket being used in exactly the way it was intended - dragged along the floor behind one very cute 15 month girl!

Iraq bound

2009-01-03T09:52:00.003-07:00

Alright, I'm determined to not fall off the resolution wagon on only the third day of the new year so here we go with another post. Apparently it gets cold in Iraq! Who knew? When the offer for knitted hats was extended to the brother serving with the Marines there, it was enthusiastically accepted. Two knitted hats are now bound for Iraq as of this morning's mail (along with a box of homemade cookies of the peanut butter and chocolate chip varieties, of course!).

Pattern: Striped hat in the "Cables: Mittens, hats and Scarves" book from the On the go series (love this book). Modified to remove the cables as I found that version to be a bit too feminine.
Needles: US8 circular
Yarn: LionBrand Wool-ease in black and slate grey (hopefully they can be worn with marine combat fatigues)
Best part: At least one marine's head will be kept warm in the cold Iraqi desert.

New Year

2009-01-02T16:32:00.004-07:00

Happy New Year (one day late, but, hey, I worked yesterday)!! I made a few knitting resolutions this year to try to keep. One is to break out of the mold, be more adventurous, try a few new techniques. I have all these lovely books:

In addition to the books, I have about 4 binders of loose patterns and a ton of unprinted patterns on my computer that are just waiting to be knitted. But I'm one of those people who knits a pattern about three times cause once I figured it out the first time, I just keep doing it again and again. Hey, I know how to do it and it comes out great, why do anything else? This was certainly true this year (2008) where I made about 5 of those Lionbrand lace scarves blogged earlier this year and 5 of the hats I'll be blogging about soon. Definitely time to expand the repetoire!!

Another knitting resolution is to blog a minimum of 2 x per week. This once a month thing is not working so if I aim for twice a week, hopefully I'll get in the habit and do it even more. I also want to knit more lace and socks, but that should hopefully fit into the "be more adventurous" resolution.

Tis the Season

2008-12-22T18:18:00.002-07:00

For knitted Christmas stockings! I've failed miserably on the "promise" from the last post to try to blog more often. But, fortunately, I've been busy knitting and have a variety of finished items to share. Aren't these two stockings just the cutest? They are the small version of the "Rustic Lodge" pattern by Betsy Lee McCarthy in the Knitted Christmas stockings book. Very cute and very simple to make (which is a plus when you've not allotted enough time to knit all the stuff on the Christmas list. "What was I thinking?" is all I can say).

Changes

2008-11-30T16:00:00.004-07:00

Top 10 reasons for why this blog has been so badly neglected lately:

Reason 1. I have a new job and have moved across the continent from Calgary, Canada to North Carolina.

Reasons 2 - 10. See Reason 1.

Yup, I'm no longer an American living in Canada, rather I've returned to my home country (of which my family is very happy about this fact). This new job is a great career move for me. I've accepted a scientist position with a global company that offers me, hopefully, a lot of opportunities for growth and advancement in the years to come. While this was a pretty big step for me to take (moving across two countries is not easy, even with professional movers), I'm very excited about this next phase in my life and the new area (North Carolina) to explore. So while the "Knitting up North" title is still appropriate, the "north" now refers to North Carolina, not the north of Canada. And I'll try to do better about blogging about knitting more regularly. Fortunately, this long Thanksgiving weekend (which I'm happy to be able to celebrate again after three years of working during it), I've been able to finish a couple of projects which I'll share soon. Until then, hope every one had a great long weekend!

Vote!

2008-11-04T20:10:00.002-07:00

This entry is going to be short and sweet. Please vote today!!! America only works because of the right of every citizen to have a voice. Everyone's vote counts and you can only complain about the leadership of the country if you've made your voting voice heard. So GO VOTE!

FINALLY.....

2008-10-22T15:12:00.004-06:00

.....A finished object to blog! FOs have been few and far between here lately. Other than more Christmas ornament stars. This is a super warm and fuzzy afghan worked with three strands of yarn at the same time. Once I got used to casting on and knitting with three strands, this project was very easy and very quick to do.

Pattern: patons Multistrand afghan (#133)
Yarn: Patons Shetland Chunky in High Plains Variegated, Patons Divine in Soft Earth and Dark Earth colors (all three used at the same time)
Needles: US 19 circulars (which feel like telephone poles)
Best part: It's a gift that I'll get to deliver in person!

Special day

2008-10-07T07:46:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!! Love you always.

October Already??

2008-10-04T20:32:00.008-06:00

How in the world did it get to be October already? Really, the last time I checked it was only about Sept. 15th or so. Time certainly does seem to speed up in the back half of a calendar year, doesn't it? (Notice I did NOT say "as one gets older".) I've been busy in the speeding days gone by, just not all of it involving knitting (or finishing anything for that matter). I took a weekend jaunt to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories with a friend to enjoy the fall color and the north country:

We did a day trip drive over to Alaska (I got a "Welcome home" from the U.S. Border guard as Alaska is my home state and is on my passport):

The only wildlife we saw that was larger than a squirrel (of which we saw about 4):

We're finishing up a huge project at work that has consummed 2008 and a good part of 2007 for that matter. I've been busy doing other work-related things that I'll discuss in the future some time. And I've had a nasty case of "starteritis" in my knitting. All of this is leading up to confessing that I don't have much to show in the way of finished objects. I have lots to show as far as stuff on the needles (except I can't show a couple of things as they are gifts). But what I will show off here is a couple of great Christmas ornaments that I've managed to do. One really does need projects that can be cast on, knitted and finished in about an hour to keep one's knitting spirits and feelings of accomplishment up! These are super easy knitted stars (all garter stitch).

Pattern: Six pointed star Christmas ornament by Barabara Breiter from "Knitting on the Net"
Yarn: Calls for LionBrand glitterspun, but I couldn't find that yarn so the red variegated stars are Patons SWS in natural crimson colorway and the white glittery star is Paton's Brilliant in white twinkle color
Needles: The biggest was on US8 (called for in pattern), the slightly smaller red star is on US7 and the white one is US4
Best thing: Pretty much everyone I know is getting a star ornament for Christmas (whether they want it or not) as I don't think I'm going to have much time to do more extensive Christmas knitting this year. I've got a few too many things coming up in the next couple of months.

I want to end this post with a favor to ask anyone who ends up reading my little blog. Please keep my brother (and sister-in-law) in your thoughts and prayers as he has been deployed to Iraq for the next 7-8 months. He'll be missing American Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day......... and we'll be missing him terribly.

Just a brown hat

2008-09-14T15:57:00.003-06:00

Sometimes you just need a plain brown knitted wool hat. I originally was making this for a friend of mine for her birthday, but I decided to keep it for myself (mostly cause it's not the best stitching up job I've ever done). I personally look very silly in hats, but when it's -40 degrees outside, looking stupid is the least of your problems. AND it actually fits my head perfectly while covering my ears completely. What more can you ask of a hat?

Pattern: 49th parallet hat and mitts out of "Twelve Months of Knitting" by Joanne Yordanou
Needles: US 9
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool in Chocolate Brown

Knitting, again

2008-08-20T20:50:00.005-06:00

Back to our regularly scheduled knitting after a lovely, long, and much needed vacation in SD. Remember the brown, cotton lace scarf from awhile ago?

Now there are THREE more!!

Somehow, this pattern became my go-to gift for summer birthdays. It was a lovely, easy, no-thinking required knitting project that was just perfect for evenings after my long days at work. One person has received her gift scarf already (Hi T!) and the other two are still waiting to go to their "forever" home. I liked this pattern so much, a wool version may be in store for myself in the near future.

Ah, vacation!

2008-08-05T00:03:00.006-06:00

Vacation, a time for lounging in the pool:

Having dinner out with family:

Taking naps:

Oh and by the way, I went to the San Diego Zoo today!

Mountains

2008-07-27T20:21:00.005-06:00

I was actually going to post about yarn and knitting (you know, to go along with the general theme of the blog), but I went hiking today in the mountains and just had to post some pictures of my day. The trail was way out in the heart of the Canadian Rockies and, while being mostly UP the entire way, (hiking books LIE with their "steep ascent for a few minutes and then the grade flattens out" nonsense), the views were spectacular! AND we came across some wildlife that was not of the usual chipmunk and gopher variety. These male sheep were literally right on the road and taking their sweet time deciding where they wanted to wander to next. And check out their horn curls - very impressive.

A finished pair of socks

2008-07-13T17:20:00.003-06:00

I finished these socks a while ago and just have not blogged about them yet. Now is as good a time as any! They are made from the "standard" 4 stitch ribbing pattern socks in the "Sensational knitted socks" book by Charlene Schurch. I love this book as it makes it so straight forward to learn to make socks and has a large stitch dictionary to make a ton of different kinds of socks. This particular pair is the double moss stitch pattern. As an extra bonus, they fit. I've been struggling to learn to knit socks that actually fit my feet. You'd think this wouldn't be that big of a deal, my feet are attached to me, are always right there to test measurements as I knit the socks, it should be no problem to knit them to the right size. In theory, that would be correct. In reality, this is my fourth pair of socks (although the third pair, pink baby socks, weren't supposed to fit me anyway) and I'm still fine tuning to get them to fit snugly. These fit nicely, but are just a hair loose. Oh well, there is always the next pair, right? Which, by the way, are cast on and already past the heel turn and gusset.

Independence Day!

2008-07-04T07:09:00.002-06:00

Two hundred and thirty two years ago, a group of men got together in Philadelphia and wrote a document that changed the world, the Declaration of Independence. The thirteen colonies had already declared war against Britian the year before, but this document laid out exactly what they were fighting against and became the cornerstone for the ideals of the new nation. The Declaration of Independence was formally adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. If the Revolutionary War had been lost, the men that signed that document would have been labeled traitors, tortured and killed. Thankfully, the Revolutionary War was won by the Colonists and the United States of America was born. The Declaration has continued through the ensuing centuries to inspire nations around the world to fight tyranny and unjust governments. Happy Independence Day, America!

O Canada!

2008-07-01T20:13:00.005-06:00

July 1 is Canada Day. The national holiday celebrating when the British provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the "Province of Canada" joined together and became a nation on July 1, 1867. (Wikipedia is a great thing.) July 1 is the official birthday of Canada (although Canada had a much more peaceful beginning than the U.S. so it's a bit murky). Nonetheless, Canadians celebrate today with great national pride. Happy Birthday Canada!

And here's a shot of where I spent my Saturday:

Time Machine Tuesday

2008-06-17T08:29:00.005-06:00

Knittingunderway (my lovely sister-in-law) started "Time machine Tuesday" at the start of 2008 and invited others to join in. It's a Tuesday today. While my knitting time machine only goes back to Jan. 2007, I do have a scarf that got more wear time than any other I currently have over this last winter. It's an incredibly simple stockinette stitch scarf. It was the third scarf I ever knitted. I wore it almost every single day this last winter and love it. I think it has worn quite well, there is some pilling of the wool, but for the most part it still looks new.

"Pattern": Pretty much just winged it as far as number of stitches cast on and then knit in stockinette the whole way.
Yarn: Paton's Classic Merino wool in grey
Needles: ????

A Dishcloth of many colors

2008-06-03T19:17:00.003-06:00

I've always liked how cables look with their beautiful, intricate patterns and textures. In the back of my mind, it's been one of those techniques that I've been working towards ever since I started learning to knit. Dishclothes are a great size for learning new techniques. Conveniently enough I have a whole series of dishcloth patterns involving cables. I cast on and happily went about learning cables. I apparently GROSSLY misjudged how much of the red/orange cotton remained! So I switched to the blue. Again, grossly misjudging how much of THAT remained. To finish the dishcloth, I had to add a third yarn which was a varigated baby cotton yarn. Resulting in the weirdest looking dishcloth ever made. But don't the cables look great?

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T16:59:00.005-06:00

Today is Memorial Day. Canada does not celebrate this holiday, rather they honor their war heroes on Remembrance Day in November. I am, however, a proud American and the sister of two Navy doctors. Please take a moment today to remember all the men and women who have fought for our great country, the United States of America. Please remember those who did not make it home. Please remember the men and women who are currently serving in all branches of the U.S. military, at home and abroad. And please take a moment to remember all the families left behind. All of their sacrifices enable us to live in the freedom and peace of the United States.

Rainy weekend

2008-05-25T11:37:00.003-06:00

I love the occasional rainy cold weekend. It's like God's permission to just stay inside and knit! No guilt over not being outside in the sunshine or running errands while the weather is nice. So this weekend I finally finished my Bespoke pillow. I actually started this one long before I did the "wedding" version (an April post) but it got put aside for other projects. I'm trying to finish the couple of projects I have that are "this close" to being done before starting a bunch more. While I love rainy days, it actually can stop anytime now as it's been raining for a week straight and we are currently under a flood watch (week of rain + spring snow melt in the mountains = high flowing rivers).

Project details:

Pattern: Bespoke Pillow from the Holiday edition of Interweave knits
Yarn: Patons classic wool in maroon with ivory stitching (UW colors!)
Needle: US 8 circular

Books!

2008-05-13T18:50:00.004-06:00

My mom is super cool for many many reasons (Hi Mom!)!! Today's reason for her super-coolness is the package I just got in the mail:

Yup, those are AUTOGRAPHED books by the Yarn Harlot herself and Jennifer Chiaverini, quilt goddess extraordinare and author of the fantastic Elm Creek book series (I highly recommend the whole series to everyone, great books). Apparently the city where I live does not rank very highly on important book tour stops (even for great Canadian authors like Ms. Pearl-McPhee), but my Mom (and Dad) live in a fairly literary town and they get all kinds of interesting authors!! She is also patient enough to drive all the way across town to the bookstore early in the morning to get the very first booksigning wristband for the Yarn Harlot (much to the bemusement and befuddlement of my father). And then go BACK that evening for the actual appearance. You just have to love Moms like that. Thanks, Mom, for the two books, you made my week (heck, my whole month)! And thanks for the awesome button (already up on my bulletin board for safekeeping).

Progress

2008-05-10T08:57:00.009-06:00

I started this cotton lace scarf last Sunday morning and it is knitting up so quickly! I've only been able to knit on it for one day and one evening and already it's 22 inches long! You have to love projects that just zip along when you have mininal knitting time. (I had to show my knitting helper. She tends to be on my lap whenever I'm knitting)

Pattern: LionBrand lace scarf Pattern Number 70336AD (off their website)
Yarn: Lilly Sugar and Cream 100% cotton in confectionary colors - this one is "Cinnamon"
Needles: Size US8 (5.0 mm)

And since this seems to be lately more a weather blog than a knitting blog, I present a picture of what the morning of May 9th looked like here:

Yup, that's another round of spring snow. In May. Great.

Spring???

2008-05-04T13:36:00.004-06:00

This week has been a tough one at work. It was 6 days of more than 70 hours total. Now, I know there are plenty of people in the world that do this week in and week out for years on end. I'm not complaining (much) and I'm thankful to have a job/career that is interesting, continually changing and challenging. I bring up the 70+ hours to explain why I have no knitting to show off! Unlike my sister-in-law who seems to churn out an amazing number of gorgeous knits despite working 28 hours a day, I have made very little progress on my knitting (of which there are, at last count, 4 projects, I think). So, instead, here are a couple of photos of what I woke up to see out of my window on May 1st. Yes that is correct, it is snow on MAY 1st!!!! Thankfully it did not last and this weekend's weather is proving that spring will eventually come to Canada (or my corner of Canada at least). Hopefully sooner rather than later. And since I have today off, I'll hopefully have some photos to show of progress being made on knitting in the next post.

Baby socks

2008-04-26T14:53:00.007-06:00

What is cuter than baby feet? BABY SOCKS! I knit these for the star of my best friend's blog (www.ameliasmommyformerlyjoanne.blogspot.com). The pattern is by Miriam Felton from www.mimknits.com. They were knit on US 1 dpns from left over pink (of course) Bernat softee baby yarn. The yarn was a bit thick for socks and made for a challenge to knit. The resulting socks, though, turned out great - nice and thick and cute. They look to my untrained eye as a bit big for a 7 month old, but the good thing about too big baby knits is the kid will grow into them (and then right out of them).

Incredible Gift

2008-04-26T14:35:00.005-06:00

As knittingunderway has already blogged, I was the receipient of an absolutely gorgeous handknit sweater. I'm really honored that she chose to give it to me. It's an incredible gift of not just a sweater but of the time and talent used to knit it and the willingness to part with the discontinued yarn from which it was knit (as a yarn horder, I understand how hard that can be). I am completely in love with it. Any time she wants to misjudge her arm length is just fine by me! The only downside? I was able to wear it to work on April 22nd because it was about 15F outside! That is just wrong. I shouldn't be able to wear it until at least November.

I also owe a second thank you to Knittingunderway for giving my new blog a mention on her blog. Thank you all for the wonderfully supportive and welcoming comments. Knitters really are just about the best people!

(Please excuse the photos, I'm finding it harder than I thought to photograph knitting. Who knew that inanimate objects would be so tricky?)

More wedding knitting

2008-04-20T18:13:00.004-06:00

Some more knitting from the April wedding extravaganza. I made myself a shawl to wear with my bridesmaid's dress in case the April weather in PA decided to be like this:

(sadly that is my deck on April 19, not January 19 as it might seem)

Project notes:
Pattern: Feather and Fan off the KnitPicks website
Yarn: Andean Treasure from KnitPicks (fantastic stuff), 10 balls total
Needles: US5 32" Addi Turbos

I'm quite proud of how this turned out (i.e. minimal mistakes!).

A wedding gift

2008-04-15T09:00:00.004-06:00

I got to be in a very special wedding this last weekend. And this is the gift that I was able to finish JUST in time for the happy couple. It's the "Bespoke Pillow" from the Interweave Knits Holiday 2007 issue done in the wedding colors of Navy and Ivory wool. (The monogram imitates their wedding invitation). Getting this project done involved some marathon knitting as I got the idea to do it on a Thursday and I had to leave for the wedding the following Wednesday. One of these days, I'll get ideas for gifts in a timely fashion so that I don't have to stay up all hours of the day and night to get it done on time. The best part of this project? The happy smiles on the faces of the married couple (I don't think the smiles have anything to do with the pillow, do you?)

Lace Treat

2008-04-05T09:34:00.004-06:00

Work has been increasing in chaos, stress and hours these last two weeks so my knitting time has gone down in a weird inverse relationship. Also, I'm standing up in a very special wedding (Hi T and J!!) on a very special day (my birthday) in 1 week and a lot of my evenings have been filled running errands. How is that I've known the date of this wedding for months, but for some reason it never dawned on me to do my errands earlier than the week before I leave? I did manage to finally block my first finished lace scarf and wear it to work. It's Susan Lawerence's Branching Out from Knitty Spring 2005. I knit it in Garnstudio Drops Alpaca in a green heather color. I definitely was challenged with this pattern. I had only been knitting about 4 months when I decided to tackle this project. A challenge was right! The scarf got started and restarted about 5 times as I got into trouble at the second pattern repeat each time. I got over that hump and as I got further along, it did get easier for me. (I also decided mistakes would stay in place as there was no way I was starting it a 6th time!) This is why you should always challenge yourself to do something just beyond your current abilities. I really feel this project made me grow as a knitter, in both ability and confidence. This scarf is one of my favorite FO's and I was extremely pleased as the compliments from co-workers poured in the day I wore it.

Spring Headache

2008-03-21T18:02:00.004-06:00

There are so many things I love about living in Canada (the truly nice people, the beautiful mountains and scenery, the surprisingly mild weather for most of the year), but having to file tax returns for two countries is not one of them. As an American citizen living in Canada, I have the joy and priviledge of filing taxes in the U.S. AND Canada. The Canadian tax forms are due about 2 weeks after the U.S. ones, so every March there are a couple of very UN-fun weekends for me. So today, on my day off, I forced myself to quit procrastinating. I sat down and filled out my U.S. taxes (both federal and state forms). And as usual, they were not a big deal. Why I always put it off for so long and have it hanging over my head, I don't know. Maybe some day, I'll do them straightaway and not have this "battle" with myself every March. Now, as a reward for getting them finished, I'm going to go knit. Yippee!

Very first project

2008-03-17T19:26:00.007-06:00

In keeping with the theme of "very first....", I present my very first knitting project: The Garter stitch Scarf. This was started on Dec. 31, 2006 from, you guessed it, lovely Red Heart acrylic. I was laboring under the philosophy of not spending more than about $5 on yarn in the off chance I didn't like knitting (I know, that's just crazy). I cast on, after a number of tries dealing with the slip knot and knitted cast-on, and started knitting away. Needless to say, I was hooked on knitting from about row 5 and haven't looked back. Fortunately my taste in yarn has improved from the Red Heart acrylic days. While this scarf is not really that much fun to wear, being a bit scratchy, it sits in my closet as a visual reminder of where my obsession all started.

Very First Post

2008-03-15T10:05:00.004-06:00

I have finally jumped on the bandwagon and started my own blog. My S-I-L and my best friend both have blogs and they've gotten me to thinking for a while now that doing my own blog might be kind of fun. So a bit about me. I'm a scientist/engineer by training (BS in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D in Agronomy/Plant Biotechnology from the Univerity of Wisconsin-Madison. GO BADGERS!). I'm currently working for a plant biotechnology company here in Canada (I'm an American working here thanks to NAFTA). I started to learn to knit on Dec. 31, 2006 and have fallen completely in love with all things knitting. I have two cats, love to read, don't really downhill ski despite being close to the stunning Canadian Rockies, but do hike on summer weekends.

We'll see how this whole blogging thing works out, shall we?