Madelinetosh Roundup

My efforts to formulate complete thoughts about Wovember have fallen to the wayside over here.. so for now, I've got 2 FO's to show off. (They are made of wool, I promise!)

The first and oldest is the hat I made for James last month for his trip to Europe. (Rav Link) I pretty well made up the pattern as I went, but it was 120 stitches in 2x2 ribbing for about 8.5 inches, then I took the decreases from Jared Flood's Turn a Square hat and modified it a bit so it would accommodate the ribbing pattern. I'm quite pleased with it, and James seems to be too as it's been on his head almost constantly since the weather turned. In a perfect world,  I might have made it about 1.5 inches shorter. The yarn was Madelinetosh Tosh DK in Fig and I used almost a full ball.

The second is the Rikke hat from Happy Knits. (My Rav Link) I was a bit hesitant about making a hat with garter stitch in the round, but it was totally worth it. It's absolutely lovely. It stayed on my head all day without slipping around and saved my ears from the chilly breeze of the library. I was also hesitant about the colour I chose, Calligraphy, as it was a bit more pink than I expected. No matter, it's a great neutral that will pair great with most of my wardrobe.

I'm quite charmed with the Madelinetosh yarns I've had the pleasure of working with so far. Fig and Calligraphy were both such subtle and interesting colours, and I've got some more vibrant colourways sitting in my yarn shelf.

They're both Tosh Merino Light, on the left is Robin's Egg and on the right is Mansfield's Garden Party. I haven't intentionally bought as wild a colour as Mansfield, and I hope I can come up with something neat to do with it. Any ideas? I'm thinking of a shawl or cowl, but I'm unsure.

Yet again, my day will be full of research and writing. I stayed home today, and I had to force myself out of my cozy cupcake pyjama pants and into real clothes to motivate myself to work. It's a good start, right?

Happy Wednesday!

Getting there

It's beginning to feel even more like fall around here. Fear about finishing papers and assignments on time is settling in and my desire to snuggle on the couch with some tea and knitting is increasing. Thankfully it's not snowing here yet, but the temperature hovers around freezing for my morning walk to the bus and it's becoming increasingly uncomfortable to carry a coffee. Enter my Fiddlehead mittens.

I really need to get finishing these. I'm halfway right now (excluding lining) and I'm pretty sure the fiddliness of the thumbs made an inch of thumb knitting take longer than the whole project itself. I was really worried that they wouldn't fit properly, since I have really long fingers, but they ended up being perfectly snug in the end.

I also found the answer as to the perfect study knitting: seed stitch cowls. In my last post I was trying to work out a funky cowl to be crocheted, but that failed miserably. I think I had crocheted each ball of yarn twice and it just never came out right. So, I switched over to some 8mm needles, cast on 131 stitches and went until I ran out.

Pattern: Gap-Tastic Cowl
Yarn: Bernat Roving in Low Tide, 2 balls

I love it so much that I've started another one in doubled Malabrigo worsted and have some Thick and Quick earmarked for a third. Readings, here I come.

I was also surprised by a lovely yarn treat from my Dad yesterday. He went on a road trip and stumbled across a shop in Brooks, Alberta selling mostly felted things but some yarn too! He didn't ask what the content/yardage was, but it's the most lovely hand painted shade of orange gold that wouldn't photograph to save it's life. What would you do with this? It looks to be around a worsted weight. I'm thinking a small shawl? That answer seems too easy, though.

James and I have been trying to enjoy the river valley as much as possible before the snow flies, and I had a day off school so I picked him up super early and we went for a 9:30 walk with the dog. It was perfectly calm, the dog park was void of dogs and small children, and the sun was shining. What more could you want?

I'm off to make more tea, read more boring textbooks for my least favourite class ever and knit with some yummy Malabrigo. Oh, and make sure James stops eating all the Halloween candy. We've had a box of it for a couple days and we already need to get more. I think this is the first year I haven't been inclined to eat any chocolate bars, too. Weird. Are you guys doing anything exciting for Halloween? I'm planning to camp out in the living room with Netflix and feed the masses until the candy runs out. And I'll wear my sheep hat for good measure.

Happy (almost) Halloween!

Playing the Waiting Game..

I still haven't quite gotten into the swing of working at my 8-5 office job yet, and I feel super unproductive lately. That means very little knitting, no photography and no blogging. My nights have been full of lazy TV and movie watching, napping, and a lot of web surfing. On the bright not-so-pathetic side, I'm running my first 5K race tomorrow! I'm pretty nervous, though. I'm crossing my fingers I'm not the dead slowest person out there, but it's a mostly non-serious race anyways. I did a practice 5K run on Friday, which felt great and was super convenient as I live exactly 5K away from my office.

In order to quell my anxiety about this as well as my waning knitting mojo, I've been a busy shopper. Though my timing is poor as we're facing a possible postal strike in Canada, I have all kinds of non-creative purchases coming.

Enough Vintage Chunky in Chana Dal to make Vashon. All this running is toning me up quite nicely, and I finally feel confident enough to attempt pulling off a shorter sweater like this. Not to mention how cozy those cables look! Maybe it will even be done by fall. A girl can dream, right?

Photo from Berroco.com

The yarn to make a Wicker Cowl in, you guessed it, natural. I'm super excited about this, it's my first Fibre Company purchase, and I got it for 30% off at Hidden Purls. (And their shipping rates were excellent! Even all the way up here, assuming it makes it due to the strike)

Photo from Kelbourne Woolens

And last but not least, I splurged on a bag from the lovely Katie at Made By Hank. I bought the cutest strappy wallet from her a couple months ago and I can attest to the great quality of her work. Even though it was a bit of a splurge, supporting independent crafters is the best thing ever. I've been watching the evolution of the tough ruffles purses for over a year (maybe 2 or 3) so it's kind of cool that I get my own. I can't wait to tote this around! Plus, that's the perfect shade of teal, right? Never mind that I just bought a sweater in that colour..

Photo from MadeByHank Etsy

So, with that, I'm off to bed. I need to get a good night's sleep so that I can rock my race! Or at least complete it without embarrassment. I'm cool with either result. Do you guys have any special treats coming in the mail? If you do, I hope you get them! (And I hope that Canada Post can figure their garbage out.. much as I scoff and their usefulness, the threat of not having them around is a huge bummer)

WIP Wednesday

So, in order to keep track of my frighteningly large pile of WIP's in my room I'm starting WIP Wednesdays around here. This week, I bring you a single Stay On Bootie.

Pattern: Stay On Baby Booties by Knitgirl's Mother 

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Jay 

Needles: 3.5mm

How cute is that? It's a great pattern that comes together right at the end. Plus, it's all in garter stitch which is also awesome and gives it such charm. This little guy also made me fall in love with this colourway again.

It's hard to believe that baby feet are that little, but at least it makes for quick knitting! Now, I have to get to bed so that I can get up early enough to ride my bike to work again. And I have a soccer game tomorrow night, and 2 runs on Friday. Hopefully I'll still be standing by the weekend! I hope it's as sunny where you are as it is here, it's almost sandal season in Edmonton!

Back from the dead

I'm still here! It's been an insane couple of weeks for me. I started my job, which it awesome, but totally drained me for the first week. It all paid off (literally) when I got my first cheque yesterday, it felt great to clear off all the credit cards and beef up the savings after a school year of almost no income. All that exhaustion has taken a bit of a toll on my knitting. Getting home at 6 and being dead asleep by 9 does nothing for hobbies or fun. At least the weather is turning, the grass is growing and I can start planting things again.

I did finish the tiny roll of film from my sweet camera, and those photos are off being developed, so who knows how long that's going to take. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't get a roll of over exposed garbage, since I found out that the shutter is manual and I'm not the quickest with the hands. My photo adventure from my last post ended up being pretty insane. My friend and I took a walk down a cliff through our river valley on paths not designed for wearing moccasins. That being said, it was super fun and I got at least one photo. He had his camera, and is developing his film soon so I'm excited to see what he came up with. I also yanked my dad's old SLR out of the closet and have been shooting with that, hopefully I'll finish my current roll up this week and get it off.

Anyways, I don't have a ton to say today. I just wanted to pop in since I was feeling a little bit of blog withdrawal. I've decided to start doing WIP Wednesdays to keep myself on track, as I broke one of my resolutions and have way too many things on the go. One of them, which I just cast on, is totally exciting. I got a call from one of my coworkers in the Calgary office of my company and she's having a baby boy in a month! Since she's a sweetheart, and I'm a sucker for making baby things despite my non-interest in babies, I cast on for some Stay On Baby Booties in Jitterbug.

 

I knit myself a pair of knee-highs with this yarn when traveling in Europe, but was pretty disappointed in the pooling so they got frogged once I got home. I've been totally clueless about what to do with this yarn, so I figure this will be a good starting place. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be totally appreciative. It just seems too variegated for a shawl, socks already failed, and I've got 2 balls of it. Maybe a stripey sweater? Pillow? Who knows.

And with that, I'm going to spend the evening with Breakfast at Tiffany's, some booties and some crazy delicious Rhubarb wine from the market. Who knew that Rhubarb wine existed? If you ever have some, and like white wine, try it. I think it's my favourite wine yet. I felt like such a champ being at the market before 9am, and got to reap the rewards with tasty wine, lots of herbs, fresh bagels and the best tomatoes I've ever eaten. I'm so glad there's more local food than carrots, onions and potatoes to eat. 

Happy Saturday!

Grow, Stashmonster

Despite the fact that I continue to vow that I won't buy more yarn, my impulses and general tendency to feel sorry for myself got the better of me. So, waiting for me when I got home today was this:



and on the inside..




It's Quince & Co. Lark in Bird's egg, and it will hopefully grow up to be a Schieffelin Point Shawl. (Rav Link) The colour is so much more interesting in person than on the website, so it turned out to be an excellent gamble. I'll definitely be ordering from them again in the future, once the Stashmonster is a little more under control :)

Happy Thursday!