Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Knitting Roadtrips

It's wednesday, I know. But let me tell you about my past weekend anyway.
Some knitting goodness occurred.
It started with this being delivered to my door.


A nice, nice gesture indeed, made by parents. (I'm a lucky woman, I know.)
The perfect way to start any kind of weekend, but a knitting filled weekend especially.

It continued with me hopping in my car with two near and dear knitter-friends of mine and having a nice little knitterly road-trip to Gaspereau Valley Fibres about... an hour outside of Halifax.
What a treat.
And the company I speak of? Even more of a treat than a slice of cheesecake. Like I said, near and dear.


Sheep, chickens, alpacas...
See for yourself.


And of course, tonnes of wool.
All in one beautiful wooden room.
Don't be concerned though. It's a wooden room with windows of course.
With a stunning view of the sheep, chickens and alpacas.

I must confess that I have lived in Nova Scotia for three and a half years now... and this was my first time going there. Why did I wait? I guess I just found enough in Halifax to keep me busy.
And now... after that trip... I will be busy until... well, at least until I graduate.
That's not to say that I won't indulge in one or two more little 'road trips' as such before the planned date of graduation. I just... have more than enough to keep me busy. (for now....)

So, here are the goods.

Some Briggs and Little for felted clogs (a stellar Christmas gift if I do say so myself).
Purchased by Meghan.


Some Mission Falls 1824 superwash wool for a little neck scarf.
Purchased by Meghan.


Some NEON WHITE Blue Sky Pure Cotton.
To make this sweet-as-a-treat 'mini-sweater'.
For me.
(How cool is neon white?!?!?! Sadly... you will have to just believe me though, as the picture does now want to cooperate.)


And I also found myself with some of this in my bag at the end of the day as we felt that a perfect way to end the perfect day would to be to swing by Tangled Skeins and pick up some yarn there.
Sweet Georiga Yarns.
In colourway Blue Fig.
I see... a pair of Pomatomous socks for me out that.
But for now, it shall adorn my houseplant/makeshift-knitterly-xmas-tree.


So, in short, that was my weekend.
Next weekend, I plan on knitting.
And hopefully... I will have some knitting to show you as you are probably growing weary of me showing you all the yarn that I WANT to knit with.
It's coming friends, it's coming.
I swear.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Being a 'Knitiot'

I have been knitting.
I have been knitting a lot actually.
I swear.
I also swear that once Christmas has passed us by, this blog will be far more interesting.
Unfortunately, I have been cranking out various versions of the same thing... for people that read this blog on a regular basis (or so they say).
Thus, it makes it difficult for me to show too many photos of these projects.
Unless... they don't mind that the surprise will be ruined on Christmas day.
What do you think?

I have been good in that I have actually been finishing some of these projects for other people for Christmas. I have been giving myself the 'thumbs up' all week long for that.
I did happen to pick up the new issue of Interweave Knits on the weekend though, and this has made it incredibly difficult to stay focused.
I am praying that I don't crack.
It's been hard though.

I lent my friend Meghan my most recent issues of various knitting magazines which she so kindly returned to me today.
As we were standing right in the middle of a walkway, in the middle of campus, in the middle of that little 10 minute break that people get to run from one end of campus to the other for their next class... Meghan and I stood and spoke of our future projects.
Her next dream project?
A beautiful cabled cardigan.
My next dream project?
Several beautiful colourful cardigans.
As I became more and more exasperated with myself for everything that I wanted to accomplish in so little time (not to mention the schoolwork that I so conveniently forget about from time to time)... I exclaimed "I'm such an idiot Meghan!!!"
She so kindly corrected me by saying "No Lynn... you're not. You're a 'knitiot'".
How right she is...
It made me feel far less bad about myself and my complete lack of focus.
I don't mind being called a 'knitiot'.
Not ever.
Come on! Hit me with your best shot.

Since I can't seem to show you any projects that I have been making really... I would be happy to show you a pile of wool/yarn that I have been using to knit some of these projects with.
Will that do?
Perhaps it's not quite as inspiring, but it's something.


There. A pile of wool.
Some has been used, some not. I suppose it gives you a bit of a sense of how far I have left to go until I am done my knitting for Christmas.
I suppose not really though. I could be knitting intricate lace evening gowns with it (riiiight...) or I could be knitting giant felted fishbowls with it.
You just never know...

Anyways, stay tuned for some more knitterly love.
I have a knitting related field trip planned for tomorrow with two other 'knitiots' and I shall tell you all about it.

Monday, November 06, 2006

I'll get over it

It would unfortunately seem as though all of my knitting projects these days are causing my face to react in this sort of a way.


It's hard to make friends when that's what you look like.
I am trying my best to keep a smile on though and save this face for when no one is looking.

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is just not working for me these days.
Even the simplest pair of socks are making me rip them back four times before they decide that it's not funny anymore and they are willing to cooperate. Clearly, they are not afraid of this face.
If only they were...

I broke my own rules the other day and decided to cast on that lovely lilac coloured yarn that I posted last time. I just couldn't resist. I had it sitting on my bedside table and it was just taunting me. So, I caved and did what I had been dreaming and blogging about doing. I cast on my Rusted Root and knit like I've never knit before.
I was completely enamoured with it, considering breaking all previous commitments I had made for the weekend in order to hibernate with it.
I was IN LOVE.
And then do you think I did?
I realized that I had messed up the lace. That'll teach me to have conversations with friends while trying to establish a new lace pattern.
It's yet another project to be ripped back.
I just can't bring myself to do it quite yet. Especially not after I tossed it on my bed in a fit of anger and saw how beautifully it looked with my scarf and jacket.
I felt my heart being ripped from my chest.
For now, it will sit on the needles, waiting to be ripped.

I did however manage to get these socks done though before my streak of disasters set in.


And I have also been cranking out more and more things to clean dishes and bodies with as little breaks between all of my failures.

The moral of my story today is 'don't try and knit for yourself when Christmas is looming'.

My meeting with Debbie Bliss was lovely and lovely is completely and absolutely the best word to describe it. I bet that she never makes ugly faces like me. After I met her I went home and prayed that in my next life, I come back as lovely as her and with an equally lovely line of my own yarns.