...As Promised!

Dalarna! Fitting like a charm! So. Loving. It. The red is nowhere near as bright as it looks in the picture. I was finally able to tame the edging thanks to a LOT of steam. A lot.

*sniff* I love this sweater...

And, as promised... I allowed myself one purchase during the first 9 months of 2007. And of course, I made the purchase at Virtual Yarns.

It has arrived.

Such beautiful colours, you can't imagine. But, I will be good, and finish up a few WIP's before I start Rona. In the meantime, I'm happy to fondle and smoosh my face into the yarn.

And, guess what else?!! Now, this was totally unexpected, and such a wonderful surprise!

My Dale of Norway kit! (No! Wait! Don't get mad at me, I didn't break my promise! Come back!) See, this is how I received it. I swapped my Henry VIII kit with Jewel, and in return... I received my lovely Dale kit! It's the Sapporo 2007 Norwegian Ski Sweater, purchased for me from Spin Blessing. So, I should have a lovely ski sweater for the fall. I'm so excited - thanks Jewel - :D!

It's all too much for Atticus and Gandalf.

"Hoonnnnnkkkkkkkk...shu....Hooonnnnnnnnkkkkkk....shu..."

Everything Old Is New Again

Phew! Here she is - Dalarna!

She's been sewn together and blocked, and awaits her crocheted border and buttons before she can make her debut. In my mind, she's done! DONE!

What: "Red and White" cardigan from page 164 of "Poetry in Stitches". Christened "Dalarna" by Wendy of Wendyknits!

Yarn: Hifa 2 yarn - yarn for this project was purchased from Nordic Fibre Arts, who supply all the yarn packs specifically for "Poetry In Stitches" and "Norsk Strikkedesign". I have A LOT of yarn left over, I'll probably be able to make a matching pair of mittens with what I have left over. I have teeny hands...

Needles: 2.5mm for the red upper portion, and 3.5mm for the stranded design.

How I Blocked Her (Finally): Eucalan, 1/4 cup of sea salt, and a sink full of hypothermia inducing ice cold water. I could barely stand to plunge my hands in the water! Instead, I used an old wooden spoon. A friend at work recommended the ice cold water - a non-knitter at that too! And not a DROP of the dye came out of place.

PITA Factor: Very low. I specifically chose this design as my first Norwegian design as it had everything I wanted to try out - specifically a new way of steeking. I did not find the knitting part difficult (let's not speak of the numerous attempts starting up the second sleeve, 'k?), however I did find that there was a lot more finishing involved than I'm used to with Fair Isle. The front bands alone took me a weekend to complete - probably 8 hours total. Not bad when you're picking up and knitting 150 stitches per side on 2.5mm needles, and knitting for 18 rows per side! The facings on the front bands and the upper sleeves were stitched down in place as well. This is something that I don't do with Fair Isle.

The steeks did not prove to be a problem, thanks to Lorraine and her sewing machine. She had come by awhile back and stitched them up for me.

I've never been one to swoon and faint at the cutting of steeks - it's never rattled me. Just cut. And trust that a few thousand + knitters can't be wrong! So - no issues there, and they worked out just fine. No unraveling at all. I did add a few more stitches to the front steek, probably the Fair Isle knitter in me thinking it would make a difference. But, it was completely unnecessary.

So, I'm very pleased! I was thinking as I was blocking it that it would have made a great pullover. But, I wanted the experience of Norwegian steeks.

What do you think!?!? I will post a modelled shot later in the week, once it's dry! Yay me!!!

"Guys, really - it's done! I saw it for myself. Are you as pooped as I am from the whole process?" - Little Miss Mae

Done. Almost.

Gandalf makes up for being a pill earlier in the week.

"Great. Chaos and Mayhem warned me about being used as a prop."

What is that, that knitted thingy being so expertly modelled by Gandalf (models only use one name, you know)? Why, hello SECOND AND LAST DALARNA SLEEVE! The sleeve, she is finished. Brigitte, she is relieved. Not for a moment did I not enjoy working on this project - I just got a little too ...comfortable... in how well my first Norwegian project was going. And it brought me down a peg or two by reminding me that if I didn't pay attention...it would make me pay attention.

So now the steeks are sewn and ready to be cut, and I have only the neckband to knit up, and the sleeves to sew into place.

I need advice! I will not be able to give Dalarna her bath in order to block her. I took Lorraine's advice and "washed" a small swatch of the red yarn, and lo and behold! The red runs. Good thing I checked it out BEFORE plunging the whole thing in water. If the red would have run into the white... And then it would have become the most expensive and elaborate kitty blanket ever. The design sure to induce seizures in the cats should they stare at it too long (hee hee, anyone remember the Simpsons episode where they go to Japan?!!). But, what I'd like to know - to block it, should I pin her down, spray, and steam? Let me know what you think.

And speaking of Lorraine -

"Wow Auntie Lorraine, you tell the best stories! Is it true Kitten-Chow gets to drink water from a great big doggie bowl? Really?"

(Atticus in the background, vying for attention, paw on her leg) "Hi. Hi. Hi. Auntie Lorraine? Auntie Lorraine? Hi. Look. Lookatme! Hi!"

Lorraine came over this past weekend. We swapped yarn, showed off projects, and Gandalf and Atticus thought she was just the coolest. Here they compete for her attention, Gandalf nicely mellowed out after rolling around in Lorraine's Aran WIP that she brought over to show (oh, and the colour? It's even better than it shows up in the picture on her site). We had a great time! As always :) !

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I normally keep to myself when it comes to current affairs. This is a knit blog, after all. But - this makes me so happy.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/03/14/blackopens.html

How the "mighty" have fallen. Give up your Canadian citizenship to become a British Lord, eh Conny? What's that? You want it BACK now?? Screw over the "little people"? Let's see how well the "little people" treat you in a US jail.

OK. I feel so much better now.

"Oh! I'm so excited! Is it true you might be coming over for a visit soon!? We can play with Sheepie! And go for walks! And play in the backyard! And watch TV! And you can give me all kinds of love and attention! So. Excited!"

Finnegan asked his Moms if I could come over for a visit in April, although the Little Dudes have not been asked yet...

Yet.

Little Toes

OK, so it's not the best picture! Do you know how hard it is to even get a picture of kitty toes around here?! I have very tempermental models... And not to be outdone by her brothers, wee Miss Mae allowed me to photograph her paw on her terms.

(little wee Mae paw resting on my hand) Awwww!

*News Flash*

Dalarna's sleeve!

So far, so good! I'm about 40% done, with no messy mistakes or missed rows, phew... I'm going to work solely on this over the weekend, and get her done! Seeing Lorraine finish up her Sirdal (and she gave some great finishing tips too) has given me the push I need to get this done.

As I've said before - it's not the pattern - I absolutely love it. It's my own clumsiness when attempting to complete the last sleeve. If I had been paying more attention, I would have completed her by now. But, looks like this attempt is the charm.

Snow, Snow, Snow!

It's been a strange weather week here in Toronto. Storm on Sunday night into Monday, mild weather through the week, then a kick in the pants on Thursday - another snowstorm that came out of nowhere (so it seemed) on Thursday that packed some pretty brutal winds. It then turned to freezing rain (coating my back door shut with ice!), and then rain. Messy. The ice on the trees caused quite a few branches and limbs to snap, landing (of course) on the electrical wires. Which is what happened to me on Friday, knocking my power and telephone service out for about 6 hours. Good times. Today, it seems to have stabilized a bit. It's still mild (-2C), but we're back into the deep freeze this week!

Who's the boss? Mother Nature, of course.

Keep warm! Today I'm off to search for some kind of Kitty Condo for the Little Dudes. Gandalf continues to demolish the old chair. Little sweet pea that he is...

One Of These Repeats Is Not Like The Other...

One of these repeats is just not the same...

Can you see it now?! It's the 2nd repeat from the bottom (of course, it's never 4 rounds ago...), above the first row of stars. The zigzag on the right? That's the good one. The zigzag on the left? That's the bad one. I either messed up the repeat, or skipped a row altogether.

*sigh* See?

I've decided to restart it from scratch. Because I also used the wrong needle size when casting on and working the first 5 rows (which are done on 2.5mm). And I don't want to untangle and unravel all the yarn. Not to mention I have MORE than enough of both the red and white. And it also won't be so demoralizing...

But, on the good knitting front... I'm pretty much finished the Central Park Hoodie! Yay me! I'm just finishing the button band, so I will post after she has received her dunking and drying.

What's next? Well, I should tackle Dalarna's last sleeve. Sure. OK. But I think I'll work on Amphora for a while, and de-Dalarna my brain for awhile. Hey, it's not like I'm starting something new!

"Atticus! Mae! Guys, get over here! There's some funny white fluff flying around! Oh, wow... What's that? Why can't I catch it? Man, you're no fun Mom."

Yes. Gandalf is seeing his first "real" snowfall. We've been receiving snow squalls off the lake all day, and I for one LOVE it. I'm a winter person - I do like snow, and don't mind the cold, as long as I'm dressed for it. Which, having grown up in cold Ottawa, is not hard to do... Bev, what's up with you in Wyoming? I hope you didn't get snowed in!

Isn't Gandalf getting big!?

The question was asked how many XXL Ziploc bags I had filled up with my stash? Well, I used up 6 of them - but that doesn't include the 3 XL Rubbermaid bins, 2 Large ones and the Medium one. And Lorraine? Yeah, you saw the MESSY version of the stash. Now it's more...organized. Yeah. That's it. Organized.

(Didn't show my sock yarn either oh well bye!)

Why Is It...

...that Dalarna's second sleeve is working up slower than molasses in January?

Second Sleeve Syndrome.

OH NO!!!!!!!

I'm looking at the picture, and thinking, hey, there's a fold in the arm there Brigitte.

NO. I messed up!! (And I only just noticed this now as I'm posting...) Look at the first Charlie Brown repeat. Man...

*screams and swears into pillow*

*kitties scramble*

Do you think anyone will notice...?

Le Super Big Bummer.

OK. I'm ok now. At least the Central Park Hoodie is looking just fine. I'm on the second sleeve, which should be done by tomorrow night, I hope.

I'm going to have a drink now.

(PS - Hi Kathryn! Thanks for the compliments on the rug. I actually purchased it, and another one, on a trip to Morocco in 2002. Their rugs are unique (and not exported out of Morocco for sale) - this one was bought in a small village, and the design is completely random and made from what colours they had available.)

"Mom's not doing well right about now. I think she's swearing, but I really shouldn't repeat what she's saying... Something about *poopy* Second Sleeve Syndrome, my *butt*... Knitting! Dude, that's why I choose to sleep and eat and stuff."

New Year...New Look!!

So, I decided I needed - wanted - a change. Nothing drastic - just a change in blog look (well, what did you expect? I cut off my hair?!). Hope you like it, I know I do! I've been having those knittin' blues of late...the post-Christmas I-don't-want-to-knit-any-of-my-WIPs blues. And from what I've been reading on other blogs, I'm not alone.


I took stock of what WIP's I have - Dalarna, Amphora, Arangenser, Western Seas, uh, what else...oh yeah, Seaweed Scarf... Probably missing one... Anyway - what's a girl to do? I love each and every one of them, but, sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...


Start something new.
What? Oh, like you haven't done exactly the same! It's a really easy knit - the "Central Park Hoodie" from Knitscene magazine, the Fall 2006 edition. I'm using some Kilcarra Donegal Aran tweed (yes, from my stash), on size 5mm needles. The back is complete, and the left front is at the underarm. You can't really see from the picture, but there are rope cables along the sides, and the middle. The colour is as vibrant as it shows in the picture...we all need a bit of colour during the winter!


And you know what? Starting something new certainly did help me recover my knitting "mojo". Just so that you don't think I succumbed to Second Sleeve Syndrome with poor Dalarna (I haven't forgotten her!) -

Here's the start of her 2nd sleeve. My progress is staggering, I know. But, it's a start!

Lorraine was over a week or so ago, and helped me stitch up the steeks. She brought over her sewing machine, and a great big paper bag that Atticus and Gandalf thought was the coolest toy in the world. Mae...she was kinda "meh" about it. I think when no one was looking though...

I for one am glad to be back to a normal routine. As nice as the Christmas season is, it can be stressful at times. Hey, so thanks to everyone for your stash comments! Pretty pathetic, huh?! But, I gather it's probably not as bad as I think. Some of you have stashes to rival mine... You know, there is NO way knitting ennui can set in. All I need to do is visit my "store", and I'm bound to find something I completely forgot I had. Not hard. Trust me on that one.

The funny thing about this new Beta Blogger is that it doesn't indicate the return e-mail address of those of you who have left comments. I always love to reply back to them, but unless you're in my address book, I can't always do so. And I want to, so I'm sorry about that! I do appreciate them, and I'm really quite thrilled that I get comments.

Just when I thought I'd never get another shot of the 3 Little Dudes all lined up on the couch. As you can see, my part of the couch real estate is limited to non-existant at times.

"Mom, enough with the holidays and the change and all that stuff. You're moving furniture around, changing your blog layout, there's no snow yet you claim it's January, and you have the nerve to change our water bowl. Enough already. *sigh* ...so tired...must sleep...again..."