end of year calm

We're enjoying a quiet week off after the excitement of Christmas and luckily the weather is fantastic (we haven't had the blizzards so many others have lately). Today was warm and bright and the perfect morning for a walk in the woods.

We're lucky to have a 700 acre oak/aspen forest and marshland right near our house, which is where we walked today with our little friend Kira who we're dog-sitting for a week. She's wonderful and fun.

and some knitting content...

When my Mom saw my Shadow cardigan she wanted one too, so I made this for her. The yarn is SweetGeorgia Yarns superwash sport in 'Blackberry'. I love this yarn and will definitely use it again. They're in Vancouver and sell roving as well as yarn bases in many gorgeous colourways.

I hope you're having a great week too.

I think I have a thing for snowmen

I hope your holidays are full of joy and the coming year brings you many wonderful things. See you in 2011.

14.12

So today's my birthday (as it is every year) and, like every year, it's a weird mix of freezing cold weather, excitement and stress about the upcoming holidays, and a burning desire to just sit and breathe deeply for a minute and enjoy the day.

Since my last birthday I finally got off my butt and put to paper some of the designs I had in my head and I'm really grateful for your support and feedback. So for my birthday I thought I would make my patterns 50% off for the next week ('til midnight on the 21st). The discount should appear at checkout.

I have many many more in the works, so next year's sale should be more significant. Thanks, you guys. May you have a peaceful and joyous december 14th.

everybody (yeah), rock your body (yeah)*

* stuck in my head after seeing the Backstreet Boys on the American Music Awards. My daughter guessed every single winner correctly minus the Alternative category. She knows music.

The body is done! The topmost rounds were a bit tricky working on 4 dpns, but it's snug and safe on a circular now waiting for the sleeves to join it.

What's also done is the painting. Finally.

So, I'm doing OK at getting ready for the holidays, but I'm a little stuck on a cute, homemade project the kids could make for their teachers, friends, etc. Any ideas? (Speaking of homemade, we have several of these guys hanging out at our house from a few years ago. I have a thing for snowmen). I'm thinking bookmarks? ornaments? pencil toppers?

Happy Hannukah, friends! Hope your weekend's going great.

how many times can I bore you with pictures of the same sweater....

It's really because I'm test knitting this that I feel I should do a weekly check-in on my progress, so I apologize for dwelling on the same thing every week (feel free to change the channel). Which is convenient because there are other knitting things going on I can't talk about anyway (isn't it always like that this time of year?), so here's week #3 of this. I was really hoping to have finished the body by now, but alas. I was also hoping to have finished the house painting by now, but there are still drop sheets in my photos, so no need to say anything more. Sigh.

You can see the various steek setups here - the neck in the middle and the two sleeves at the sides. Shaping is occurring at various rates on either side of them, so some paying attention is needed.

We've had almost a winter's worth of snow already, so getting around this week was cumbersome. But this time of year and the snow make me think of sweaters with reindeer and toques with birds like in this book. As I don't have time to make such items myself right now I would have to pay someone to knit them for me which would just be silly, so I won't. I actually had the thought 'I hope winter lasts really long this year so I have enough time to knit everything I want to'. Obviously, the cold is addling my brain.

Happy snowy weekend to you.

november's too busy. maybe december will be quiet....

Week #2 progress shot of Sant'Angelo. Still loving it. Wishing I didn't have hockey games, swimming lessons, meetings, etc. every single night of the week so I could work on it more, but still progressing (I went to a hockey game with my son and 4000 other school patrols last night and had the thrill of standing in line for an hour to meet Nathan Kress of the tv show iCarly. Even though I'm not 12 I still thought he was super cute). I haven't resorted to taking the sweater and its cones with me to these functions (to my son's relief, I'm sure) but I may still. I need a good pair of socks or something as I'm completely lacking in travel knitting at the moment but I'm afraid to start something else.

There's also those plastic drop sheets on the floor in the photo. Painting is still going. Taking awhile due to the vast geography to be covered, but looking good.

Hope you're good, too. Happy weekend.

winter's coming. need a warm sweater.

Week #1 progress shot of Sant'Angelo. I love everything about this project. I also love working with the yarn cones. Just set them on the floor and go. They stay where you put them and don't bounce around like skeins, reducing tangling. No changing balls, either.

I'm thinking of stranded knitting a lot lately, as I'm also reading this book, wherein she describes knitting Alice Starmore's Mary Tudor sweater over the course of a year. I'm having dreams of windswept landscapes dotted with sheep. I love the rhythmic binary process of two colour work. Kate has expressed this experience wonderfully here.

I am also in the midst of painting vast areas of ceiling and walls. My livingroom, diningroom, stairway and upstairs hall were painted a uniform soul-deadening browny-grey by the previous owner of my house. I have learned it was his attempt to eliminate the visual noise of the 1970's era colours of the owner previous to him. But I am ashamed at myself for having lived with it for 6 years with the feeble excuse it was done right before we got here. Now it's becoming a fresh canvas of warm white. I need new artwork now. And some new furniture. Out with the old, I say.

Happy weekend.