Offline for a bit

We're off on vacation for two weeks, going to Calgary to visit my dad (to give him his birthday socks). I'll try to post pics of the two wool shops I plan to visit (www.make1yarns.com and www.puddingyarn.com -- if anyone else knows about other good yarn stores in Calgary, please leave a comment) .

See you in July! Happy Canada day!!

Knitting progress: there is some.

1 - One of the "jasper" socks is done to the toe, the other one is half way through the gusset.

2 - My Mom's shawl is on pattern repeat 5. I'm not sure how many I will do, it's starting to get longer and longer to get through each row, but I guess I knew that. Knock on wood, there are no major mistakes yet. I made one little mistake in one of the diamonds but it's hardly visible and I didn't want to rip back 8 rows!! I did take pictures of it, and will post the start to finish pictures after I've given it away.

The obligatory photograph, since there aren't any knitting photos - here is Erika chilling in the back yard and talking to her daddy. I had fun playing with it in Lightroom. I really like the black and white version.

Garden pictures

Knitting is my first passion. I love what can be created with just some gorgeous yarn and some needles. Each stitch is meticulously created and thought out and crafted with care. When you're done knitting something, there is a great sense of accomplishment.

I have the same feeling with gardening, but in a whole different way. With gardening, you are creating the environment for the plants to thrive, and they do the rest.

Look at these daisies !



A bee came in for some food on my Lupin.


And then a couple of days later, some aphids had a feast on the Lupin. I had to spritz it with some spray to get rid of the Aphids, but the Lupin is still standing.



Here is my garden from about a week ago. It looks much more full now.


And then the crowning glory - my "Rock Star" iris. This is tempting me to start dye-ing wool. Some of the colors are just so striking that I want to dye some yarn to match.




As I was taking pictures of these dainty little pink flowers (hmm forgot the name), an ant came by for a visit. Of all of the pictures I took, this was the most interesting. Wildlife in action!

World Wide Knit in Public day

Saturday, June 9th was World Wide Knit in Public day, so the Montreal Knitting Guild held its annual garden party in front of the church.




There were more people there than expected, and everyone had gorgeous things they were knitting. Even more people came after I snapped this picture. I had to leave around one to bring Erika back home for her nap, so if I missed anyone - sorry!




I brought out the macro lens and took photos of Barbara's shawl.




And Joanne's scarf made with beautifully soft wool.


Barbara brought a cute hand made mouse for Erika which is much loved and has its own special place on the shelf.

Mouse was soon joined by a bear dressed in adorable clothes made by Shirley. The yarn was dyed by a guild member (don't remember who) and Shirley knitted it up for the bear.






Some knitting progress has been made - my socks are progressing. Mom's shawl is progressing. I"ve gotten into the knitting of the actual shawl (instead of swatching) and have done three pattern repeats. Still ?? to go - I have to measure it to see.

Right now I'm stuck trying to figure out how to do the edges for the 4th (and above) pattern repeat since it doesn't quite match the first two - and in the original pattern it only calls for 3, then goes on to another pattern in the garden shawl. Back to sketching and drawing to figure it out!

No photos of the shawl yet though - it's a surprise!

Dad's socks finished!

Wow, making socks for a man with 11 inch feet, is well, somewhat long. They didn't take as long as I thought they would, since the yarn was so nice and soft and smooth to knit with, and I purposely made them a smidge looser than I normally do so they would be nice and lose on my father's feet. Even though they are 10 inches around, I only used 80 stitches for the sock. If I were to use this yarn again, I'd use 2.25mm needles, but think that this gauge is perfect for my father's socks.

I'll post a picture of them on his feet when I give them to him at the end of the month. Here they are resting on my newly transplanted blue spruce.

Project Specs:

Pattern: Generic top-down sock

Yarn: Austerman Step

Needles: 2.5mm dpns
Gauge: 30 sts to 10cm

Size: 11 inches long

Cast on to Bind off: May 26 to June 3, 2997

Would I make this again: More socks - of course!

And now with 3 columns

I finally found a 3 column template that looks nice, is easy to use and works with the new blogger. The only downside is that I had to save all of the links on my sidebars and will slowly be putting them back. I'm so overjoyed at the prospect, but with 5 back to back conference calls today I'll have time for some mindless multitasking. Maybe I'll knit on dad's sock instead.

Socks for dad

Yes, another new project to distract me from the never-ending Voss sweater. I'm almost done the second sleeve, but my Voss mojo seems to be waning quickly. I want to finish it, so that I can steek it and finally finish it, but since I'm only giving it for Christmas, I have no need to rush.

We're going to visit my father in Calgary soon to celebrate his 70th birthday, as well as so that Dave can see the rockies, go to Stampede and many other fun western things (including going to two yarn shops in Calgary). I'll post pictures when I'm back. I was trying to think of a perfect present, but since he has everything, it's always a challenge. I decided to make him some socks to wear around the house.

I chose to try the Austerman Step yarn with Aloe and Jojoba since I've heard raves about the yarn and felt the need to try it. It is indeed very nice to work with. I'm using 2.5mm needles and find it a bit loser that I would like, next time I'll use 2.25mm needles with this yarn, as I think it will make a nicer fabric.

He's not a big fan of color, so I chose as manly a coloway as possible. I think he'll like them. I hope he'll like them. We'll see in a month.

Like the pictures? I just got a new macro lens for my camera, and will be posting pictures of my garden soon. I my macro lens!

It's a small world

So here I am, dropping off my Mom at the airport for a trip to Istanbul and Greece (lucky her!) and someone shouts out "Maaike!" in the middle of the departure area. I turned around, and it was none other than Kate Gilbert with her cutie little tadpole and Frog. (!!) Knitters are everywhere!

I introduce her to my mother and say that this was the lady who designed the Clapotis scarf that I made and love so much -- and she says to Kate "Oh, you're the one that my daughter talks about all the time" [aside, I think she was thinking about the Harlot]

Erika and tadpole had a couple of really cute kid moments waving at each other. When we left, Erika says to me - "Mommy, can we go to their house to play one day?". How cute is that?

Kate - if you're reading this - I might have to take you up on your offer to go stash shopping while our girls play. I'm really not a crazy knitwear designer stalker.