And Now For an Update

Finally, I have some knitting content to share with you. As I've been saying, I have been knitting on the dress, though probably not as much as I should have or even could have. This picture was taken almost a week ago now, and it has progressed somewhat more that is shown.

In this picture, the two pieces of the edging are completed, but not yet knitted together. In fact, they are now together on the needles and the body of the dress has been worked for a few repeats. It's looking good, if I do say so myself.

Last time I posted, I showed you the book I bought (Evelyn A. Clark's "Knitted Triangles"); a while back, I showed you the Noro Kureyon sock yarn I purchased. This past week, they came together and the resulting piece of knitting is something I think I'm going to love. All I'll show you at this point is this...

I must say that this has occupied my hands this past week more than anything else. I love the colours, I love the handspun feel and texture of the yarn and I love the way it's coming together.

I could say more about the pattern and yarn and all that info, but for now I need to go and get dressed, have some breakfast and generally get ready to go out. John and I are heading to the Armstrong Fair (aka IPE) for the day. The details and more pictures will just have to wait.

Bits and Pieces

Some days, it's difficult to start a post. Today is one of those days. I have been knitting, but feeling like I'm not making a whole lot of progress. The fourth of four edging strips is almost complete and that means I can start on the back of the dress. I'll probably have it (the strip) done this afternoon.

I have knitting related stuff to tell you, though. Yesterday, I went to the Bibles for Missions thrift store (it IS almost next door to where I work, after all) and found this...

It's 10 balls of 100% unbleached 4 ply knitting cotton. The bag has never even been opened! There was another bag with 8 balls and if it's still there Monday, I'll likely buy it as well. This bag was $7.50. The yarn is made in Holland and each is 100 grams. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with it, but I couldn't pass it up at that price. A cotton shawl (or two or three) perhaps??

As well, last week I ordered a book through my local yarn shop. I picked it up this morning. When I first read about this book (booklet, really) on Ravelry, I decided it was something I could use. Now that I have it, I know I'll use it.

It's "Knitting Lace Triangles" by Evelyn A. Clark. It's not a big book, but there's a lot of good information in it. There's also been some thought put into it; it's spiral bound, which is always a good thing for a reference type book. So far, I've skimmed through the book, but am looking forward to delving into it some more.

And now, I'm off to finish the fourth edging strip and get the second part of the dress started.

Summer Time, and the Living is Easy

Since this is primarily a knitting blog, I suppose I should update you on my knitting.... or lack thereof. That's not to say I've knitted nothing this week; I did finish the third of four edge strips. I won't bother taking a picture of it because it's exactly the same as one of the others and I've already posted pictures of that one.

Stacey (the bride) and I managed to get together this week so I could take one more measurement; now I can continue on, confident that the dress will fit well. I'm thinking that I may just continue on working the second half of the dress until I'm at the same point as I am for the front. Then I can work on each in turn, being assured that the shaping will be the same. It is, however, much too hot to be knitting right now. The last few days have been in the 30C plus range and the air conditioning in the apartment is working full bore, but it is still just too warm to knit. I'm not complaining, just saying.

I didn't want to write a post with no pictures (I did that yesterday), so I'll share a few of the pictures I took when my daughter and granddaughter were here.

Little girls and tea parties just seem to go together, don't they? The Evolution Shawl makes the perfect (and very classy) picnic blanket, while Gramma's tea set is the perfect way of serving apple juice and Cheetos. How's that for tea party fare? We had a lovely living room tea party and afterward, while I was putting the shawl back on the recliner, Trinity stroked it and asked if she could have it one day. I tell you, that's one way to melt a grandmother's heart!

We also took the girls to Davison's Orchard in Vernon. It is a working orchard that has been turned into an attraction, as well as a way of teaching people (especially children) where their food comes from. We didn't spend a lot of time there, but we did enjoy it before heading off to the lake. Trinity loved seeing the animals, and this being a knitting blog, I couldn't pass up this photo op.

While Kristen and I strolled and chatted, John escorted Trinity on a tour of the animal pens. I love this next shot. That little girl has her grandfather completely wrapped around her fingers, whether he'll admit it or not.

And now for something completely different!

I have two new blogs! Why I do this to myself I'll never know, but I did.

The first of the two new blogs is Clicks 'n Things; it takes the place of my previous photo blog. I've forgotten the password to the Wordpress photo blog and, though they can send an email with the password, the email address I used to register that blog is no longer a valid email address (thanks to the fiasco that was our move to Gibsons). I've resurrected a photo blog because it does encourage me to get out and about with my camera. That's not a bad thing. Whether or not anyone is even interested doesn't really matter; I enjoy taking pictures and some of them aren't half bad.

The second of the two new blogs is much more interesting, or could be. It begs participation. It's called Headline Hunters and you can get involved in it as well. This morning, John left a newspaper out, hoping the headline would catch my eye (even without glasses). It did. I think it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I had to do something.

Our local newspapers are rife with words used in the wrong context, typos and grammatical errors. Some of the mistakes are a source of chuckles, others a source of headshaking. I've decided to start posting them. What about you? Does your local newspaper mess up? Why not share it with the world. The details are on the new blog. I've even set up a separate email account just for the blog. Let me know what you think. Contribute to the insanity. Let's have some fun!

A Diversion

I'm still working on the dress; let's get that out of the way right away. However, the dress is not a project to be taken along to a sit & stitch; it takes too much concentration. Because I knew I'd be going to a sit & stitch, I started (and finished) a small (very small) project this morning.

It won't be long before the doll (does it ... she.. he... need a name?) has a complete wardrobe, I'm thinking. This little item definitely clashes with the sweater previously made, so I took pictures without the sweater.

There was no pattern for this little hat. I simply cast on 4 stitches using Emily Ocker's circular cast on and increased every other row to 64 stitches. It didn't start out quite the way I had envisioned (I originally wanted the top to be flatter), but I'm happy with the result, and I'm hearing no complaints from the doll. The yarn is James C. Brett's Marble, 100% acrylic dk weight yarn, knitted on 4.0 mm dpns. This would probably fit a newborn and would be simple enough to make larger. Basically, this little hat is a blank canvas. I went from stocking stitch to 3 rows of reverse stocking stitch to 6 rows of popcorn stitches (every 4th stitch) to 3 rows of reverse stocking stitch to 3 rows of ribbing to stocking stitch (6 rows, I think), then a crochet cast off. That's it. Dolly's got a new hat, I'm happy with the design and it's all good.

The socks. Glad you asked. Leslie asked about fit. They're a little difficult for me to try on, I'm afraid. It's not the fault of the socks; I'm sure they'll be just fine. It's just that the foot length of the sock is 6", a little smaller than my 10" feet. I'm intending them to go to Trinity, my granddaughter, who's foot tracing I just happened to have (don't all grandmothers have tracings of their grandkids' feet??). Once she has them and I talk to her mom, I'll let you know about the fit. Hopefully, my daughter will take a pic or two to share with you.

Now, I've been told I have to process the remainder of a bag of basil leaves or they'll have to be thrown out. And that would simply be a waste! Mmmmm... pesto!

It's a Kind of Magic

Edited to change the picture size (didn't realize they'd uploaded at 150dpi). Note to self: never blog when you've got only 10 minutes before you have to leave for work!

Few words today; I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The pattern: Cat Bordhi's Houdini Socks. The needles: 2.5 mm Addi Turbo
I'll take pics of the finished socks when they're finished.

Also edited to add: Leslie, I know, I'm supposed to be working on the dress only. However, I need to take one more measurement on Stacey and we've been unable to connect. I did realize last night that I do have more than one set of 5.0 mm needles and have started on the second side (front? back? both are the same) of the dress. These socks are a slight diversion, and a bit of mindless knitting. Nothing wrong with mindless knitting when your dear husband has rented three movies to watch. ;)

This Could Be Fun

On Saturday, I attended a small "party" celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Art of Yarn, the yarn store I worked at for almost two years. While there, I spoke with a long-time customer (thanks Chris!) who told me about a new online magazine, the Twist Collective. I was reminded of it again this morning, while browsing through Ravelry (which, if you haven't, you really should join... there's a great article about Ravelry in the Fall 08 Vogue Knitting).

The fun part? Check this out. Cat Bordhi's done it again! I love this idea! As much as I like the idea of toe up socks, I find that they just don't fit as well as the cuff down ones; at least, the ones I've made for myself don't fit as well as I'd like. This way, you can make the foot exactly the length you want, make a bunch of feet (or footprints, as she calls them), then work the leg when you feel inspired. Very clever! I will definitely be trying this technique!

And yes, I've been working on the dress some more. I'm at the point now of having to start the waist shaping. You may become tired of seeing these progress pictures, but I had to post at least one picture in this post, didn't I?

Time for an Update

There hasn't been a lot of knitting this week, but I did try to finish the second of the four edge pieces. I finished #2 this morning.

Because I had a cake in the oven while I worked on the dress, I couldn't go out to do shopping, so I kept working on the dress. The two edge pieces have been joined...

...and I've started on the body of the dress. This is where it's at right now...

This last picture is one and a half repeats of the overall lace pattern. It's a very simple leaf pattern that's easy to read and easy to memorize. I did find, though, that the chart really hasn't had a lot of thought put into it. Yes, it's a simple pattern to read; however, if you follow the chart exactly as written, row 5 will not work out in pattern. There's a yarnover at the beginning and end of the row that should not be there. Now that I know that, I'm moving right along and it's all working out just fine!

Edited to add: It's row 7 that doesn't work out as charted, not row 5.

Thus far, the part that has taken me the most time has been the joining of the two edge pieces and making sure I have the correct number of stitches picked up. It really isn't difficult, but I don't recommend working above dark clothing with these colours of yarn. The bottom yarn, grey, was difficult to see with the navy pants I was wearing as the background. Once I put a sheet of paper on my lap, I had no problems seeing the stitches to pick up.

Incidentally, on the needle, the dress looks pretty narrow. It isn't. The KidSilk Haze is deceptive. Because the yarn is so fine, it fits very nicely on a 12" straight needle, but has more than enough stretch to fit an actual body.

I have a feeling there won't be much more knitting until Monday (a holiday here in BC) because we have a staff picnic tomorrow afternoon/evening. That's why I baked the cake (chiffon cake with brandy-soaked peaches and whipped cream, for those of you curious as to what kind of cake). Tomorrow will be spent getting everything ready and then partaying! For those of you here in BC, enjoy your day off!!