Pictures, Updates and Happy New Year!

We are back from the coast! What a ride! The Vancouver/Fraser Valley area, in fact, most of the country, was hit hard weather-wise.


This was taken at my Mom's house on Christmas day. That, on the table and deck, is one night's accumulation of snow. I think John cleaned the driveway, sidewalk and deck at least 6 times while we were there. There was a lot of snow (for that area... it's one of the mildest areas in the entire country; the last time we saw this much snow was about 20 odd years ago, if not longer).



The hats were a hit, but there were a couple of mis-fits. As you can see in the above picture, Oceanna's hat fits perfectly. The hat that Teagan is wearing should be Trinity's, but is too small for her. The hat I'd intended for Teagan was too small for him and I have a feeling that the hat I'd intended for Jonathan will be too small, too. So, I told my daughter to shuffle the hats around. She's to give Teagan's hat to Jonathan, keep Jonathan's hat for Ethan (3 weeks to go); I'll make another hat for Trinity and Teagan. That'll keep me out of trouble for a little while. :)


The Faroese shawl for my mother was a hit. So much a hit, in fact, that the first thing she did after oohing and ahhing over it was to put it into a plastic bag and into the linen closet. Her reasoning? She didn't want to get it dirty; she wanted to keep it nice. I made it very clear to her that it was given to her with the intention (and her promise) that she would wear it if I made her a shawl. After a bit of a lecture, she did start wearing it and when we left, the shawl was draped over her tv-watching chair.

While there, I did get some knitting done. Because of the weather, we didn't go out much and that gave me plenty of knitting time. The Zetor shawl is coming along nicely. I've completed 7 repeats of the pattern; it calls for 9 repeats before doing the edging. It looks like it will be a decent sized shawl by the time I'm done.

I know this picture doesn't look like much more than a brown blob, but it's progress, baby!


I had taken one extra ball of the Drops Alpaca with me and by the time we left Abbotsford, I'd gone through the entire ball. I had worked on the shawl on the bus ride there, but couldn't work on it on the way home. There was another project I took with me. Did I tell you about my slipper socks? These?

See the heels? Yes, those holes are where the heels should be. These socks are now residing in my kitchen garbage bin. In their place, I made these...

Thrummed socks. They're really cozy! And inside out, they look like a sheepy puppet!

The pattern is one I found online (I'll look it up another time and post the link); the yarn is Paton's Classic Merino, in a light brown. The thrums are pencil roving. As much as I like these socks, there are a couple of things I'd change if/when I make them again. First, they're too big. The pattern calls for 48 sts on 4.0 mm needles. I like my socks tighter than these are. Second, I would put thrums in the heel section of the sole. The pattern was a little unclear about putting thrums on the bottom of the foot. In retrospect, I should have put thrums all along the sole. Oh well, they're meant to be slipper socks; they're warm. I won't complain too loudly. And, if I really don't want to wear socks that are too big, I can give these to John and make myself another pair. Or I can try felting them to fit.

Have any of you ever made thrummed socks? If so, what pattern did you use?

Then, because I finished the socks while at Mom's, I decided to go out on my own one afternoon. John had gone into the city to see his Dad and Mom didn't want to go out. Originally, I wanted to see if Abbotsford's only yarn shop was open (they weren't... bummer!), and ended up at Michael's. I really wasn't sure what I wanted, but when I saw some Bernat Cashmere, I was inspired. For a yarn that's mostly acrylic (65% acrylic, 30% nylon, 5% cashmere), it feels pretty good. I suppose there's just enough cashmere in it to make it feel nice.

It's a little difficult to see in the picture, but I'm making a pair of wrist warmers. One's done, the other was worked on while on the bus ride home. I'm not following a pattern, just making it up as I go along. I will (don't you worry!) write up the pattern as I work the second mitt. The first mitt was done in one afternoon, but since we've been home, I haven't worked on the second one.

Instead, I've been working on this...

This is Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style. Over on Ravelry, I joined a KAL for Ene's Scarf. I don't join a lot of KALs, but seeing as I've been wanting to knit this shawl for quite some time, I decided this was one I would join. I had started Ene before, but just wasn't happy with the yarn and pattern combination. This time, I'm loving it. The picture above is one pattern row shy of completing Chart 1. The yarn is Malabrigo Lace (100% baby merino)... so yummy it could almost be cashmere! The colourway is 229, Cosecha, and is gorgeous. The picture really doesn't do it justice. I'm using 4.0 mm needles, and am really happy with the resulting fabric. It's so light and yet there's body to it. It's difficult to describe. Suffice it to say, it will be lovely!

There you have it... my first post of 2009. For each of you who read this blog, I hope that 2009 will be a banner year, one filled with good things, good people, and good times.