My yarn habit needs a bigger bank account

I know it has been ages and I need to finish up the explanation of how I finished the swift/its success. Also I need to fix the layout of the pics because they did not go the way they wanted to but I thought I’d tell you about why my wallet is letting out an enormous sigh of relief and why I think it should be careful and not let its guard down. I went into a lovely yarn shop on Queen St today. Not just any yarn store. The Americo yarn store. My god is the stuff lovely. I fell in love with a shawl.. unfortunately it takes 5 of skeins of their baby llama yarn which of course, as lovely as it is, costs $28 a skein. The pattern comes free when you buy the yarn and they suggested a cheaper cotton, but I’m in love with the feel of the llama so I will have to come back with more money *muahahaha* and indulge because my god it feels yummy, and the shawl looks challenging enough without making me reach for the puffer. Anyways I’m off to knit some washcloths for some first time parents. I promise I will try very hard to update more now that the school year is finally over.

DIY Swift Continued

So the swift is coming along nicely, and is able to be taken apart and put back together easily so far. Today I cut up all of the pieces for the arms, did up templates to figure out the best hole placement for the bolts to hold them in place and I cut those holes. I also managed to do a test run on the holes for the doweling. You could say the drill bit is too big or the doweling is too small, but either way that isn’t working out so well just yet. I’m going to have to pay a visit to the hardware store and/or the art supply store. Either way I will let you know what I come up with. Probably I should have been studying for my exam that is tomorrow, but umm.. yeah, it didn’t happen, I was too distracted. I’m feeling pretty good about it anyway.

Oh! After my exam I should be coming home to a lovely knitpicks package! I wanted to try out their interchangeables before committing to the whole set. I’m working on a baby blanket in the round so it is the perfect project. I’ve ordered a few different lengths of cords and the needle size that I need and at the end of the project I’ll either be cursing them, loving them, or be indifferent about them, but either way its cheaper than buying all of the needle lengths I’d have needed so it is all good in my books. I’m kinda excited.

DIY Swift Planning

Today has been a most excellent day. Why? Well besides the Baskin and Robins chocolate peanut butter ice cream and the John Cusack movie I went to Home Depot after having gone to Ikea yesterday. This means I now have all the pieces I need to make my very own swift affordably. I’m excited! I always end up choosing yarns that need balling and well not only to I tend to end up with the yarn all knotted, most of the time I get knotted up too. It isn’t pretty. But the market price for a swift is very much out of my price range, sooooo I was staring at my lazy susan from Ikea one day having been puddling about on ravelry and looking at different ones that other people recommended and I realised that I could recreate one of the non umbrella ones for much less. So a $7.99 lazy susan, a $1.49 piece of wood, $1.98 piece of dowel and around $5 worth of nuts and bolts will very soon be my very own swift, I hope. Fingers crossed! We’ll see what unfolds. And yes, that is a Lightening McQueen pencil, I couldn't find a pencil so I nicked one of the four I got for my nephew at Dollarama. It gives the project that little bit of extra charm.

Stay Tuned!

Socktacular

Very exciting! I’ve officially finished my first adult sized* sock. Not only did I finish the first one but I cast on for the second one! Go me! It is really pretty, done up in Regia Bamboo sock yarn. It has been a long time coming and it makes me happy. I’ve also got a package on the way from Knitpicks. I’ve got their striped sock yarn in Alexandria coming and a set of their nickel circular needles as well as Harmony wood ones to try. I’m looking forward to it. If it works out, particularly the wood ones I’ll be looking into ordering their interchangeable set, or at least saving up for it. Plus they’re supposed to have fairly pointy ends! Yay! There is also a Yarn Harlot book in the package that I haven’t read yet. In fact I haven’t read most of her books, but I love what I have read and her blog. Unfortunately I’m getting back to school on Monday and I have a feeling that is when it will arrive so I won’t be able to enjoy it until the end of the school year I don’t think. Unless I skive off briefly, which I’ll probably be persuaded to do by the package. Evil evil package.

*note: I have knit little booties and sort of 1/3 sized Christmas stockings for all the kids I look after (about 10 at the time) so the heel turning, etc was not a mystery to me. But this is fingering weight yarn and big enough for me, someone with large feet. Hence the significance of the adult size sock. I’m tall and plus sized so yeah.. go me! Long feet, fat ankles, ain’t I lucky?

Needles from hell

Aluminum needles are pissing me right off.
I try really hard not to buy new needles and use the ones that my mum has piled up over the years, unfortunately they were mostly bought in the late 70s and through the 80s on the cheap when we were all kiddies and sucking her budget. This has left a pile of blunt tipped Aero needles that I want to throw at the wall. It doesn’t get to me when I’m doing straight forward stuff, but every time I try to knit through the back leg of a stitch on this damned scarf I can’t get the damned needle in and I split the yarn, end up in the stitch below, or slip off and miss completely. The expletives are getting more and more blush worthy. GRR! I definitely need to investigate interchangeable needles etc, as a set of my own. I’m going to end up in a heap crying soon if this keeps up, and it won’t be pretty.
Curses you damned metal needles! Curses I say!

Hand made lovin'

I think my brother is yearning for some handmade love. My dad, though on the elderly side and a little emphysema-ish, is perpetually underdressed for going outside, particularly when he goes to shovel (which I have repeatedly told him not to do, but he doesn’t listen and refuses to ask me to do it if I haven’t noticed the snow due to my basement dwelling). So I offered to knit him a scarf when he came in raspy and cold from shovelling. I happen to have some yarn in an alpaca/merino/silk blend in a dark green (one of his favourite colours), but he said he wouldn’t wear it. My brother pipes up: “I’d wear one!” quite gleefully/hopefully. Its not the first time he has hinted at wanting a knit piece, but I’ve been mid project at the time and I’m trying very hard to limit the number of projects I have going at one time (oh so hard). And really and truly, after the year he has had, I think he deserves/needs some random acts of knitting along with kindness. I’m not entirely sure I have quite enough of the yarn for a good sized scarf, but I figure it won’t hurt to try and I have a deep red left over from mittens that, although it is a slightly smaller gauge, might make some nice contrasting stripes at the ends in order to stretch things out a bit more. Now my only challenge is to figure out a way to add visual interest without using up too much more yarn than stockinette would in order to maximize the scarf’s length. Hmmm.. time to get out the stitch dictionaries and ponder.

Water works

I was doing a little catch up with Yarn Harlot’s blog today when I saw the line “There's a lot to be said for being able to flush at will.” And all I can say is that, for very different reasons - a very long, and possibly continuing (fingers crossed that is not and I can finally put the lid back on), battle with my toilet’s flushing ability- I agree! For the longest time flushing my toilet involved shoving my hand in the toilet to push it down then quickly grab the water hose, pull it out and aim it at the bottom of the tank otherwise one, all or any other combination of three things happened: 1) the chain was detached and it appear(s/ed) that it is/was allergic to staying attached thus my need to do the manual (ie wet hand) flush – yuck 2) the hose would pop out of its own volition and spray me, the wall, the ceiling, the toilet paper - anything really that was in its way- with a very cold, high pressure spray of water that lead to me pressing my hand over the nozel and aiming it in the right direction till my hand was numb and it had calmed down enough for me to re attach things and/or 3) if neither of these things happened there was the added annoyance of if both ends of the hose were connected we got an airlock in the pipes which causes a horrible noise and my toilet to shake .. not fun.. rather frightened at the possible outcomes of continuous shaking toilet syndrome. *shudders* This has lead to an annoying need to avoid the flush mostly meaning my having to search out other toilets in the house (much stairs), which by the way at 6am, all bleary eyed and cross legged is not fun. So with the help of some of those trusty zip plastic ties (like those used by police to handcuff in large scale situations quickly) I have firmly secured the hose outside of the offending placement that leads to the noisy shaking toilet syndrome and am, in a reservedly optimistic fashion, doing a dance because I too can possibly now put the lid on my toilet again and once again flush at will.

Yes.. maybe I could call a plumber.. but plumber visits tend to have expensive outcomes and I felt the need to put my crafty (ie cheap) skills to use before employing one. Hopefully it won’t come to that until I’m a little more flush (I couldn’t help myself) and a new toilet will be in my future.

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I am a very happy person right now. Yesterday I got to see some of my kiddies* for the first time in a very long time and it was so good to see them, which is a very good reason to be happy, and is more than enough to keep me on a high. But to top it off I was given a belated Christmas gift of a $50 gift certificate to a book store; a big chain bookstore that has sales and online specials! Yes, we could talk about the evils of the corporation, blah blah blah (not to dismiss this, it is very important and some corporations are very evil), but! I get to play around and figure out what I want most and what prices are excellent and get as much as I can for the $50! And then! Wait for a parcel to arrive for me in the mail, possibly even get to track it! It gives me a happy little glow – why yes, yes I am excited easily, why do you ask?

I’ve been in desperate need of some retail therapy and it’s a good thing that I can get it out of my system before my OSAP lands in my account next week. It could be dangerous. Right now I’m bouncing at the possibility of trying out a Gordon Ramsey cook book and getting a knitting book with this amazing castle chart in it that has me drooling and bouncing and thinking of all the possible uses for it (baby blankets, sweaters, crazy wash clothes, did I mention the most awesomest- yes I know this is not a word but I feel that it applies here- baby blankets?). I needed to share and although my mother would fully understand this excitement, most other people look at me as if someone mistakenly let me loose from the loony bin and they’d better walk away slowly while figuring out how the hell to get me back in again. And now I shall go bask in the glow of this wonderfulness while I get full on yummies with an old friend and possibly have one too many drinks for the middle of the day and just generally enjoy myself.

* By my kiddies I mean someone else’s that I look after or have looked after. There are a lot of them, the number of families is in the 10s and the number of kids is climbing from the 20s to 30s, but there are about 7 (3 families) that I have spent the most time with and that mean the most to me.

A great start to a new year

To say that 2008 sucked would be an understatement, however 2009 got off to a great start. How? You ask. Well, let me tell you; with the best pancakes ever. Well, I’m not sure about that, but it is my favourite pancake recipe. When I walked into the kitchen this morning I could see the book was out and someone had already cut the butter into the flour. I couldn’t help but grin. This meant we were almost good to go! This recipe is from an amazing cookbook by Didi Emmons called Vegetarian Planet. It is a whole wheat buttermilk pancake that makes me smile every time I eat them and maybe feel a vague tinge of guilt when I have it with bacon, but it is always worth it. The only thing I add is a touch of vanilla or if I don’t have buttermilk in I use a mix of milk and vanilla yogurt. It isn’t the only good thing about this book either. I’ve tried a few recipes including a ricotta and spinach dumpling recipe with portobello sauce which was delicious and the basis for much of my experimental recipes with ricotta. Also, anytime I want to find out about a type of rice or grain I look here first. She’s got information pages with a short blurb and common cooking methods/times/uses (depending on what’s appropriate). This is the most useful vegetarian book I’ve found, even more so then so many people’s coveted Moosewoods which are good, but I have found Vegetarian Planet to be much friendlier and more informative.

Maybe I shouldn't feel so guilty about the bacon.. after all R. Stevens says bacon is a vegetable and he has the t-shirt to prove it.