Knitting Pharm

A lovely run through Toronto

For those of you who are familiar with the Toronto area, you will know that overnighting downtown between two days of meetings at the airport hotel makes little sense.  However, when said overnight involves a Wednesday night, all bets are off.

I've been to Knit Night at Lettuce Knit.

My muggle pal, ever obliging and far sweeter than he needs to be, picked me up at rush hour at the end of meeting day 1.  We then headed to Kensington Market so I could gawk and shop and generally revel in the geeky world known as knitting.

Amy was there (let's face it, because I e-bugged her to remind her that I'd be there), as well as a certain returnee from the back woods.  I met blog free by choice Rachel, the infamous Denny, and sweater model and fab knitter in her own right Alexis.  Laura was there, preparing to travel for a very important work event, as was LK's lovely owner Megan, with a most important WIP of her own.  (Hint:  she keeps it hidden under her shirt.)

There was lots of Socks that Rock there.  And beer.  And people to recommend the best Indian restaurant I've had the pleasure of visiting.  All in all, a pretty awesome evening.

Did I mention my obliging muggle friend took off when I made him squeeze a skein of yarn?

Thank you, GTA crew, for being so welcoming, and for not running for the hills when I recognized you from blogs alone.  I'm freaky that way.

I took no photos, save for the yarn shots upon my return.  Wanna see some?

 

 

 

 

 

Previously, on a very special Lazy Knitter

When last the Lazy Knitter reported, the retained armhole stitches were waiting to become sleeves.  Today I have 2 sleeve caps that each look like this:

[pretty freaking perfect, if you ask me.]

I joined on and worked each stitch (concealing wraps as in Cat Bordhi's latest book) and picking up stitches to a total of 106 (the final stitch count for my size).  I then worked in short rows, starting with 32 centre stitches, increasing one on each row until all stitches had been incorporated.  Now it's just a matter of working in the round to the wrist, reversing the shapings.  I love this method and its effect.

The only change I would have made would be to centre the pattern on the body of the sweater.  It's not written this way, as the intent is for a row of Os in the pattern to serve as buttonholes.  Once I opted to add a button band instead of doing this, having Os on the buttonhole edge became less important.  The knits of half-cable on the edges would have made a cleaner canvas for picking up stitches, but I think I did pretty darned well with the purl background.

Speaking of facings and buttons and all good things, check these out:

I.  Love.  Them.

True to form, once the hardest parts of the sweater were done, I set it aside to work some other projects.  Lots of them.

A felted purse for my niece:

The beginnings of a pair of socks for my nephew:

More clogs, just because they're quick and fun...

And a completed and blocked Swallowtail for a draw prize at an upcoming charity luncheon.  (Click for bigger.)

I'm Toronto-bound in the morning, hoping to do a run-by visit at Lettuce Knit for Knit Night before having a sleepover with a dear, dear friend.  Have a happy hump day!

In the absence of words...

One must sometimes rely upon knitted body parts.

A baby shower gift for my favourite [barely newlywed anymore] couple.

Cashmerino?  Check.  Little bell in the nipple?  You got it.  Good accessory gift to accompany a breast pump?

Yep.  I just wonder if the thank you note will contain the words "Jingle Boob".

An unoriginal week

Obsessive much?  Me too.  Once I get a project into my head and I like it, I want to work it over and over.  So I did.  The Harlot's Unoriginal hat is the perfect pattern for instant gratification without mind-numbing boredom.

First I wiped out my odds and ends of Lamb's Pride.

Next came the Patons Classic.

Twice.

Then a parcel arrived lightning fast from a fellow Raveler, with a yummy hank of Leticia expressly for this purpose.

In the same parcel came a couple of hanks of deliciousness.  Sea Silk.  Pumpkin colourway.  Destined to become a Tuscany shawl.

[Are you drooling yet?]

And while I've otherwise avoided enhancing my stash of yarn, I can't say the same for patterns.  Since patterns help to use up stash, they're negative stash, right?  I thought so.

[half price from Mary Maxim!  Squeeeeeeee!]

[from the Loop in Halifax, along with a decidedly non-photogenic but highly useful and functional set of blocking wires.]

Cables and Os has finally passed the great divide of fronts and backs.  What a relief to ditch the 320-stitch rows!

The fronts are done, the back is almost there, and here are a bunch of photos.  I'll have a Lazy Knitter post regarding this one before too long.  Anywhere you see stitches on holders, they've been retained for later steps, in lieu of binding off and picking back up.  Click for bigger.

And, for the road, a shot of that scrumptious stitch pattern.

Now I'm knee-deep in a deadline project that I haven't been told I can share with the blogiverse, so I'll keep it under my hat for now.

Out from under my hat comes the newest issue of Alpacas magazine, where my first print pattern will appear any day!  I'll post it to the blog at some point, just waiting for my electronic copy of the pages.

Happy Hump Day!

Simply a Show and Tell

  With so many finished objects and so little time to share them, I bring you March:  the first week.  You'll find this post completely devoid of wit, wisdom and humour.  You've been warned.

First off, I inadvertently over-formatted my last post to the point that I can't re-edit it.  Missing from last month's head to toe is the mother and daughter clogs I worked for a coworker and her little girl.  I forgot to photograph the finished pairs and deleted the progress photos, so if you're not on Ravelry to look me up, just imagine clogs, just like the other eleventy thousand pairs I've done in the last year.

The diaper bag for the mum of little Lauren is now done, and really cute.  Toothache cute.  Diabetes-inducing cute.  I think you get the picture, so here are a few more you can click for a larger view.

 

 

The Cashmiracle sweater, AKA the 4-day sweater, has been worn several times already.  The fit is customized to the point that it makes me giddy with glee to don it in the morning.  I'm just that simple.  Click for bigger.

 

I started a Swallowtail Shawl for a charity event, and while I have very little done, I'm still excited to see it taking shape.  Yarn is Schaefer Anne, and I love it so.

I worked another Urchin, this one with a matching scarf, and it really made me think of a certain coworker, so I gifted it as a highly random, very early and very late birthday present.  (Hi Lou!  This one's for you!)

There's more, much more.  Perhaps I'll bang off another post when the wee ones get to bed.  See you soon!

The extra day made all the difference

Head-to-toe for February 2008

Head:

• Pomatomus cap in STR lightweight

Neck:

• Branching Out in Alchemy Bamboo
• Strangling Vines in Handmaiden Sea Silk

Kids:

• West Coast Sarah's raglan sweater
• Koigu t-shirt
• Amy's felted tote in Bernat felting
• 2 urchin hats in Joanne Marvel
• Bernat Soy raglan

Feet:

• Bayerische in Knitpicks Risata
• Cables and Corrugations
• Serendipity (Blue Moon club sock for January)
• Sunrise Socks (from New Pathways) in double-stranded Tofutsies

Thank goodness for Leap Year!